Terrible Body Odor Could Make People Nicer To You

[Jazzy]

Ditching deodorant won’t make you popular, but according to a new study from university KU Leuven in Belgium, it might make people nicer to you. Nicer because they pity you, and probably want to get away from you, but still: nicer. Researchers say that’s because “bad body odor is commonly associated with vulnerability, which triggers feelings of concern.” In other words, people will for sure look down on the smellier you, but they may also give you stuff.

The scientists put 36 participants into two groups: half sniffed a shirt doused in “human sweat, beer, and sprayed with foul smells,” while the other half were assigned “more neutral-smelling” T-shirts. Participants, who were told to “imagine the item belonged to someone they worked with,” generally showed more pity toward the imaginary coworkers who smelled worse.

That translates to real-life “prosocial behavior.” In a second experiment, researchers had 62 subjects do two mazes, the first alone, and the second with a partner wearing either a beer-sweat shirt or one of the neutral-smelling Ts. After both mazes, the subjects were given 11 chances to win movie tickets, which they could divvy up between themselves and their partners as they saw fit. The smellier the partner, the more credits they got.

So while “pitiable” may not be what most of us are going for — “I find [you] pathetic” (to borrow the language of the study) is not, like, the most encouraging thing you could say about a person — it seems like smelling bad isn’t necessarily as socially ruinous as previously thought.

Source

How would you react to someone with terrible body odor?

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

How would you react to someone with terrible body odor?

When I worked at a store, one of the cleaning guys never showered or wore deodorant because of cultural reasons I think. He would be 2 or 3 aisles away and I could smell him, I knew he was coming before I saw or heard him. I always just acted like I didn't smell anything when I saw / talked to him.

 

[Evil Eye]

Sounds like a plan! Let's get smelly, people!

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

No thanks. You go first.

 

[Jazzy]

There was a security guard at the hospital who had terrible body odor. You knew when he was coming and you knew where he'd been. Complaints were made by both staff and patients to the Administrator of the hospital. Not sure what exactly what was said to him, but I do know he no longer works there.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

There was a security guard at the hospital who had terrible body odor. You knew when he was coming and you knew where he'd been. Complaints were made by both staff and patients to the Administrator of the hospital. Not sure what exactly what was said to him, but I do know he no longer works there.

You think he got fired over it?

 

[DrLeftover]

So we should all just LOVE the French.

ahhhh... no.

 

[Jazzy]

There was a security guard at the hospital who had terrible body odor. You knew when he was coming and you knew where he'd been. Complaints were made by both staff and patients to the Administrator of the hospital. Not sure what exactly what was said to him, but I do know he no longer works there.

You think he got fired over it?

That's the general consensus.

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

There was a security guard at the hospital who had terrible body odor. You knew when he was coming and you knew where he'd been. Complaints were made by both staff and patients to the Administrator of the hospital. Not sure what exactly what was said to him, but I do know he no longer works there.

You think he got fired over it?

That's the general consensus.

What ethnicity was he? Seems odd to lose your job instead of taking a shower once in a while and putting on deodorant.

 

[DrLeftover]

If the bosses said he was creating an 'unpleasant work environment' for a protected class, such as women or minorities, they could fire him and be justified in court for doing it.

 

[Jazzy]

There was a security guard at the hospital who had terrible body odor. You knew when he was coming and you knew where he'd been. Complaints were made by both staff and patients to the Administrator of the hospital. Not sure what exactly what was said to him, but I do know he no longer works there.

You think he got fired over it?

That's the general consensus.

What ethnicity was he? Seems odd to lose your job instead of taking a shower once in a while and putting on deodorant.

I have no idea what his ethnicity was. I never got that close to him to even see his name badge. If I saw him headed in my direction, I would just the other way.

 

[Jazzy]

If the bosses said he was creating an 'unpleasant work environment' for a protected class, such as women or minorities, they could fire him and be justified in court for doing it.

Very true. There is a rule that no hospital personnel who come in direct contact with a patient/patients can be wearing perfume, cologne, aftershave or scented body lotion. The reasoning behind it, according to them, is that the patient/patients could be allergic to the scent or find it offensive.

 

[Jkage]

The hospital thing is a good point, never really thought about that.

I personally will tell the person something if I know them though but not a random stranger to avoid offending them.