Valencia (EFE).- The body odor to which we are exposed influences the reaction times of the purchase decision in such a way that if we notice the presence of fear or happiness pheromones we will decide more quickly to purchase a product, according to a study of the Polytechnic University of Valencia.
Food products (drinks) present the shortest response times, followed by clothing and, finally, technological products if we talk about the smell of happiness, while the smell of fear determines the price choice more quickly, especially when the item belongs to the health category.
These effects are confirmed by a study led by researchers from the Immersive Neurotechnologies Laboratory (LabLENI) of the Human-Tech Institute of the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), which shows that, in general, pheromones implicitly transmit the presence of other people.
According to the director of LabLENI, Mariano Alcañiz, according to these results it is confirmed that pheromones influence faster decision-making and this confirms the theories of social facilitation.
This is the first international study that has analyzed the effect of pheromones on consumer behavior, and its objective was to determine if they influence us unconsciously when buying. “There is no doubt that they do it that way,” says Alcañiz.
Disposition according to emotional state
To carry out the study, they measured their willingness to pay for a variety of products in a group of people and the speed with which they reached their decision in four conditions: in the presence of happiness pheromones, fear pheromones, pheromones in resting state and a fourth condition without the presence of pheromones.
Recent research has shown that people generate different pheromones depending on our emotional state. That is, when we are happy we develop completely different pheromones than when we are afraid or stressed.
And it has also been shown that when people are in the presence of “positive” (happiness) or “negative” (fear or stress) pheromones we act differently.
The researchers collected body odors from people in conditions that made them happy, scared or relaxed and exposed another group of people to these pheromones, evaluating their reactions, from how long it took them to decide to buy a product to how much they would be willing to pay for it. , comparing it with the real sale price.
In general, the participants exposed to body odor decided to buy faster and were willing to pay a price closer to the real one than those who did not reach any pheromone, regardless of the type of odor they were exposed to.
On the other hand, the study concludes that the smell of happiness increases quick purchases, especially drinks, food, clothing or technology. And when exposed to the smell of fear, the participants chose the price more quickly than the control participants – not exposed to any smell – especially when the product belonged to the health category.
According to the UPV, the results of the study can be extrapolated to different sales contexts, such as the service sector or tourism, in which the presence of others is linked to the unconscious mentalization of social behaviors.
The work has been published in the journal Scientific Reports, and researchers from the University of Utrecht, the William James Research Center in Portugal and the Jordi Gol University Institute for Research in Primary Health Care Foundation have also participated in it and Gurina de Catalunya.