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New Scientist:
Secrets of the home: My house made me do it

7 February 2015

Our personalities shape our homes, but it's not one-way traffic: they exert a powerful psychological effect on us too. Take the way it smells. ''If there are clean smells in the house, you are more likely to keep it clean'', says Paul Dolan, a psychologist at the London School of Economics. In one study carried out in 2005, Dutch psychologists found that the aroma from a hidden bucket of citrus-smelling cleaner was enough to make volunteers do a much better job of cleaning up biscuit crumbs - even though they weren't aware of the scent. Although the research was carried out in a lab, Dolan suspects that we are likely to behave in a similar way at home.

This article was published by the New Scientist on February 7, 2015
Link to article here

Related links
Paul Dolan webpage
Wellbeing Programme webpage

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