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The effects of incidental scents in the evaluation of environmental goods: The role of congruity
Author(s) -
Bonini Nicolao,
Graffeo Michele,
Hadjichristidis Constantinos,
Perrotta Valentina
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
psych journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.417
H-Index - 14
eISSN - 2046-0260
pISSN - 2046-0252
DOI - 10.1002/pchj.76
Subject(s) - prosocial behavior , psychology , social psychology , cognitive psychology , advertising , business
We investigated whether pleasant ambient scents influence hypothetical and real money contributions toward environmental goods. We hypothesized that they would increase such contributions more when they were congruent with the target goods than when they were incongruent or when no scent was released. The results supported this congruity hypothesis. We offer a mental accessibility account: Pleasant scents that are congruent with a target good make positive information about that good more accessible and thus promote prosocial behavior.