People’s Choices of Scent for Daily Necessities of Bathroom

Abstract

Scented products are being used more extensively in people’s life than ever before. In addition to traditional items such as perfume, daily necessities are being purchased exceedingly depending on scent. In this study, we intended to investigate scent in the perspective of arousal quality and people’s preference, for daily necessities associated with bathroom. Participants were instructed to choose their preferred scent in several situations of using bath/shower and toilets, and reported the rationale. As a consequence, it was found that people’s choice of scent significantly varied along with situations. Participants mostly pursued relaxation from low arousal scent, whilst refreshing and hygienic feeling from high arousal one. The pure preference of scent which was not narrated in rationale also influenced choices latently, indicating the tacitness in the Kansei process of decision making. Further research is encouraged to focus on both rationales and tacit knowledge to better understand people’s choices of scent.