This is weird. A new study suggests body odor may determine whether you associate with others who share your political ideology. Yes, really.
Stay with me here because this is really pretty strange.
CNN highlights a paper from the American Journal of Political Science that had individuals rate the smells from strong liberals and strong conservatives without knowing anything about their political leanings. Researchers found that people found the odors from those who aligned with their own political views more attractive.
According to the study, smell helps individuals choose mates because the sense can signal possible social and biological behaviors, such as disease avoidance, disgust sensitivity, cheater detection and social cohesion.
"For example, greater disgust sensitivity, which is intimately interconnected with the neural substrates of smell, predicts more conservative positions, particularly around issues involving morality and sexual reproduction," the article notes.
