It’s in our nature to think about death. Have you noticed that when we describe death, we often connect it with scenes of dead humans, animals and flies? Did you know what’s the connection between them? It’s the smell.
Studies have shown that the human nose can sense a wide range of smells. Although some of the smells can’t be placed into any known category, the nose still reacts to them. One of these scents is caused by putrescine, a chemical that the body produces when it starts to decay.
Animals consider the smell to be a sign of danger. The scent of putrescine means that a predator is nearby or that their life is in danger.
Scientists made 4 different experiments using putrescine, water and amonia to prove that the human’s reaction to putrescine is same as those of the animals.
1. Vigilance
During the first experiment, the participants were exposed to the scent of putrescine and tested out their alertness. The experiment showed that the participants who were exposed to putrescine were more alert and showed more vigilance than those participants exposed to water and amonia.
2. Escape behavior
The second experiment included an unsuspecting group of people. The people were given different scents to smell and they had to rate their repugnance and intensity. The researchers wanted to see the people’s reaction to the smell and how fast will they walk away from the smell. People who smelled putrescine walked away more quickly. This proved that the scent evoked a strong motive to escape.
3. Escape and threat-related cognition
During the thrid experiment, people that were exposed to the scent of putrescine were given to complete a word-stem task. This experiment showed that most of the people exposed to the scent completed their task using words related to escape and thread.
4. Defensiveness and hostility
During the last experiment, participants were exposed to a smell they couldn’t detect. The participants were given a text to read and evaluate the author. The participants couldn’t detect the subtle smell of putrescine, but the showed defensiveness.
People are affected by the smell of putrescine, consciously and subconsciously. Our nose can detect it and smell it. We react to it, and we recognize it as the smell of death.