The Observatories

Sunday – Sexual Instinct – Camphor (room 1)

It has been shown that women are ten times more sensitive to this musk (Camphor) than men (Toulouse and Vaschide, 1899). This is thought to be due to women being attracted to the musk for reproductive reasons, but in modern times it is more realistic that camphor is attractive for more caring reasons with its links to medical uses – i.e. today it is the biggest active ingredient in Vicks VapoRub.

Result
This fragrance also gave the results we expected: 40% of women found this room more positive, compared to only 33% of men. These results were pretty equal for the other odours on the other days. There was a huge increase in ‘anxious’ responses after the experience compared to that any of the other days.