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Chemical Senses Advance Access published online on September 11, 2008
Chemical Senses, doi:10.1093/chemse/bjn052
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Mapping the Semantic Space for the Subjective Experience of Emotional Responses to Odors

Christelle Chrea1, Didier Grandjean1,2, Sylvain Delplanque1, Isabelle Cayeux3, Bénédicte Le Calvé3, Laurence Aymard3, Maria Inés Velazco3, David Sander1,2 and Klaus R. Scherer1,2

1 Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, 7 rue des Battoirs, CH-1205 Geneva, Switzerland 2 Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, 40 Bld du Pont d'Arve, CH-1205 Geneva, Switzerland 3 Firmenich, SA, 1 routes de Jeunes, PO Box 239, CH-1211 Geneva 8, Switzerland

Correspondence to be sent to: Sylvain Delplanque, Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, 7 rue des battoirs, CH-1205 Geneva, Switzerland. e-mail: sylvain.delplanque{at}unige.ch


  Abstract

Two studies were conducted to examine the nature of the verbal labels that describe emotional effects elicited by odors. In Study 1, a list of terms selected for their relevance to describe affective feelings induced by odors was assessed while participants were exposed to a set of odorant samples. The data were submitted to a series of exploratory factor analyses to 1) reduce the set of variables to a smaller set of summary scales and 2) get a preliminary sense of the differentiation of affective feelings elicited by odors. The goal of Study 2 was to replicate the findings of Study 1 with a larger sample of odorant samples and participants and to validate the preliminary model obtained in Study 1 by using confirmatory factor analysis. Overall, the findings point to a structure of affective responses to odors that differs from the classical taxonomies of emotion such as posited by discrete or bidimensional emotion theories. These findings suggest that the subjective affective experiences or feelings induced by odors are structured around a small group of dimensions that reflect the role of olfaction in well-being, social interaction, danger prevention, arousal or relaxation sensations, and conscious recollection of emotional memories.

Key words: affective experience, olfaction, psychometric approach, theories of emotion

Accepted 5 August 2008


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