Abstract
For millennia flowers have been used to convey romance, yet their effect on human romantic behavior has not been explicitly tested. In two experiments we show that women's perception of male attractiveness and their potential mating behavior are positively affected by simple exposure to flowers. In Study 1 women who were exposed to flowers while they watched a video of a man perceived the man to be more attractive and sexier. They also reported being more inclined to accept a date from him. In Study 2 women who were exposed to flowers responded more favorably to an explicit solicitation from a male confederate in a subsequent interaction. The results show that the simple exposure to flowers had a significant effect on women's perception of mating attractiveness and behavior.
Keywords:
Flowers reflect our emotions and moods. They often convey feelings of compassion, regret, merriment, or even romance (Heilmeyer, 2001). Regardless of the situation, flowers can be associated with positive emotion. Dimberg and Thell (1988) exposed undergraduates to slides of snakes or flowers while their facial EMG activity, autonomic reactions, and stimuli ratings were measured. It was found that snakes elicit increased corrugator responses, larger initial skin conductance responses, and aphasic heart-rate deceleration, whereas flowers evoke increased zygomatic activity, skin conductance response, and heart-rate, attesting that flowers are positive stimuli. The therapeutic effect of flowers has been reported in the literature. Park and Mattson (2008) found that patients randomly assigned to hospital rooms with or without plants and flowers during their postoperative recovery periods show significantly lower intake of pain medication, more positive physiological responses (lower blood pressure and heart rate), and less pain. Psychological and social benefits associated with exposition to flowers have also been reported. Haviland-Jones, Rosario, Wilson, and McGuire (2005) found that women who receive floral bouquets display the Duchenne or true smile more frequently than women who receive a fruit basket. These authors also found that a flower given to men or women in an elevator elicits more positive social behavior than people who received a pen. For example, they found that people receiving flowers initiate conversation more frequently or stand closer than those who did not receive flowers. For these authors, receiving flowers elicits positive emotion in humans, especially in women. This was supported in an additional study in which the authors found that elderly women who received flowers had more positive mood scores.
Given this positive effect of flowers on women's emotions, smiling and social behaviors, we predicted that the simple presence of floral bouquets near women would elicit positive evaluation of a male target and more favorable receptiveness to a courtship solicitation addressed by a male confederate.
Study 1
We examined whether women exposed to flowers in a room would evaluate the attractiveness of a male target more positively. We expected that exposure to flowers, relative to no exposure, would increase the attractiveness of the target.
Method
Participants and design
A total of 46 female social science undergraduates were randomly assigned to one of two indoor conditions (flowers vs no flowers). Participants were tested individually and randomly assigned to the flowers condition (n = 23) or the neutral no flowers condition (n = 23).
Procedure
Participants were welcomed by a female experimenter and informed that the purpose of the research was to study impression formation about someone presented on video. The 6.5 × 4 m room where the experiment was carried out was equipped with a sofa, two armchairs, a coffee table, and a 2 × 0.6 × 1.2 m sideboard. A laptop computer was placed on the coffee table. In the flowers condition three vases with flowers (a mix of 10 roses, 15 French marigolds, and 15 daisies) were placed in different areas of the room (two vases on the two opposite ends of the sideboard and one on the coffee table). In the no flowers condition the same vases without flowers were set in the same places. Participants were instructed to sit in an armchair in front of the computer and watch a 5-minute videotape in which a young male responded to a short survey on his food habits. Participants were instructed to observe the target carefully and to form an impression of him. The experimenter asked the participant if further information was required before viewing the video, indicating that she would leave the room during the broadcasting of the video and would return for the second phase of the experiment. The experimenter left the room and the participant started viewing the video. After exactly 7 minutes (2 minutes after the end of the video) the experimenter reappeared in the room and invited the participant to follow her into another room for the second phase. The experimenter and the participant entered a second room with only one table and four chairs where no vases or flowers were present. The participant was asked to respond to several questions about the young man who appeared in the video. The participant was then asked to rate the extent to which she found the young man to be physically attractive and sexually attractive, and to indicate whether she would likely accept a date with him. A 7-point Likert type scale (1 = not at all, 7 = extremely) was used to evaluate these assessments. At the end of the experiment each participant was asked what she thought the purpose of the research was and whether there was anything unusual about the experiment or the material. None of the participants expressed any suspicion. Following this participants were fully debriefed.
Results and discussion
The means of the three variables, physical attractiveness, sexual attractiveness, and dating potential, were used as dependent variables ().
TABLE 1 Mean values of participants’ ratings of physical and sexual attractiveness and dating potential according to the experimental conditions
Preliminary analysis showed significant correlation between the three dependent variables (from. 67 to. 74) and a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted. There was a significant effect of experimental condition, F(3, 42) = 3.10, p = .04). Further analysis revealed that, in the flowers condition, the target was perceived to be more physically attractive, F(1, 44) = 4.60, p = .04, 
= .07, and sexually attractive, F(1, 44) = 3.94, p = .04,
= .06. The participants also expressed higher willingness to date the target, F(1, 44) = 9.30, p = .004,
= .16.
As was expected, we found that women exposed to the simple presence of flowers in a room showed more interest towards a man presented on video. These results fit well with the popular conception that flowers are expected to convey romance (Heilmeyer, 2001). While flowers may elicit romantic feelings in women, the question still remains whether flowers could influence women's dating behavior. Experience 2 tested this behavioral aspect.
Study 2
We focused on the effect of flowers on behavior and tested whether women exposed to flowers in a room responded more favorably to an explicit courtship request by a man. We expected that exposure to flowers, relative to no exposure, would increase participants’ compliance.
Method
Participants
A total of 122 social and managerial science female undergraduate students, ranging in age from 18–20 years (M = 19.1, SD = 0.8) were solicited to participate in a research project on personal perception that was to be carried out the following week. A survey to collect demographic data administered to the young women included a question about whether the participant had “someone in her life at the moment”. Only those participants who declared having nobody in their lives (N = 64) were retained for the experiment. The conditions were the same as in the first study, with participants being randomly assigned to the flowers condition (N = 32) or the neutral no flowers condition (N = 32).
Confederates
The selection of the confederate was based on an earlier test in which 18 young women (none of whom participated in the first study or this study) were asked to rate the physical attractiveness of a group of 12 men. The evaluation was made using a full-face photograph of each target. The women were instructed to evaluate each target on a scale ranging from 0 (low physical attractiveness) to 9 (high physical attractiveness). The confederate with the highest score for attractiveness and the lowest standard deviation was chosen by the experimenter (M = 7.16, SD = 1.19). The confederate was briefed about the workings of the experiment but was unaware of the ultimate aim of the study and the experimental conditions to which the participants were exposed.
Procedure
Each participant and the male confederate were first welcomed by the experimenter and led together into a room with a table and four chairs (the second room used in Study 1). A laptop computer was present on the table.
The experimenter informed the participant and the confederate that the study focused on personal perception and that each of them would view, separately, a video of a young man. The experimenter then led the participant into an adjacent room, leaving the confederate to view the video alone. This room was the first room used in Study 1 and was disposed in the same manner, with or without flowers. As in the first study, the experimenter instructed the participant to watch the video and to wait until she reappeared. After 7 minutes the experimenter re-entered the room and asked the participant to follow her into the room where the confederate was waiting. The participant and confederate were then asked to share their impressions about the video they had just viewed, while the experimenter left the room briefly to get a printed questionnaire.
The two participants were then left alone. The confederate, who was unaware of the experimental condition of the participant, had been previously instructed to present his impression first, always using the same arguments in each interaction. After 5 minutes, the experimenter re-entered the room and stopped the interaction. At this point the experimenter indicated that there was a small problem with the computer and that she needed several more minutes to print the questionnaire. She then left the room for the second time, leaving the participant and the confederate alone, but without a specific task to accomplish (they were simply asked to wait for her return).
During this phase the confederate had been instructed to smile and to say to the participant, “My name is Antoine, you seem very nice. I wonder, would you give me your phone number? I could call you later and we could get together for a drink somewhere next week.” After making his request the confederate was instructed to wait 10 seconds, and to gaze and smile at the participant. If the participant accepted the solicitation, the confederate wrote her phone number down. If the participant refused, the confederate was instructed to say, “Oh well, never mind. It's not a problem” and smile again. A few seconds later the experimenter re-entered the room. The participant was probed for suspicion (none of the participants detected a relationship between courtship request and flowers), fully debriefed, and thanked.
Results and discussion
The number of participants who complied with the confederate's solicitation was used as the dependent variable. In the flowers condition 81.3% (26/32) complied with the confederate's request compared with 50.0% (16/32) in the neutral no flowers condition. The difference was significant, χ2(1, N = 64) = 6.92, p = .008, r = .31.
Our hypothesis is supported by the results. Women exposed to flowers—relative to women not exposed—more frequently accepted a courtship request. This confirms the behavioral effect of exposure to flowers.
General Discussion
These results confirm the popular conception that flowers are able to activate romance and act as a facilitator in dating. We found that women exposed to floral arrangements were more receptive to a dating solicitation expressed by a man and evaluated more positively the attractiveness and sexual attractiveness of a male target presented on video. In our experiments flowers were simply present in the environment of the woman and not offered to them. Haviland-Jones and her colleagues found that flowers enhance women's positive emotions and social behavior (Haviland-Jones et al., 2005). However, in their experiment a flower or a floral bouquet was offered to women.
It may be that actual flowers act as environmental cues that, in turn, affect a woman's behavior and her perception towards a man. Dimberg and Thell (1988) showed that slide pictures of flowers evoke increased activity in facial muscles associated with smiling, higher skin conductance responses, and increased heart-rate, suggesting that flowers act as positive stimuli. However their comparisons were made with groups of participants who were exposed to slides of snakes. Liu (2002) observed that women, but not men, who were shown slides of cut flowers have decreased electro-dermal activity, suggesting more relaxation among the participants. These studies imply that even brief exposure to virtual flowers is sufficient to obtain physiological effects, particularly in women. In our experiments these effects were possibly reinforced because the flowers were physically present in the environment and the participants were exposed to them for a longer time. This may explain why we found that flowers significantly affected dating thoughts and behavior.
Further explanations of our results are also possible, given that there is little theory to guide us. First, our results may be explained by a positive learned response associated with flowers. Throughout history lovers have given flowers to each other as a token of their longing, devotion, and love (Heilmeyer, 2001). On Valentine's day, for example, people are exposed to ads that encourage men to offer flowers to their girlfriend or their wife. Thus this symbolic associative link between love and flowers may explain why women in our experiment were more receptive to a courtship request by a man when exposed to flowers in their immediate environment.
Second, our results might be explained by a positive mood factor. Haviland-Jones and colleagues (2005) found that women who were offered flowers elicited the Duchenne or true smile more frequently than women who received a fruit basket and reported higher humor score. These authors claim that flowers have the property to act as mood enhancers, and they used this mood theory to explain why people who were offered flowers express social behavior such as conversation initiation. In the experiments reported here mood was not measured. Future research might test the mediating effect of mood on the relationship between flowers and compliance to a courtship request. However, mood is probably not the only factor that explains such behavior, because Haviland et al. (2005) found that flowers enhanced social behaviors and mood only when their participants actually received a single gerber daisy stem. Indeed, in one experimental condition reported by these authors, the participants were exposed to a basket of gerber daisies, but did not actually receive anything. In this condition it was found that participants did not exhibit positive facial reaction or social behaviors more frequently than in the control condition or in the condition where participants received a pen. Thus, in the Haviland (2005) study, the simple exposure to real flowers appears to be insufficient in eliciting positive reaction and variation in social behavior. In contrast, in our experiments the simple exposure to flowers did elicit more receptivity to social interaction. Nonetheless there are some methodological differences to be considered when comparing our study with that of Haviland et al. (2005). In the latter, participants were exposed to flowers for several seconds only, whereas in our experiment participants were exposed to flowers for periods of 10 to 12 minutes. Longer exposure is perhaps necessary to elicit positive thoughts and mood. It will be important in future studies to evaluate the role of such positive emotions associated with exposure to flowers in a dating context.
Finally, the results we obtained might also be explained by a decrease in particular types of negative emotion and affect. For example, Park and Mattson (2008) found that exposure to flowers and plants reduces anxiety, stress, and fatigue. Clearly additional research is needed to test the psychological processes that are associated with exposure to flowers. Meanwhile, the studies reported here hopefully provide important evidence and insights into the effects of flowers on influence, compliance, and persuasion.
| Flowers | No flowers | |
|---|---|---|
| Physical attractiveness | 4.83 (.65) | 4.39 (.72) |
| Sexiness | 4.57 (.73) | 4.13 (.76) |
| Dating | 5.39 (.89) | 4.56 (.95) |
| Standard deviations are presented in parentheses. | ||
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