Culture and odor categorization : agreement between cultures depends upon the odors

This study evaluated the effect of culture on the relationship between psychological dimensions underlying odor perception and odor categorization. In a first experiment, French, Vietnamese and American participants rated several perceptual dimensions of everyday odorants, and sorted these odorants on the basis of their similarity. Results showed that the three groups of participants differed in their perceptual judgments but agreed in categorizing the odors into four consensual groups (floral, sweet, bad, and nature). Three dimensions––pleasantness, edibility, cosmetic acceptability––discriminated these groups in the same way in the three countries. In a second experiment, the participants…