Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw , Wroclaw, Poland.
Division of Psychology, University of Stirling , Stirling, UK.
Biol Lett. 2024 Jun;20(6):20240120. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0120. Epub 2024 Jun 12.
What makes an odour pleasant or unpleasant? The inherent properties of the constituent chemical compounds, or the nose of the beholder, driven by idiosyncratic differences and culture-specific learning? Here, 582 individuals, including Tanzanian Hadza hunter-gatherers, Amazonian Tsimane' horticulturalists, Yali from the Papuan highlands and two industrialized populations (Poles, Malaysians), rated the pleasantness of 15 odour samples. We find considerable similarities in odour assessments across cultures, but our data do not fully support a claim regarding the universality of smell preferences. Despite cross-cultural similarities in olfactory assessments, probably driven by odour properties, we suggest that odour availability in ecological and cultural niches bears an undeniable effect on human odour preferences.
是什么让一种气味好闻或难闻?是组成化学化合物的固有特性,还是由个体差异和特定文化学习驱动的观察者的鼻子?在这里,包括坦桑尼亚哈扎狩猎采集者、亚马逊提斯曼农民、巴布亚高地的雅利人和两个工业化人群(波兰人、马来西亚人)在内的 582 人,对 15 种气味样本的宜人程度进行了评分。我们发现,不同文化之间的气味评估有相当大的相似之处,但我们的数据并不完全支持关于嗅觉偏好普遍性的说法。尽管嗅觉评估存在跨文化的相似性,这可能是由气味特性驱动的,但我们认为,在生态和文化小生境中气味的可获得性对人类的气味偏好有着不可否认的影响。