I was in Walmart this morning. Yes, indeed the Christmas decorations were there and have probably been up for quite some time. I smelled the pine scent that must've been deliberately sprayed near their collection of artificial trees and ornaments.
Even pre-school children know that smell is one of the five senses. It is probably the least obvious one though. The other four are used almost exclusively during our ordinary days. Surely, the ability to smell rancid meat aided the evolutionary process of humans. The fact odors can be classified as bad probably have to do with ancient survival genes.
Today, of course we can manufacture and disseminate smells to a greater extent than nature does. Therefore, I tend to think that smells deemed as good are most probably products of our learning environments. There's nothing particularly advantageous in believing that pine scent is nice. Of course, a prehistoric man may have taken quiet refuge in forests of them, but I'd venture our love of the smell of conifers probably has more to do with kitchen cleaners and Christmas. The smell of baking bread obviously links to taste and the physical comfort of consumed carbohydrates. Surely, there's nothing intrinsically nice about the smell of bleach but it is associated with nice warm sheets that more directly affect other senses.
These associations, to a great extent, explain why we appreciate specific olfactory moments. Just to prove this point, I have to admit to loving the smell of two-stroke engine exhaust. Ah, surely that has more to do with a little, 100cc Kawasaki I had in high school than with the motorcycle I was on in this photo.
