on
I1 a
s of o
bet
ater
d pe
e str
eme
ccur
information that judgments are based on and the nature of the
relationship between the judge and the target (Borkenau &
Lieb
judg
able
2007
make
R
situa
rately
havio
& Li
by Hall, Andrzejewski, Murphy, Mast and Feinstein (2008)
photographs alone (for a review, see Zebrowitz, 1997). They
judgments. It has long been known that animals use their
olfactory senses to communicate information, including sex-
tion
ling
n of
rty.
trap
man
sex
80),
ind
et al., 1995) and female fertility status (Havlicek et al., 2006).
no research has investigated whether personality can be judged
European Journal of Personality, Eur. J. Pers. (2011)
Published online (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/per.848have also confirmed the accuracy of such assessments for some
Big Five dimensions. Judgments were accurate for extraversion
on the basis of olfactory cues.
Factors influencing body odour composition are of a veryshows that the average accuracy of such assessments of the
Big Five dimensions is .23 (from .40 for extraversion to .12
for agreeableness—Pearson’s r correlation). Other studies have
examined the accuracy of personality judgments based on
The fact that olfactory information is considered to be a highly
important variable in human interactions was confirmed also in
self-report questionnaires (Herz & Cahill, 1997; Herz &
Inzlicht, 2002; Havlicek et al., 2008). Until now, however,*Corr
Wrocl
Copyler, 1992; Funder, D. C, 1995). It has been suggested that
mental accuracy should increase as the amount of avail-
or certain kinds of information increases (Carney et al.,
); however, it has yet to be determined what exactly
s accurate judgments more likely.
esearch on the judgment of strangers in zero-acquaintance
tions suggests, for example, that people are able to accu-
assess personality traits of others based on video taped be-
ur or short interaction (e.g. Albright et al., 1988; Borkenau
ebler, 1992; Carney et al., 2007; Watson, 1989). A review
ual status, individual identification and maternal attrac
(Bossert & Wilson, 1963; Eisenberg & Kleiman, 1972).
In humans, axillary odour is thought to serve a signal
function (e.g. Penn et al., 2007) due to high concentratio
apocrine glands, which become active only during pube
Also, the presence of axillary hair, which might serve as a
for signalling chemicals contribute to this function. Hu
body odour has been shown to convey information about
(e.g. Hold & Schleidt, 1977; Russell, 1976; Schleidt, 19
age (Haze et al., 2001), genetic compatibility (WedekDoes Personality Smell? Accuracy of Pers
AGNIESZKA SOROKOWSKA1*, PIOTR SOROKOWSK
1Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland
2Institute of Psychology, Opole University, Opole, Poland
Abstract: People are able to assess some personality trait
a photograph. In our study, we investigated the relationship
and dominance. Sixty odour samples were assessed by 20 r
few personality traits, the correlation between self-assesse
body odour was above chance level. The correlations wer
inance (.29). Further analyses showed that self–other agre
sexes and that the ratings of dominance were particularly a
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Key words: personality; body odour; olfaction
INTRODUCTION
Judging the personalities of other people is an important aspect
of all human interactions. It is an attempt to determine the psy-
chological properties of people that help to explain what they
have done in the past and to predict what they will do in the fu-
ture (McCrae & Costa, 1990). Funder’s Realistic Accuracy
Model (RAM) suggests that accuracy of such judgments is a
function of the availability, detection and utilization of relevant
cues (Funder, D. C, 1995). Research has examined numerous
variables that might affect accuracy. They include the kinds
of traits being judged, the characteristics of judges, theespondence to: Agnieszka Sorokowska, Institute of Psychology,University of
aw, ul. Dawida 1, Wroclaw 50–527, Poland. E-mail: sorokowska@gmail.com
right © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.ality Assessments Based on Body Odour
nd ANDRZEJ SZMAJKE2
thers based on videotaped behaviour, short interaction or
ween body odour and the Big Five personality dimensions
s each. The main finding of the presented study is that for a
rsonality of odour donors and judgments based on their
ongest for extraversion (.36), neuroticism (.34) and dom-
nt in assessments of neuroticism slightly differed between
ate for assessments of the opposite sex. Copyright © 2011
(e.g. Naumann et al., 2009; Penton-Voak et al., 2006) and, in
some studies, for neuroticism and openness to experience
[Naumann et al. (2009) and Penton-Voak et al. (2006) found
that for male faces only]. Still, little research has investigated
sources of information over and above appearance. Borkenau
and Liebler’s (1992) study, for example, attempted to examine
the effects of additional, verbal and non-verbal sources of infor-
mation on personality judgment. The results of their study suggest
that sources of information other than physical appearance might
increase accuracy of personality judgments.
It could be presumed that the availability of, for example,
olfactory cues might also increase accuracy of personalitycomplex nature. Results of studies regarding the odour
similarity of twins (e.g. Roberts et al., 2005) suggest genetic
influence on human scent. Also, the psychophysiological
Received 20 December 2010
Revised 29 August 2011, Accepted 29 August 2011

A. Sorokowska et al.functioning of individuals, reflected in the levels of various
chemical substances in the skin, saliva, urine and genital
secretions, contribute to the natural body odour (Kohl
et al., 2001; Zouboulis, 2004). At the same time, hormones
and neurotransmitters seem to be related to personality, par-
ticularly extraversion, dominance and neuroticism (Carver
& Miller, 2006; Mazur & Booth 1998; Zuckerman, 1995).
It is generally suggested that also conscientiousness, agree-
ableness and openness to experience have biological basis
(McCrae & Costa, 1990). It is, however, hard to find strong
evidence linking body odour and these traits.
Low serotonin turnover is associated with impulsivity, ag-
gressiveness and anxiety-related traits such as neuroticism
(for a review, see Carver & Miller, 2006; Ebstein et al.,
2000; Reif & Lesch, 2003). Dopamine is thought to mediate
approach, impulsive behaviour, seeking social incentives,
excitement and positive feelings, which can be related to extra-
version and novelty seeking in humans (e.g. Ebstein et al.,
2000; Van Gestel & Van Broeckhoven, 2003). At the same
time, serotonin and dopamine were shown to contribute to
many physiologic functions including, for example, food in-
take, neuroendocrine rhythms, mechanisms regulating eccrine
sweating intensity, as well as mood, emotion, schizophrenic
and neurodegenerative disorders (Carver &Miller, 2006; Heils
et al., 1996; Stahl et al., 1983; Stanley et al., 1982; Thorner,
1975; Trindade et al., 1998). It is probable that the composition
of both apocrine and eccrine axillary secretions is also indirectly
influenced by their action. Additionally, sweating intensity
affects humidity and, consequently, the bacterial composition
in the axilla. The action of skin bacteria generates the odorifer-
ous compounds from non-smelling molecules present in the
apocrine secretions (Shelley et al., 1953); therefore, the neuro-
transmitters might again indirectly influence the body odour.
Furthermore, the personality trait dominance is related to
physiological processes, particularly the hormonal profile of
an individual—dominant and aggressive behaviour tends to
correlate positively with elevated levels of testosterone and
its metabolites (Cashdan, 1995; Gray et al., 1991). Testoster-
one stimulates proliferation of sebocytes and affects func-
tioning of apocrine sweat glands (Zouboulis, 2004), and it
is probable that more dominant men smell differently. The
notion that dominance is reflected in a target’s body odour
is being confirmed by a growing number of studies. It has
been shown that dominance might influence the attractive-
ness of human body scent (Havlicek et al., 2005; Rantala
et al., 2006). Also, different steroids, typically related to
masculinity, might explain the detection of dominance based
on olfactory cues. It was shown that 16-androstenes
(particularly androstenol and androstenone) might modify
the behaviour of people who smell them (e.g. Cowley and
Brooksbank, 1991). A significant correlation was also found
between the rating of the pleasantness of the male pheromone
androstenone and the preference for masculinity of male faces
(Cornwell et al., 2004). Overall, we might assume that
biological parameters influencing body odours also affect per-
sonality, making odours a cue to personality traits.
Also, other lines of research might suggest that some per-
sonality dimensions (especially those related to emotions)
could be related to body odour. Chemosignalling of fear andCopyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.stress in the form of alarm pheromones is well documented
in many animals. Experiencing these emotions is accompanied
by a series of neurochemical changes (Panksepp, 1998), some
of which may be released in the sweat. At the same time, che-
micals associated with fear and danger produce behavioural,
physiological and immunological changes in the recipient ani-
mals of the same species (Wyatt, 2003; Zalaquett &
Thiessen, 1991). It was also demonstrated that chemosensory
signals of anxiety activate brain areas involved in the proces-
sing of social anxiety signals and structures, which mediate
the internal representation of the emotional state of others
(Prehn-Kristensen et al., 2008). Humans have been shown to
distinguish between the sweat collected from the same indivi-
duals during fearful and neutral affective states (Ackerl et al.,
2002) and between fearful and happy states (Chen &
Haviland-Jones, 2000). Other studies have shown that the
fear-related chemosignals increased cautiousness (Chen et al.,
2006) or anxiety of women (Albrecht et al., 2011). In sum-
mary, it might be that individuals who experience anxiety
and fear more frequently—a hallmark of the personality trait
neuroticism—smell in some specific way and, importantly,
that other people are able to detect it in the body odour.
The previous studies suggest that it might be possible to
assess personality based on body odour. In our study, we
analysed the relationship between body odour and the Big
Five personality dimensions and dominance.
Our hypotheses, on the basis of previous research, were as
follows: (i) it might be possible to assess some personality
traits of other people based on their body odour; (ii) extraver-
sion, neuroticism and dominance should be the most accu-
rately judged personality dimensions because of their
relationship with emotionality and/or neurophysiology; (iii)
conscientiousness, agreeableness and openness to experience
might be assessed with some accuracy; however, it would
probably be lower in case of other traits; and (iv) to the extent
that there are gender differences, women should show greater
accuracy of judgment than men. Accuracy research often
demonstrates that female judges are on average more accurate
than male judges in decoding non-verbal expressions of emo-
tions (Hall, 1984) and in judging some personality traits (e.g.
Ambady et al., 1995; Lippa & Dietz, 2000). Women also out-
perform men in various aspects of the olfactory abilities (for a
review, see Doty & Cameron, 2009). Overall, past research
suggests that women may be more accurate than men on all
the constructs that we assessed in the current study.
METHOD
We investigated the correlations between self-reported and
perceived trait levels based on the target’s scent exclusively.
Self–other agreement was defined as the correlation between
a judge’s ratings based on a target’s scent and the target’s
criterion scores on the same construct.
Participants
Odour donors—targets—were a group of 30 women
(age: M= 22.77; SD= 2.18) and 30 men (age: M= 23.33;
SD= 3.33). Odour raters were 100 women (age: M= 21.13;Eur. J. Pers. (2011)
DOI: 10.1002/per