Author Archives: Susan Vaught

It happens all the time.  Everyone does it.

We frequently have to deal with the reckless driver who blows a stop sign, the rude man who pushed his way to the front of the line at Starbucks, the clumsy waitress who spills the drinks while delivering them to the table.  We make decisions about people’s dispositions after seeing them perform one action, without taking into account pertinent situational factors. It is far less often that we put forth the cognitive effort to consider such situational influences.  It could very well be that the driver who neglected to stop at the stop sign did not see the sign because there was a tree branch blocking it, the man at Starbucks was actually rushing to the front of the line was actually giving another person in the front his credit card that he had dropped by the door, and the waitress was tripped by one of her coworkers who was playfully teasing her.

We do not tend to think of situations in this way.  It is more likely that we would attribute these behaviors as a manifestation of the disposition of these individuals. Social psychologists call this the Fundamental Attribution Error.  Lee Ross was the first to use this term to describe the phenomenon. He went so far as to argue that the Fundamental Attribution Error is the “conceptual bedrock” of the field of social psychology.

Ross, L. (1977). “The intuitive psychologist and his shortcomings: Distortions in the attribution process”. In Berkowitz, L. Advances in experimental social psychology 10. New York: Academic Press. pp. 173–220.

Cassandra A. Sturycz, B.A.
Psychology Practicum Student

Research has examined the effect of scents have on mood, behavior, and performance.  There is evidence that certain scents produce positive effects in these areas.  What is this magical odor that will help me finish my 50-page thesis, you ask? Well, this is where it gets tricky.

Research has shown that there is not necessarily a universal scent, such as mint or a perfume, that will help everyone’s mood.  Rachel S. Herz, a professor of psychology at Brown University, explains that the scents that will benefit an individual the most are those associated with a positive mood through experience.  The olfactory bulbs are a part of the limbic system and work directly with limbic system structures such as the amygdala, which is associated with the processing of emotional information, and the hippocampus, which deals with associative learning. Therefore, odors are incredibly efficient influences on emotional state due to these close ties between olfaction, associative learning, and emotion.

This effect of odors on mood is what leads to an increase in performance efficiency.  Research has found positive correlations between positive mood, as produced by pleasant ambient odors, and various task performances.  As positive mood increases, researchers have noted increases in vigilance, efficiency, and creativity. The odors that are most effective at influencing one’s mood will be odors with which one has a positive emotional association.  For example, if an individual has fond memories of baking cookies with his/her mother, a cookies scented candle may increase their mood, when it is burned. If this individual burns such a candle in the office, he/she may see increases in job performance.

Cassandra Sturycz
Psychology Practicum Student