New Study Says the the Smell of Fresh Bread Makes People Nicer

Cambria Bold
Cambria Bold
Cambria Bold is the Executive Editor of Cubby, and one of Apartment Therapy Media’s first full-time editors from way back when. She was The Kitchn's founding Design and Lifestyle Editor as well as Managing Editor of Re-Nest, Apartment Therapy’s late '00s green living site. She…read more
published Nov 5, 2012
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A new study recently published in the Journal of Social Psychology says that the smell of freshly baked bread appears to make people act nicer to strangers. Apparently good aromas equal good deeds!

To test this hypothesis that bread makes people act nicer to strangers, researchers from the University of Southern Brittany in France stationed volunteers in front of bakeries and clothing stores and instructed them to drop an item (a glove, handkerchief) to gauge stranger response. The results showed that 77 percent of strangers in front of the bakery stopped to give the item back to the volunteer, while on 52 percent of strangers in front of the clothing boutique did so.

The study’s conclusion: “In general, spontaneous help is offered more in areas where pleasant ambient smells are spread…This experiment confirms the role of ambient food odors on altruism.”

Read More: How The Aroma of Freshly Baked Bread Makes Us Kinder to Strangers at The Daily Mail

Related: From Whole Wheat to Multi-Grain Peasant: 10 Homemade Bread Recipes

(Image: Faith Durand)