into the air, for example, and scent dispensers can be incorporated into HVAC systems with a professional’s assistance.
Smelling pleasant scents has been shown to boost mood.
The scents listed below have their noted effects whether the people smelling them are aware of them or not; the effects linger after the smell fades from perception. The amount of any smell that should to be added to a space needs to be determined via a straightforward onsite experiment, because things like window drafts, exact room volumes, and how well a ventilation system works all have a dramatic effect on whether a particular amount of an odor can be smelled. To conduct the required experiment: dispense a very small amount of an odor into a space. If anyone who enters the area mentions the smell, the amount used needs to be reduced. Ask people who come by about their experiences of being in the space, and cut back the amount of scent in use if it is brought up. Even at the same concentration in the air, some scents are more pungent than others, so each scent needs to be tested individually.
•Smelling pleasant scents has been cross-culturally shown to boost mood. As discussed earlier, when we’re in a more positive mood, we’re better at problem-solving, thinking creatively, and getting along with others. Pleasant smells reduce stress, and unpleasant smells have the reverse effect.
•If a place is pleasantly scented, we feel we have spent less time there and that it is larger than if the space is unscented.
•A pleasantly scented space seems cleaner and brighter.
•We linger in spaces that smell good to us.
•Smelling scents we link to cleanliness has been linked to better behavior and following rules.
•We are also fairer and more generous in spaces that smell “clean” to us, with clean smells being the scents used in cleaning products in our culture. North Americans associate the distinctive smell of Windex with cleanliness, for example. So, cleaning up before company arrives pays off in more ways than you might have thought.
Scientists have also investigated the implications of smelling particular scents:
•Aromas that have been tied to lower anxiety levels include sweet orange (this refers to the oranges we eat), floral scents (particularly hyacinth and jasmine), and vanilla. The smell of ylang-ylang seems calming.
•Relaxing scents include lemon, mango, and lavender.
•Scents linked to increased alertness: peppermint, common garden sage, and rosemary; coffee countered the effects of sleep deprivation in rats.
•Energizing scents are grapefruit, tangerine, eucalyptus, and peppermint.
•The scent of lavender is linked to helping encourage sleep.
•Scents that boost cognitive performance: cinnamon and vanilla; creativity is linked to coffee (even if no caffeine is actually present or coffee consumed) as well as lemon.
•Scents linked to improved memory function: rosemary, peppermint, and common garden sage.
•Scvclerical type work include chocolate and coffee.
•The scent of lemon is linked to improving mood while doing knowledge work.
•Lavender is also linked to trusting other people.
Since scents are tested one at a time in labs, the research supports using a single scent in a space.
Certain smells are particularly important to each of us emotionally. You can’t change your responses to those scents, so use them to your advantage. If you have relaxing associations with the smell of something, use it to scent your bedroom or wherever else you’d like to feel relaxed, whether this text mentions it or not. If you don’t like smelling a scent because you have negative associations with it—maybe your mean Aunt Joan’s house smelled like lemon, so you dislike the smell of lemons to this day—then don’t use those scents in your home or office, no matter what research has said about them. Scent associations can’t be overcome, they just are.
Some people avoid scenting spaces because of allergies. Natural scents can be replaced by artificial ones to overcome this problem. Various brands of artificial scents are made with different ingredients, so you should be able to find one that doesn’t trigger whatever allergies are present.
Smelling the same odor in different places or different times when you’ll be working on a project puts you in the same mindset in these places and times and helps call the same project-related thoughts and details to consciousness in each space and time, which makes your mind work more efficiently and effectively. The same goes for sounds heard and other sensory experiences. If your home office and your workplace at your firm’s headquarters share a scent or other sensory stimulus and continue to do so over time, that consistency will improve your professional performance.
On-Skin Experiences
Scientists have thoroughly probed the ways that our tactile experiences influence how we think and behave.
•How much padding there is on a chair cushion matters in more ways than you might have imagined. People who sit on even relatively slim cushions (about an inch thick) do not drive as hard a bargain when negotiating as people without cushions. The people sitting on the cushions are more flexible—in most families with kids, in particular, cushions all around seem like a great idea. Would you like to make your family meals more pleasant, and discussions of curfews, allowances, and family vacations less onerous? Make sure both parents and kids have cushions between their butts and the dining chairs.
•Researchers have also found that after people touch something that is warm and put it down, they judge others to be more generous and caring than if they’ve just held something cooler, and they are themselves more generous, trusting, and cooperative than after holding something cooler. Body heat warms some materials faster than others, and not all materials retain heat effectively. Metal surfaces heat up quickly but lose their heat quickly. Wood and leather store heat well.
•When felt, smoother surfaces are linked to femininity and rougher ones to masculinity, and touching a rougher surface is more energizing than feeling a smoother one. When various textures are used together, the effect is energizing.
•Smoother metal is associated with being modern, elegant, and comfortable.
•People tend to prefer staying on the same underfoot texture; if they’ve been walking on carpet, they’re unlikely to move off that carpeted path onto vinyl tiles, for example. Changes in underfoot textures signal to humans that they should pay attention, so changing flooring at the top of stairs, for example, or where there is surfacing around a pool deck is a good idea.
•We walk more slowly on carpet than harder floors, so carpet can be a good choice where you want to keep people moving slowly, to view art, for instance.
•People are more comfortable in places with carpet than vinyl floors and tend to spend more time in those carpeted areas.
•Floors that are shiny may be perceived as slippery, whether they are or are not.
Temperature
Thermostats, whether at home or at work, are often battlegrounds. Some people inevitably want to live and work in warmer temperatures and others in colder ones. Science can help resolve these
