Emotions Evoked by Traditional Chinese Herbs for Cosmeceuticals

抄録

Odor directly evokes emotions, and plays an important role in purchase decision of cosmetics. This research studied emotions evoked by 10 traditional Chinese herb odors. Fifty Chinese and fifty Korean female students participated in the experiment. Each participant smelled all the odors and filled in Emotion and Odor Scales to report their emotions. Participants were also asked to choose one among three cloths, which can best match the odor. This part was involved to study olfaction-touch interaction. Chinese participants rated significantly higher than Korean participants in all the positive emotional dimensions, and in the arousal dimension. Participants from both China and Korea preferred Sweet Osmanthus and Raspberry, while disliked Camphor and Musk. Participants tended to relate more pleasant odors to softer and smoother touch.