Your Nose Does More Than You Give It Credit For

[@SciShowPsych]

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[@starshot5172]

Scishow is so damn interesting, thank you guys for sharing your super interesting knowledge with millions!

[@warrenarnold]

Yes from a young age i learnt its good to hide your armpits before a fight. Your opponent might just smell your fear, but if you have already pissed on yourself, that fear is real brother, run!

[@cmk353]

Maybe this might discourage people from getting covid that losing your smell is a bigger deal than we thought 🤔

[@froginthemachine]

when entering a tense environment or something I've always joked to my friends "the vibes are off in here... I can smell it" but now I find out it might not be a joke

[@whyamiwastingmytimeonthis]

Maybe your friends just smell weird

[@loganwolv3393]

Well only if you smelled their sweat, otherwise it was just the visual and maybe auditory cues that made you feel that way.

[@froginthemachine]

@@whyamiwastingmytimeonthis i mean they do but it's unrelated

[@warrenarnold]

@@whyamiwastingmytimeonthis hahahaha i had this feel once, my friend confessed to have stomach upset

[@ericwiese7479]

Stinks like sex in here! Lol

[@loganwolv3393]

"I can smell your fear" takes on a whole new meaning now.

[@warrenarnold]

Yeap never expose your armpits before a fight

[@AP-yx9de]

If we pinpoint a chemical that can guide our internal feelings, places like Disney world are going to be pumped full of them. They already do this with regular smells and visual stimuli.

[@norma8686]

Music too, that's why every shopping mall or grocery store has music, some type of music makes you more likely to spend more

[@amosbackstrom5366]

We have. They're called drugs

[@nathanbrown8689]

I’m pretty sure they think the smell of bacon makes you hungry.

[@MaxOakland]

Yeah :( it really sucks how they just exploit us to make money. Anything to make a buck

[@DonnaSnyder]

They already do this in department stores, as well.

[@GaryGillKeeper]

Does that mean someone with complex PTSD can be triggered by smelling their own fear in their own sweat? That would really feed into rapid emotional escalation.

[@aprildawnsunshine4326]

Oh yeah! Opens up an option for treatment though if we could find a way to alter that smell or the receptors somehow. Maybe by smelling something that blocks them or shuts them off?

[@EllenLouise19]

To add a weird phenomenon to this: I have a close friend who experienced a lot of trauma in their childhood and their sense of smell kind of switched off completely. Later on in adulthood, once they had been removed from the traumatic environment and started SSRI medication, their sense of smell returned. Apparently the smell of rotting leaves is incredible, and crushed peppercorns are divine.

[@KlaudiusL]

- you can't tickle yourself - you can't smell your breath .. wait, is under your nose .. yes, you can smell your breath, but your subconscious is smart enougth to separate your own odors to prevent auto-triggering, even on someone with complex PTSD ... in the other hand, someone with schizohrenics which has dissociate some subconscious-conscious functions, could be posible.

[@whyamiwastingmytimeonthis]

@@KlaudiusL please tell me more about the last part🙏

[@aprildawnsunshine4326]

@@KlaudiusL dissociation is actually very common in those with PTSD and given how thought spirals and panic attacks build it wouldn't surprise me if there's a feedback loop involving the scent of stress hormones as much as occurs with all the other natural stress responses

[@harmonicaveronica]

Something I discovered this past summer (yay, job hunting) is that stress sweat smells different from regular sweat from physical exertion or being outside when it's hot. Not on a subconscious level - the odor is actually different

[@shawnreed343]

As an anosmic individual (I have no sense of smell, also a trait for my mother), I've wondered before whether I'm still picking up chemosignals or if I'm actually not. I can't smell a skunk, for instance, but I'm affected by ammonia. I can't smell body odor, and everything smells like air to me. My sense of taste is absolutely fine, I can determine ingredients and subtleties in taste with no problem. Chemical responses are not necessarily directly related with scent. Like teargas. Other times a thing may be so powerfully epervescent as to activate my sense of taste through my nose, such as homemade vinnegar fumes or the basement of a sewage treatment plant. So chemoreception may well be separate from scent itself... or maybe it is linked; I myself have no way of knowing. But I do still find myself curious if I'm picking up on human chemoreceptors in my day to day life, or not.

[@davidottley2739]

That's really interesting. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

[@MaxOakland]

That’s a really deep and fascinating thought. I never thought about that before. It could be tested in the same was as the smell test, just with people who can’t smell vs people who can

[@allergiccookies6735]

as someone who can smell it definitely feel like theres something different about ammonia, when even a smell that is way stronger like a skunk still feels like just a smell

[@ZentaBon]

I believe smell and taste are very intricately connected

[@asmrtpop2676]

I have anosmic coworker. Y’all are life savers when I’m alone with you and gotta rip a silent but deadly.

[@seatbelttruck]

I'm autistic but also really prone to absorbing other people's emotions (ever since I was a baby, according to my mom). I wonder if my enhanced sense of smell has to do with that, then.

[@pinotnoir4234]

saaame

[@EllenLouise19]

From what I remember, many Australian indigenous cultures use other people's sweat as a treatment for medical issues, like high blood pressure, so it makes sense if someone's calm BO sweat smell could lower the other person's blood pressure through mirrored regulation. I dunno it's just very cool

[@MrHuntingClaw]

I guess smell is partly responsible to why we mirror other peoples behavior throughout life.

[@Nylak-Otter]

I LOVE the sense of smell! I train detection K9s for police, army, search and rescue, and medical service dogs. It's so amazing what they can smell.

[@Qexilber]

Usually “How they smell” and “What they smell like” are interchangeable. Probbaly not in the case of those dogs… 😉

[@eroraf8637]

Coincidently, today’s Daily Dose of Internet featured a dog that detects low blood sugar. Sure is neat.

[@em-yz6rl]

Is this where "dogs can smell bad people" comes from?

[@Qexilber]

I can't help but feel a bit offended by the intense mocking of Pizzas with pineapple on them in this video. xD

[@davidottley2739]

No. Feel it deeply. You, and that awful mistake of a pizza topping, deserve ALL the shame.

[@lauragromko5615]

This is so, so cool! I'm happy to hear there's some research on smell or scents and psychology that doesn't just have to do with memories or with ideas about possible pheromones.

[@Bigbuddyandblue]

As a child in the 50’s, my dad would take me to the shore of Lake Michigan in Chicago to buy fresh caught smoked fish. The market had a wonderful delicious smokey aroma! That was a great experience for me. From that day forward to this very day, if I smell smoked fish at a market or whatever, I cannot help but remember my dad, and I can feel his presence, and picture the market, the lake shore, and the golden skin of the smoked “chubbs” and crackers we would buy, then walk down ti the lakeshore and eat them. I can still see the market, the shore and the greasy brown paper bag that the food was in. Smell is a terrific memory maker.

[@psicologiajoseh]

I will miss you a lot SciShow Pscych!

[@baKanale]

Does this contribute to why online interactions turn toxic? I mean, there are other, probably larger factors, like the general faceless of it. But would we be more empathetic if we could smell eachother online?

[@Catlily5]

Good question!

[@haydenreynolds6960]

I do not wanna smell the toxic people in arguing with online! Haha but it's an interesting idea - we're just too separated

[@em-yz6rl]

I think even just seeing the faces of everyone you interact with online would prevent most arguments

[@Catlily5]

@@em-yz6rl Maybe, it would force you to acknowledge that you are arguing with another human being.

[@francisgraybill]

Yes

[@mephistoxic3900]

So, would people that lost their sense of smell to something (looking at you Covid) have reduced empathy for the time it affects them? Now would be a great time to verify, since we have a larger group of potential participants.

[@osmia]

+

[@Ryquard1]

if i go with an hypothesis i would say no as empathy is not only triggered by smell but by visual and audio cues, so an impaired sense would not take empathy from you. Another way to put it is if we isolate us from outside stimuli we wont feel anything besides boredom, so to not feel empathy you need to cut smell, hearing, visual cues which is equivalent to not experience anything as there would be nothing to experience.

[@mephistoxic3900]

@@Ryquard1 Hence *reduced* empathy. The idea is that 1 less sense that conveys emotion would provide fewer stimuli and potentially cause fewer neurons to reach their firing threshold.

[@Qexilber]

Or another follow up question: what do these things behave like in severe psychopaths?

[@amicableenmity9820]

It could be that the reduced capacity to smell is linked to the sociopathy genes? So acquired scent loss wouldn't be the same thing.

[@SJrad]

"what's so scary about a sweat pad?" *sniffs* "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

[@thesuccessfulone]

"I can smell your fear" is... true after all? Can you calm someone by calming yourself?

[@Username456-b4p]

The latter is definetly true. Nothing calms me down more than someone who's just there and relaxed.

[@sarah.s.flanagan]

2:26 there's also an element of threat-assesment in the fear response. If your brain judges that the thing scaring you can be dealt with the all the senses open up and transmit as much data as possible. If you asses that the threat is to big and scary for you ta handle, then you tip into the same closeup/shutdown of the senses that are triggered by disgust. I went down a rabbit-hole with this several years ago because it seemed like a useful tidbit for performing fight scenes

[@katielangsner495]

I wonder if people with depression smell more stressed out even when they are relatively happy? Or do people with chronic anxiety. or ptsd, or narcissism, or ocd or even people with adhd or autism smell different from other people of more neutral or positive emotional experience?

[@ragnkja]

Autistic people tend to be more stressed than neurotypical people, and that’s probably reflected in our BO.

[@alklazaris3741]

I never knew how much of my world is based in smell until I got covid and lost it. Smell to smell happy things is one thing, but it sucks when your dog can poop in a room and you not even know it.

[@happygilmore511]

The threat of losing smell is enough to get me jabbed

[@fyreflyskye8831]

I lost my sense of smell (and taste) a couple of years ago with a bad flu and find people don't understand how much difference that makes. I've regained some of it, thank goodness, but not all and many things that I can smell don't smell the same as they used to. I've read that many other people who lost it to COVID experience the same thing. Most people dismiss this loss of smell and taste which only serves to further alienate us. I remember when I got my first whiff of smell after losing it completely. It was an overwhelming feeling, like I was walking through a portal to another dimension. I am not being over dramatic. I had to stop walking to take it all in. It was an amazing experience. I still can't taste many herbs, like basil, but can taste spices. My favorite food right now is Indian. Oh yes, and after being the one delegated to clean the kitty littler box, because, of course I would, I am now starting to get a good whiff every now and then. And yuck. But, no I am not as appreciative of not being able to smell the yucky stuff as one may think.

[@misstuxbrandi]

I totally get what your saying. I'm currently suffering from both parasomia and anosmia and I can't smell poop, urine, rotting food, or gasoline. It's scary and so often annoying. The stuff I do smell sometimes is overwhelming. I haven't been able to smell cut grass in a few years and then suddenly one day I could smell it and my bodies natural reaction was to just...break down into a full cry.

[@fyreflyskye8831]

@@misstuxbrandi I got a hint of cut grass about a week ago, but that doesn't mean it's coming back. About a year ago I smelled pine for a few hours. It went away and so did a part my feeling connected to where I live. Pine, cut grass, and the smell after a rain are all things I would love to get back. I completely understand breaking down and crying.

[@margotkafka9762]

I love this channel

[@manguy01]

So the idea that wolves can smell fear might not be so far fetched...

[@coinisinorbit]

Werewolves would be even better cause they're part human

[@toomanyopinions8353]

We already knew that other animals can. Humans smelling chemical and pheromonal changes is the revelation.

[@ninamo3523]

Smell is also a strong signal to individual memory. Something A.I. could never get.

[@777gpower]

So deodorant companies want the downfall of human society? I smell a movie idea

[@Iamrightyouarewrong]

You realize how important it is when a concussion messes with it.

[@peterknutsen3070]

Or covid-19?

[@paavani5337]

u mean congession-

[@Iamrightyouarewrong]

@@paavani5337 no.

[@Iamrightyouarewrong]

@@paavani5337 what, no.

[@KellyClowers]

I can't hardly smell anything. Definitely can't smell dinner, or a gas leak

[@KellyClowers]

(Not covid… never been able to)

[@Poptartsicles]

This may partially explain why people are more empathetic in person than they are on the internet. There's also the anonymity factor of being online which also plays a role in the lack of online empathy, but still it's interesting to think about.

[@aellalee4767]

Not surprised. Happy to see studies being done on this. I knew for certain that I smell different when I sweat from being scared (it's particularly rank), compared with a good workout where I had fun and hardly give off smell (I've asked others to confirm). Makes sense we can transmit the information, otherwise why would I give off a different smell?

[@NoWay1969]

Our emotions, our thoughts, our feelings, all driven at a subconscious level. The elephant goes where ti will, and the monkey riding on its back makes up stories to explain why it wanted the elephant to go that way. Childhood head trauma is linked to a lack of empathy and a lack of a sense of smell is symptomatic of a concussion. I wonder if they're linked.

[@wafflexboy]

I wonder how much this has to do with the stigma against anti-social behaviors and sanitation. It sounds a little silly saying it but I wonder if our brains can get overwhelmed, or if certain chemicals stick around longer than other. If someone wants to or already has done real search I'd find it super interesting. And if someone wants to send me a few million bucks I'm sure I could find out myself 😂

[@jh2325]

Of course our brains can be overwhelmed; an example would be an anxiety attack

[@jh2325]

As with chemicals, sure there can be imbalances in the body that would cause certain chemicals to stick around longer cuz there's an abundance of them.

[@jh2325]

I bet some medications can cause these imbalances; hence why people get liver issues if they're on certain medications for extended periods of time. Also withdrawal from medications can be dreadful as well because the body becomes dependent on them

[@bugbellyache]

Thumbnail looks like H.P. Lovecraft

[@Larkas]

That sounds awesome, but was there a control group sweating into those pads?

[@Catastropheshe]

1:19 that googly eyes 😂😂😂👀

[@kimbratton9620]

The nose knows!

[@HomeGrownPyrotechnics]

this could be used as a scam tactic, synthesize the compound that induces empathy to make people more vulnerable to an emotional scam.

[@swimdownx6365]

All about Chemicals what about sound . Vibrations wavelength

[@localtavernsluteplayer2182]

wow not only do I have autism but my nose is always clogged, guess empathy wasn't meant for me

[@minimooster7258]

😂😂😂

[@some_haqr]

Noses are for cocaine

[@yvonjasser]

I don’t want to know what your veins are for

[@some_haqr]

@@yvonjasser speedballing ofc

[@jh2325]

Noses of the losers maybe. We are winners here

[@jh2325]

@ye olde one you got this 💪

[@Yi_Xuan_Tan]

Wonder what potential this has for affective computing!

[@cassioamorim1348]

Lovely idea, but how can I believe in a study done with 16 people and no pre-registration?

[@ooooneeee]

Thanks for pointing that out, they should have mentioned limitations like that in the video.

[@LePedant]

My anxiety will occasionally cause night sweats. I always wondered my clothes smelt different from night sweats and workout sweats.

[@NewMessage]

That's why I always follow my nose. It always knows!

[@KingsleyIII]

If you take in more sensory stimulation when scared and less when disgusted, what if you're afraid of something that disgusts you?

[@aprildawnsunshine4326]

ime that becomes the only thing you can smell, even if it's faint, and you get a strong urge to find it and get it away from you or vice versa but the strongest urge is to find it.

[@wmdkitty]

@@aprildawnsunshine4326 Find it so I can get rid of it, yeah.

[@aprildawnsunshine4326]

@@wmdkitty do you get that "need to kill it" feeling too? Like a primal feeling of destruction

[@instaperil]

Having to smell others sweat is so gross

[@CarrieMHB222]

I seem to have an unusually sensitive sense of smell. I smell things that others can’t, and most of the time smells elicit a strong emotional response in me. I’ve wondered why I’m this way, if it’s within the range of normal, is it an indication of something wrong, or what use it is.

[@norma8686]

I use deodorant everyday so no one is smelling my emotions.

[@chihiroogino7464]

Emotions smell awful

[@nertylle2945]

(in)conveniently, you sweat from almost everywhere on your body

[@mstorrboy]

So does that make deodorant a cloaking device?

[@feralbluee]

Hank - do you ever sleep? LOL 🌷🌱

[@jondoe2341]

It senses particles, the nose is awesome!

[@MaxOakland]

When I’m picking up new skills I smell terrible

[@someguy2135]

Remember "Smell-O-Vision? Some movie theaters in the 1960's experimented with affecting other senses besides vision. "Sense-O-Rama!"

[@TheRealTobias]

Super interesting! I'd like to learn more about this.

[@capivara6094]

This might be the next step in VR sets

[@amandajones661]

And according to another SciShow video , our BO also tells others what age we are .

[@bhaskar5883]

Pls Pateron , bring a video about what superpower will get which each organ work super well.

[@em-yz6rl]

Is showering making us less empathetic? Do old people lose some empathy as their sense of smell deteriorates?

[@Starfloofle]

I could still do without it... isolated in the virtual world all the time, all it really causes me is an eating disorder and annoyance...

[@romanmarquez6320]

About empathy, I wonder if people with high tendencies to be empathetic are more likely to be receptive to picking up one the emotions through sweat.

[@fatalelieberi]

Could this also be one of the reason why people don't like a person at the first meeting?

[@swimdownx6365]

Can pheromones count as Neuro transmitters.

[@MichaelYouTubetube]

Didn’t expect SciShow Psych of all places to ignore the dry earwaxers 😭 (the non-BO folks), or maybe it did and I’m confusing the points made

[@michaelwade4922]

This is the reason why I shave. The razor blade industry. The King mosheshwe of the Sotho, is actually the sound of shaving...shesh shwe. The sound of saving...the king.

[@Brindlebrother]

"I just want to smell your sweat so I can better understand how you feel!" ---said moments before becoming single

[@virginiamoss7045]

Well, this explains horses. The old adage that animals can smell fear seems to be literally true. If you are fearful getting on a horse, the horse will smell fear and be triggered to do what horses do when fearful; they bolt or become agitated because that's how prey animals survive. If you are calm and confident getting on, they seem to know that, too, and remain calm and compliant with your commands. I wonder if they can smell calm.

[@fuchsyannick]

Did you know: there once was an insulin medication for nasal application? It was discontinued because studies showed that it patients just didn't like using it

[@elle1192]

Would love a video on pheromones!!

[@hairytick7882]

So if it works for stress or fear, does that mean if I'm happy or calm I should shove other people's noses into my armpits to make them feel better, for science of course...

[@em-yz6rl]

Let's milk happy people for their sweat and sell it like essential oils

[@ooooneeee]

@@em-yz6rl gamer Girl happy sweat 😂

[@Benni777]

So, it’s true that cats can smell fear? 🤔😂

[@aprildawnsunshine4326]

I wonder how this relates to the way teens and parents interact given teens have such a stronger BO and are less able to notice others BO?

[@tlac4120]

Sniffing Memorized patterns Empathatic reactions Like or dislike Leave or stay S.M.E.L.L.

[@sarah.s.flanagan]

They did another scent-based study where (huge paraphrase disclaimer) group A wore undershirts for a month and then group B smelled the undershirts and ranked them most-attractive to leadt attractive. They found that humans are more attracted to the smell of potential partners who are the more genetically different than to the small of petential partners who are genetically similar

[@Kissarai]

So you CAN smell fear!

[@aaryanrana8081]

Does it mean that I'm less likely to stress out when I go to take an exam, if I smell something nice during the time when I am attempting it?

[@COKTilYouDrop]

Wake up and smell the roses

[@michaelmayhem350]

Empathy evolved as a survival tool for our species, this perfectly explains the prevalence of sociopaths

[@swimdownx6365]

Is there a gender basis for producing Chemosignals I noticed a gender Bias in emphathy

[@amicableenmity9820]

@@swimdownx6365 Tsh, as if women are more empathetic. Some of the worst people in my life have been other women.

[@robertrowan9893]

Just as an anti-perspirant is something of an olfactory force field to our senses, so is my use of coconut oil within my armpits too, I guess. In my blue collar capacity, I trust it to keep a check on less favourable bacterial strains, and in so doing, similarly keep a check on Beoderant too. I just wonder what certain canines think when I use ACV for the same given reason? Not just for insulin spikes and scalp is unlikely part of that train of thought, or is it?

[@thedukeofweasels6870]

So they really can smell your fear

[@peterknutsen3070]

TRIGGER WARNING: 2:05

[@walterschneider8033]

Talk about research that could end up in the wrong hands

[@sarah.s.flanagan]

People who are ill have a very distinct smell also

[@crackquack8184]

Is that Christoph Waltz on the thumbnail?

[@kloassie]

And how exactly would this invalidate the use of the word 'smell', as the thumbnail seems to suggest?

[@MinkytheMinkY]

It's also an irritant.

[@minatomonoshi4933]

the real question is, could some type of empathy inducing aromatherapy be invented to help us sociopathic and apathetic people

[@rainydaylady6596]

I wonder if anyone has done research on how out of touch a person with no sense of smell can be in during social interactions?

[@schopenhauer5427]

I can't help but think someone might use this knowledge for the bad one day

[@ikeekieeki]

the emotional contagion bit is weird bc it is unconscious

[@rodepet]

Would this have to do with hypersensitivity?

[@dandandan18]

What does this bode for people with anosmia and parosmia, especially due to COVID

[@christophersummers1939]

a wise man once theorised, "it's only smells"

[@NotJamy]

Does this apply to a congenital anosmic?

[@cornbreadfedkirkpatrick9647]

If and when I sweat I smell just like my dad I kid you not exactly just like him I clean daily.

[@Carlos-ln8fd]

Thats amazing

[@mfaizsyahmi]

This is partly why it's so hard to get empathetic online, we're missing the BO part of communication. Alsp, please please please say Psych wrt to the channel being shut down soon. :(

[@LuminantLion]

So smell-o-vision when

[@neilsiebenthal9254]

Well that's super interesting

[@joelmckinney16]

Tim Roth's nose in the leader image?

[@GKMcWhite]

I had to lookup what BO means. Why not use the word body odor once before using the abbreviation. oo?

[@olorin4317]

So as a species, we are perfuming ourselves towards assholery.

[@ashenbreese]

so, this seems beneficial for non-human animals in the same way that something like fight/flight/freeze is, but similarly, how about that dark side? in a society that has excessive amounts of anxiety inducing stress, among many other destructive factors, how often does the effects of emotional contagion make our already bad set of circumstances worse? that is, promoting things like anxiety even in the absence of direct, personal stressors. now add in fear and disgust on top of all the hatred in the world today and that seems to make for some pretty toxic soup.