The interactive role of odor associations in friendship preferences

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-94350-1
The interactive role of odor associations
in friendship preferences
Abstract
Who we choose to befriend is highly personal,
driven by idiosyncratic preferences about
other individuals, including sensory cues.
How does a person’s unique sensory evaluation
of others’ body odor affect friendship
formation? Female participants took part in a
speed-friending event where they made
judgments of friendship potential (FP)
following a 4-minute live interaction. Prior
to and following the speed-friending event,
participants judged the FP of these women
based solely on diplomatic odor (including
daily perfume/hygiene products) presented on
worn t-shirts. Participants also judged FP
based on facial appearance (a 100-ms
presentation of portrait photographs).
Judgments based solely on diplomatic odor
predicted FP judgments following in-person
interactions, beyond the predictive ability
of photograph-based judgments. Moreover,
judgments based on the live interaction
predicted changes in the second round of
diplomatic odor judgments, suggesting that
the quality of the live interaction modified
olfactory perception. Results were driven
more strongly by idiosyncratic preferences
than by global perceiver or target effects.
Findings highlight the dynamic role of
ecologically relevant social olfactory cues
in informing friendship judgments, as well
as the involvement of odor-based associative
learning during the early stages of
friendship formation.