Ultimately, It’s Your Nose

A research at Northwestern University has concluded that cleanliness fosters morality.

Research by the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University has concluded that cleanliness fosters morality. They conducted fairness tests, with subjects completing tasks in a room that was either unscented or one that was sprayed with a common citrus-scented window cleaner. In one test, participants were given $12, which they were told came from an anonymous partner in another room. They had to decide how much of it to either keep or return to their partners who, they were told, had trusted them to divide it fairly. Subjects in clean-smelling rooms gave back $5.33 on average. The others gave back $2.81. A second text asked the subjects’ interest in volunteering for a Habitat for Humanity service project. On a 7-point scale, those amid the fresh scent ranked at a 4.21 interest level, on average, while those in the normal room came in at 3.29. Follow-up questions found the participants didn’t notice the scent. The researchers think businesses could take something from the findings.