Human Fear Chemosignaling: Evidence from a Meta-Analysis

Alarm pheromones are widely used in the animal kingdom. Notably, there are 26 published studies (N = 1652) highlighting a human capacity to communicate fear, stress, and anxiety via body odor from one person (66% males) to another (69% females). The question is whether the findings of this literature reflect a true effect, and what the average effect size is. These questions were answered by combining traditional meta-analysis with novel meta-analytical tools, p-curve analysis and p-uniform-techniques that could indicate whether findings are likely to reflect a true effect based on the distribution of P-values. A traditional random-effects meta-analysis yielded a small-to-moderate effect size (Hedges' g: 0.36, 95% CI: 0.31-0.41), p-curve analysis showed evidence diagnostic of a true effect (ps < 0.0001), and there was no evidence for publication bias. This meta-analysis did not assess the internal validity of the current studies; yet, the combined results illustrate the statistical robustness of a field in human olfaction dealing with the human capacity to communicate certain emotions (fear, stress, anxiety) via body odor.