Chemosignals Communicate Human Emotions

Can humans communicate emotional states via chemical signals? In the experiment reported here, we addressed this question by examining the function of chemosignals in a framework furnished by embodied social communication theory. Following this theory, we hypothesized that the processes a sender exp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Psychological science Vol. 23; no. 11; pp. 1417 - 1424
Main Authors:	de Groot, Jasper H. B., Smeets, Monique A. M., Kaldewaij, Annemarie, Duijndam, Maarten J. A., Semin, Gün R.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01-11-2012 Sage Publications SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects:	Affectivity. Emotion Anxiety Biological and medical sciences Chemicals Chemistry Communication Disgust Double-Blind Method Emotional expression Emotional states Emotions Emotions - physiology Eyes Facial Expression Facial expressions Fear Fear - physiology Female Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology Humans Interpersonal communication Interpersonal perception Male Odors Olfaction. Taste Olfactory Perception - physiology Perception Personality. Affectivity Pheromones, Human - physiology Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry Psychology. Psychophysiology Sensory perception Signal transduction Smell Social interaction Social interactions. Communication. Group processes Social psychology Sweat Sweat - physiology Theory Young Adult emotional contagion emotions social communication facial expressions olfaction chemosignals disgust fear Human Affect affectivity Emotional expression Disgust Emotion emotionality Fear Olfaction Perception Face Odor Facial expression Chemical stimulus Communication
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Summary:	Can humans communicate emotional states via chemical signals? In the experiment reported here, we addressed this question by examining the function of chemosignals in a framework furnished by embodied social communication theory. Following this theory, we hypothesized that the processes a sender experiences during distinctive emotional states are transmitted to receivers by means of the chemicals that the sender produces, thus establishing a multilevel correspondence between sender and receiver. In a double-blind experiment, we examined facial reactions, sensory-regulation processes, and visual search in response to chemosignals. We demonstrated that fear chemosignals generated a fearful facial expression and sensory acquisition (increased sniff magnitude and eye scanning); in contrast, disgust chemosignals evoked a disgusted facial expression and sensory rejection (decreased sniff magnitude, target-detection sensitivity, and eye scanning). These findings underline the neglected social relevance of chemosignals in regulating communicative correspondence outside of conscious access.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-2 ObjectType-Feature-1
ISSN:	0956-7976 1467-9280
DOI:	10.1177/0956797612445317