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either the test is blind, or we know something about one of the two identical samples. Or did I miss something?
Understand your confusion.
I am not a student of such tests, nor have I ever participated in one, so the term "blind smell test" probably means something different to me than to someone who posseses those qualifications.
What I mean by a "blind smell test" is that the test participants have absolutely no fore-knowledge of what they are sampling.
In theory, this should ensure that they will be responding to the smell itself, and not to any suggestion implanted in their mind before they sample the sample.
If one knew in advance that one of the samples was a Jo Lo fragrance, and another a no-name sample, this would not be a "blind smell test" according to my definition, even if both samples were identical.
As an aside, it seems to me that the genius of the so-called "Pepsi Challenge" is that test participants are required to indicate a preference for one sample or another. They are not given the option of indicating that they can't tell the difference.
I have conducted my own small-scale surveys to test my hypothesis and my surveys demonstrate that most people (including myself) do not possess sufficient refinement in their 'taste buds' to distinguish a difference between Pepsi and Coke. This means that most people who 'prefer' Coke will choose Pepsi at least half of the time.
That's the genius of the "Pepsi Challenge".
A small percentage of the population can actually distinguish a difference between Coke and Pepsi in a 'blind taste test', but the percentage is too small to undermine the effectiveness of "the Pepsi Challenge" given that people with a 'true preference' will tend to cancel one another out.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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To what extent, if at all, does our expectation of an odor color our experience of it? Mercy; I'm sure it does. As Anne of Green Gables said, a rose just could not smell so pretty if it were called a skunk cabbage. The mind does play an important role: think of sucking on a wedge of lemon. Does your mouth pucker up? Those of you who have had this unfortunate experience: think of rotten potatoes. Are you making a face?
Can the mind be tricked into perceiving superiority even where none exists? Sure. Otherwise the advertising business wouldn't be so big.
can we be tricked into actually believing, upon using it, that it is superior Not everybody all the time, I shouldn't think, but some of the people some of the time, I believe so.
Like eta, I have a very good sense of smell, which also affects how we taste things. *I have always been able to discern Coke from Pepsi. This means that most people who 'prefer' Coke will choose Pepsi at least half of the time.
That's the genius of the "Pepsi Challenge". Interesting--when you think about it, these statements strongly imply that Pepsi is in the inferior position--for whatever reason. (I believe the company was created some time after Coca-Cola had secured its own place in the market. But aside from that, MY opinion is that Pepsi is horrid.)
Helen--when I was a child, the scent of cloves would make me almost think I was levitating, with joy; it was my favorite gum; and I still love the scent, though I don't think I'd wear it as perfume! Speaking of which--I wear lily of the valley! It is also my favorite flower, for its looks as well as its...fragrance.
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Carpal Tunnel
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I have wondered how it is possible for ewes to be able to
distinguish their own lambs by odour. In a pen with dozens
of ewes and lambs, they get sorted out quickly. It seems
that there is something in the lambs stools that the mothers
recognize, as the ewes sniff the lambs' rear ends.
With regard to musk and perfumes, I think the importance
of the musk is that it is able to accumulate and retard the
dissipation of the fragrance molecules. I posted a while
back about the high value of whale ambergris in the perfume
industry.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Dr Bill, I've noticed that ewes and lambs are pretty good at picking up on each others individual bleating as well, which I find much more puzzling. If my observation is correct that is.
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Pooh-Bah
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>>women could sniff out genetic differences in potential mates<<
The ensconcing, in common language, of a supposed direct reciprocal and 'inter-personal' relationship of gene to bearer and bearer to gene is an interesting phenomenon. At the level of a woman smelling a potential mate, I would say she was able to detect her own feelings of pleasure or displeasure. And I would even take it the next step and say that this functions to detect 'histocompatibility.' But to say 'she can detect the genes..' seems a stretch of the popular imagination, probably arising in a professional term of art or classroom shorthand.
>>i think this too is part of a natural selection against incest<<
Similarly, I would probably tend more towards a more immediate explanation -- that her newly mature offspring represent competition for scarce resources such as food. (There is a theory that human children remain small a long time because it makes them unable to compete with adults in food gathering). This, especially when there are overtones of social taboo.
--as usual, I speak in both cases as a layperson.
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Re: when I was a child, the scent of cloves would make me almost think I was levitating, with joy; it was my favorite gum; and I still love the scent, though I don't think I'd wear it as perfume!
do you like carnations? they smell like cloves. (think about it--or get a green one tomorrow and refresh your sence of smell. cloves are lovely in perfume!
ginger too, and other spice smells. (Opium, Red Door, and other perfumes are spicy/(sometimes called oriental) scents/perfumes.) i also love Revlon's Ciara -a light spicey perfume.
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Pooh-Bah
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As for the 'Illusion' business; this is the 'Emperor's new clothes' thing isn't it? Only the child (or equivalent), ignorant of the adults' hang ups, can give a totally unaffected opinion on the perceived splendour of the expensive versus the clone.
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I very rarely wear perfume. My Hubby and I don't like the same fragrances, so I avoid wearing perfume when I am with him (I love him, perfume I only like  ). When I go out of town though, I will often wear a lemon-vanilla eau de toilette.
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Only the child (or equivalent), ignorant of the adults' hang ups, can give a totally unaffected opinion on the perceived splendour of the expensive versus the clone.
How true. And a child has always more alluring splendours to explore than those which allure adults.
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