Clean Smell Promotes Morality

A study finds that people sprayed with citrus-scented cleanser were fairer and more generous than otherwise. Scientists first evaluated fairness and discovered clean-smelling room subjects offered twice as much cash with a stranger in another room. In the second test, clean-smelling room participants were significantly more interested in volunteering and almost three times more likely to donate money.

Katie Liljenquist, lead author of the study, notes, "There is a strong link between moral and physical purity that people associate at a core level."