Document Type : Research Paper
Author
Abstract
To investigate the effects of suggestion on olfactory perception, a group of library science students (N =33) participated in two experiments. I In the first experiment, a bottle containing tea which resembled to alchohol in color brought into the class and the students were told that some alcnohol would be poured into plate and would be put before the class. They were asked to report when they smilled the alchohot, 39 percent of the subjects reported that they smelled the alchohol in less than five minutes. (x2=4.84 , p<0.05). In the second experiment, a bottle containing real atchohol was shown to a psychology class (N=34), and the first experiment was explained to them. Then, they were told that the bottle contained tea and the aim of the experiment was to see if they could smell alchohol when they know it was tea. Then some atchobot was poured into a plate and was put before the class. The subjects were asked to report if they didn't smell the alchohot, 26.5 percent of the subjects did not smell the alchohol despite of the strong smell (x2=22.09 , p<0.001). These experiments showed that suggestion could induce or eliminate the sense of
olfaction. The results were discussed in the framework of social psychological theory of perception.
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