Word: clean
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...control, which posited that if a neighborhood looked orderly and cared for - with no graffiti or broken windows - potential wrongdoers would be dissuaded from committing crimes there. Now psychologists have proposed a similar theory, which suggests that people can be induced to behave virtuously when their environment smells as clean as it looks...
...scientists insist they didn't overdo it with the Windex, just a few spritzes - so we can rule out brain-cell death or intoxication-induced generosity as reasons why those receivers gave back so much of the booty. Rather, Liljenquist says, "a moral awareness was awakened in a clean-smelling environment." (Read "Overrated Optimism: The Peril of Positive Thinking...
...packet of tasks to complete. Included in the packet was a flyer soliciting volunteers and donations to the charity Habitat for Humanity. As expected, people in the Windex-sprayed room were more inclined to volunteer and give money than those in the unscented room - 22% of those in the clean group said they wanted to donate money, compared with 6% of the controls...
Liljenquist says the real-life implications of the study could be as simple as an office investing more in janitorial supplies than in expensive and intrusive surveillance equipment to keep workers in line. Other olfactory researchers suggest, however, that perhaps it wasn't the clean smell that made people more virtuous in the new study, but rather the smell of citrus; that is, people may have behaved better because they smelled something they liked, rather than something "clean." "It could be simply that a positive smell creates a positive mood, which encourages positive behavior. You cannot conclude it is cleanliness...
Read "How to Clean Up a Crime Scene...