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According to Israeli researchers, people with similar body odors are more likely to become friends. An interesting avenue for treating social interaction problems in autistic people.
Our friendly choices are not the result of chance. At least that’s what a new study published in the journal Science Advances this Friday, June 24 and conducted by Israeli researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Friends’ body odors ‘are more similar’
With this in mind, the scientists recruited 20 pairs of same-sex friends, aged 22 to 39, who said they immediately hit it off when they first met. These “immediate” friendships generate a strong feeling of attachment – almost instantaneous – which is formed before much information is exchanged.
To understand and predict these friendships, the researchers collected participants’ body odors using an electronic nose (eNose) and 24 “human sniffers”.
“Because humans seek out friends who look similar to them, we hypothesized that humans can smell themselves and others to subconsciously estimate the similarity of body odors, which, in turn, may promote friendship”the researchers said.
Results ? Regardless of the technique used, the smells of friends were more similar than those of groups of strangers.
“We found that strangers with more similar body odor were more likely to have subsequent positive social interaction. Thus, we conclude that similarity in human body odor is related to the onset of friendship”say the scientists.
Good in your body, good in your head!
A new way to alleviate social deficiencies
Thus, as in animals, humans”constantly sniff each other and, based on this, decide who is friend or foe”. They can also tell the mood of the other (joy, sadness, anger) by body odor alone.
Another interesting fact: these discoveries could help alleviate the social interaction problems of autistic people.
“VShis message is important because beyond a deeper understanding of human behavior, it can point to new avenues of intervention based on olfaction in cases of social impairment.“, conclude the scientists.