Sniff of confidence, or insecurity

[Royston]

Thanks again for all your responses. Like YT2095, I seem to have the same effect on dogs and cats for that matter (they just take a liking to me for some reason), however apparently not with other people.

 

With the pheromones suggestion, that's certainly one idea, and definitely worth considering, but going by some of the responses, it still seems to me a subtle reaction of nervousness, perhaps assertiveness or just being taken by surprise, as well as sniffing for each others pheromones.

 

So to me it's a reaction that has been toned down since our more primitive selves as we live in a much more complex society, and are regularly in close vicinity to strangers (walking around town et.c.) We are just used to being around people we don't know, so the reactions we have around other people are much more subtle, where as our primitive ancestors would have been highly effected by the presence of another group they had not met...caution, curiosity, perhaps fear, and possibly a need to assert who is the dominant group. I'm just guessing, but it seems reasonably plausible.

[scicop]

this tread is funny!! its so TRUE!!! Especially here in NYC....you can't imagine how many sniffs I hear on a daily basis!! Usually it happens right when your equal or slightly past the person! Females do it just as often as males.

 

Go figure.

[Louise]

I'm going to agree with you, Snail. Just reading this, I've started to notice the 'sniff' amongst the people I know. What's funny is, I do it constantly, too. It have a little trouble believing that it's a 'hey, you smell funny' subtlety because, well, I don't have a sense of smell... however, that tidbit of information doesn't make that theory fallace. I was able to smell in my youth, so I have reason to believe it could just be out of habit, now.

 

I’m a little late in this discussion, but I support your guys’ theory because it sounds very similar to another reflex, the contagious yawn. I do know that yawning could have come from our ancestral past, something called a ‘stereotyped action pattern’ that used yawning as an aggressive signal. For example, yawning is an agressive social signal among animals like monkeys and baboons. Dominant male baboons engage in ‘threat yawns,’ a gesture some scientists interpret as being more threatening than a raised eyebrow or a stare. I have this, oh, feeling that this yawning nature is the same with humans, as the same relationship could be with the sniff as well. Just a hunch.

Anthropologist John Handidian spent seven hundred hours watching black apes yawn, and he concluded that the ones doing the yawning are the dominant males: the number one male averaged three yawns and hour, while number four yawned only once every three hours. These apes, and many other related species, have especially long canine teeth which a yawn displays to great advantage.

We claim to cover our mouths because to do so otherwise would be ‘rude,’ but maybe that’s our civilized way of saying it’s somehow threatening. I’ll betcha some of you have probably yawned by now; since I started typing this up I’ve yawned five times. An open-mouthed yawn directed at you may not actually be a physical threat, but it can convey an unflattering, even unfriendly message (even if we don't have prominent canines to help)

 

Anyways, I'm getting a little... erm... offtopic... (and I'll bet there's probably a yawning thread out there that had said all that already) but my point is that I think the 'sniff' is relatively close in nature to the 'yawn'. I don't think the sniff is a threat, specifically, but perhaps a reaction to intimidation.

 

However, all of my thinking could be absolutely wrong. Always possible. By the way, I didn't proofread this, so if it seems a little choppy and just wrong, well... you know why.

 

[/end speech]

[jdurg]

well I`m only 133 pounds in weight and little shorter than you at 5 foot 9.

 

Holy good lord! You're a toothpick there YT! I'm 5'10" and weigh approximately 170 pounds and people think I'm a skinny one.

[Royston]

this tread is funny!! its so TRUE!!! Especially here in NYC....you can't imagine how many sniffs I hear on a daily basis!! Usually it happens right when your equal or slightly past the person! [b']Females do it just as often as males.[/b]

 

Yeah, I noticed this to. I'm trying to think what would be the cause of such an (almost) universal trait. If it's not a gender thing, or a reaction asserting dominance, maybe it's something incredibly simple, such as noting you're aware of the other persons presence, and nothing more.

 

Or, it could be a number of reasons, and 'sniffing' is the most subtle reaction we have at our disposal that's more socially exceptable than twitching, yawning or any other nervous reaction.

 

Louise, LOL, I yawned half way through reading your thread. Needless to say, there was nothing boring in what you proposed.

[blike]

Coquina has an interesting take on this. Many animals identify each other by smell--perhaps some primitive reflex in humans?

 

It may also be related to the awkwardness of walking by someone in silence. One other behavior I notice often is that when people are approaching someone they know enough to say hi to, but not enough to stop and have a conversation with, they pretend to be preoccupied with things off to the side up until the time when it's appropriate to make eye contact and say hi.

 

I'll be listening for the sniff next time.

[alt_f13]

I don't get the 'sniff'. Usually it's just a blatant evasive action. Especially when it's dark and I'm running full speed in their direction.

 

I'm not really sure what this is...

[alice]

Maybe we sniff because we want to smell strangers. The smell of a person may sometimes show what they are like.

[sabbath]

It may also be related to the awkwardness of walking by someone in silence. One other behavior I notice often is that when people are approaching someone they know enough to say hi to, but not enough to stop and have a conversation with, they pretend to be preoccupied with things off to the side up until the time when it's appropriate to make eye contact and say hi.

 

Aye! I plead guilty.

[alice]

Why don't we gather maybe about 10 people in random. Of course, we have to make sure that they are all strangers to each one of them. We'll grab a person, let thim in a room and see who sniffs. Then, after a few hours or minutes, we'll give them a questionare to answer. Sort of like what the MythBusters did when they wanted to see if yawing was contagious or not.

[[Tycho?]]

I have never heard of such a thing, although its possible I do it without realizing it. I'll check next time I walk somewhere.

 

But this may be based in instinct. Animals identify eachother largely by smell; just look at cats or dogs meeting something, one of the first things they do is smell it. This sniff could be a left over reaction from when the smell of a person was more important than it was now. It would make sense that humans also have this insticnt to identify others via smell. Just an idea though, who knows.

[Genecks]

I sniff to get a sense of my surroundings. Otherwise, I only sniff to memorize the olfactory sense of a human.

[alt_f13]

I sniff to get a sense of my surroundings. Otherwise, I only sniff to memorize the olfactory sense of a human.

The wolfman liveth!

 

It's amazing the lengths people go to to avoid eye contact as well. I've started looking directly into peoples' eyes when I pass them on the street since I noticed this. Those that look back are rewarded with a smile. It's my way of giving back to the community.