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Chapter 7. Smell

An unspeakable sensory experience?
  • Danièle Dubois
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Sensory Experiences
This chapter is in the book Sensory Experiences

Abstract

The research in olfaction presented here was first developed within the paradigm elaborated by Rosch and Lloyd (1978) in psychology and by Berlin and Kay (1969) in linguistic anthropology. This research was decisive in our theoretical evolution1 and in the development of alternative concepts and methods to study olfactory experience (and sensory experience in general) both in everyday life situations, in expert professional practices as well as in experimental conditions. The exploration of olfactory experience requires us to consider sensory experience as embodied, multisensory, and cultural i.e. situated and critically invested with symbolic, social and emotional values. Olfactory experience is also, as other sense modalities, constrained by the material and technological development as well as the diverse cultural practices involving smells and odors. It also critically imposes to reconsider the epistemological grounding of the relations between language and cognition and invites to position psychological investigations accounting for humanities and social sciences (mainly anthropology and history).

Abstract

The research in olfaction presented here was first developed within the paradigm elaborated by Rosch and Lloyd (1978) in psychology and by Berlin and Kay (1969) in linguistic anthropology. This research was decisive in our theoretical evolution1 and in the development of alternative concepts and methods to study olfactory experience (and sensory experience in general) both in everyday life situations, in expert professional practices as well as in experimental conditions. The exploration of olfactory experience requires us to consider sensory experience as embodied, multisensory, and cultural i.e. situated and critically invested with symbolic, social and emotional values. Olfactory experience is also, as other sense modalities, constrained by the material and technological development as well as the diverse cultural practices involving smells and odors. It also critically imposes to reconsider the epistemological grounding of the relations between language and cognition and invites to position psychological investigations accounting for humanities and social sciences (mainly anthropology and history).

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements xvii
  4. List of boxes xix
  5. List of figures xxiii
  6. List of tables xxv
  7. Prologue 1
  8. Foreword 9
  9. Part I. Theoretical frameworks and some empirical results
  10. Chapter 1. The five senses and the cognitivist approach to perception 23
  11. Chapter 2. Visual experience of the road for safe driving 67
  12. Chapter 3. Experiencing and talking about colors 97
  13. Chapter 4. Exploring soundscapes 139
  14. Chapter 5. Exploring speech experiences 169
  15. Chapter 6. Exploring and talking about music 213
  16. Chapter 7. Smell 249
  17. Chapter 8. Taste as a holisensory experience 295
  18. Chapter 9. From perception to sensory experiences 333
  19. Part II. Methodological consequences and guidelines
  20. Chapter 10. Questioning sensory experience 371
  21. Chapter 11. Subjects or participants? 403
  22. Chapter 12. From stimulations to stimuli construction and selection 439
  23. Chapter 13. Procedures and outcomes 475
  24. Chapter 14. Making sense of the outcomes 505
  25. Chapter 15. Free sorting task for exploring sensory categories 537
  26. Afterword 573
  27. Further readings 577
  28. Index 587
https://doi.org/10.1075/celcr.24.c7

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements xvii
  4. List of boxes xix
  5. List of figures xxiii
  6. List of tables xxv
  7. Prologue 1
  8. Foreword 9
  9. Part I. Theoretical frameworks and some empirical results
  10. Chapter 1. The five senses and the cognitivist approach to perception 23
  11. Chapter 2. Visual experience of the road for safe driving 67
  12. Chapter 3. Experiencing and talking about colors 97
  13. Chapter 4. Exploring soundscapes 139
  14. Chapter 5. Exploring speech experiences 169
  15. Chapter 6. Exploring and talking about music 213
  16. Chapter 7. Smell 249
  17. Chapter 8. Taste as a holisensory experience 295
  18. Chapter 9. From perception to sensory experiences 333
  19. Part II. Methodological consequences and guidelines
  20. Chapter 10. Questioning sensory experience 371
  21. Chapter 11. Subjects or participants? 403
  22. Chapter 12. From stimulations to stimuli construction and selection 439
  23. Chapter 13. Procedures and outcomes 475
  24. Chapter 14. Making sense of the outcomes 505
  25. Chapter 15. Free sorting task for exploring sensory categories 537
  26. Afterword 573
  27. Further readings 577
  28. Index 587
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