The emotional influence of flowers on social perception and memory: An exploratory study

•Flowers implicitly influence people’s mood and their mutual perception positively.•Projection tests can show latent emotional effects.•Odourless flowers may stimulate people’s sympathy.

BackgroundFlowers are reported to have immediate and long-term effects on health and well-being, emotional reactions, mood, social behaviour and memory, but emotional effects have rarely been studied in more detail.MethodsThis study investigated the influences of flowers on emotional perception of others in healthy adults (n = 64), divided over 4 conditions (3 flower arrays and a flowerless control). The test included a projection test judging pictures of people. One week later memory regarding pictures in the projection test, roommates and the room they had been in, was tested.ResultsFlowers, positively affected peoples’ mood and their perception of others. With flowers, pictures of other people were judged more positively and less negatively than without flowers. Odorous flowers had a more negative effect. The people in the pictures seemed a bit more open, but clearly less friendly, more arrogant and more depressed under its influence. Furthermore, flowers had a positive influence on the remembrance of the room the participants had been in.ConclusionFlowers exert a more positive influence by their visual appearance than by their odour, and act more on people’s feelings towards unknown others than on liking of the food they eat, whereas flowers have little impact on remembering eating situation aspects.Practical implicationThe use of flowers might perhaps be recommended for increasing relaxation and mutual understanding in public places (restaurants (non-odorous flowers), meeting rooms and waiting rooms).