Surprisingly, studies on the effect that odors have on human social interactions
are relatively rare, but their results are interesting. For example. Baron (1997)
conducted an experiment on the effect of pleasant odors on helping behavior.
He obsei-ved tliat passersby in a zone of a mall with pleasant odors (e.g.. pastry
baking) were more inclined to accept a request for change (e.g.. helping behavior)
than were passersby in a zone with neutral odors (e.g.. shoes or clothes). In other
words, these results suggest that the context of pleasant odors can promote
helping behavior. Gueguen (2001) showed that, on a pedestrian crossing, a
woman confederate who was instructed to inadvertently drop a glove, was helped