EFFECT OF INFORMATION ABOUT ODOR ON CAUSAL ASCRIPTIONS FOR ILLNESS

The effect of information about detection of an odor on causal ascript ions for illness was investigated. In four different scenarios percept ions regarding the cause of a hypothetical symptomatic experience were compared for events described with and without an odor. Participants (N=106) were asked to imagine themselves becoming ill after engaging i n several common experiences, including pumping gasoline at a service station. In two scenarios participants read that they smelled an offen sive odor while pumping the gasoline whereas in two other scenarios no information about an odor was provided. Further, information about ga soline described with or without odor was presented either early or la te in the stimulus paragraphs. All participants then responded to ques tions including an open-ended question asking them to make causal attr ibutions for their illness. Participants in the odor-suggested group a scribed the cause of illness more frequently to gasoline and perceived the probability of other potential causes as lower than did participa nts in the nonodor suggested group. Findings suggest that peoples' imp licit theories about toxicity contain causal connections between malod orous stimuli and illness. The implications of implicit theories for p erception of illness are discussed.