back to Student Projects Index
Home to Taste of Smell
10 Smell Myths: Uncovering the Stinkin' Truth
Anne Kitchell, Sharon Lynn, Shiva Vafai
A Taste of Smell, 6 December 1995
Of the human senses, smell is perhaps the least appreciated, least understood, and most difficult to study. In fact, one study demonstrated that, of the people polled, "the least valued sense--the one people would be most willing to lose if they had to lose one--is smell." (Synnott, 1994)
In our search for a term project for A Taste of Smell, we quickly discovered that many commonly held ideas about the sense of smell are supported by little more than anecdotal evidence. So, we searched for scientific documentation which supports or refutes some of these widely accepted notions of smell. We elicited the help of our classmates, and our collaborative brainstorming effort resulted in numerous "smell myths." The following ten questions summarize our research efforts, and provide a springboard for further investigation of this under-appreciated sense.
1. Do men and women differ in their capacity to detect odors?
2. Does olfactory acuity decline with age?
3. What role do odors play in the human menstrual cycle?
4. Do human menstrual odors act as attractants?
5. Can animals really smell fear?
6. Do members of different cultures have characteristic body odors?
7. Does smoking affect the sense of smell?
8. Do pregnant women experience a heightened sense of smell?
9. What role does hair color play in olfaction?
10. Do human pheromones exist?
Synnott, A (1994) Roses, coffee and lovers: the meanings of smell. in Compendium of Olfactory Research 1982-1994. pp. 117-128.
In Conclusion
Lucid answers to many of these questions cannot be extracted from this text; a simple function of not every myth having a definable reality. What we have presented, though, is a smidgen of what the literature says. We ask you neither to accept these statements as fact nor reject them as folly. We would, however, like for you to take from this an insight we ourselves have gained: Our sense of smell, however unappreciated and unconsciously devalued it seems, has permeated into the intergral matrix of man’s social existence. It manipulates our languages, our emotions, our reactions, and our physiology. We, as humans, unknowingly define ourselves through smell, and we always, always follow our noses.