Use Lavender to Gain Trust – Even from Strangers

Did you know that you can use lavender to gain trust? This is because Essential Oils act on the brain. We see a range of different effects from each oil, manifested in our behavior, mood, recall and much more. In essence I suppose, these oils act like drugs, albeit beneficial drugs! I came across an article on the effects of Lavender on Time Magazine (full accreditation below the article) and thought it might interest our readers. Apparently, if you want people to trust you – use Lavender!

You Can Use Lavender to Gain Trust Study Says

If you want to sneakily lull people – colleagues, staff, business partners, even strangers  into liking you, a new study published in the journal Frontiers suggests you may want to start infusing your meeting places with lavender.

Researchers in the Netherlands led by cognitive psychologist Lorenza Colzato knew that how we respond to others depends not not only on our relationships but also on environment, the authors write. One 1997 study, for instance, showed that prosocial behavior, like picking up a dropped item from the floor, went up significantly when pleasant fragrances were in the air—rather than when air just smelled like air.

The researchers wanted to further test the theory that smell influences behavior so they set up a trust game in a room misted with one of two aromas: lavender, which is considered soothing, and peppermint, which is associated with alertness and energy. The researchers put a few drops of essential oils, diffused by a candle, in the room before the 90 young adults in the study came in to play.

The trust game is a test behavioral researchers use to measure levels of trust. One person (the “trustor”) gets money, and they can keep it or give any amount of it to the other person. When they do, the profits are tripled, and the person who just got a cash infusion (the “trustee”) gets to decide whether to share it with the original trustor.

Without being told about any change in scent, when people smelled lavender, they gave significantly more money than when they had sniffed peppermint or nothing at all – showing conclusively that we can use lavender to gain trust.

“Lavender has this effect because of its calming property,” said study co-author Lorenza Colzato, cognitive psychologist and assistant professor at Leiden University in the Netherlands, in an email.

Source Accreditation

This article is based on the original article on Time.com and appeared in January 2015.