Driving around inland Mendocino County these past weeks, I have been overcome with the profusion of spring flowers. Not only have the continuing rains filled Lake Mendocino to overflowing, but they have gifted us with more flowers than I can remember. My delight is ignited each time I turn a corner in town and see a picket fence brimming over with roses. I leave behind my daily stresses when visiting the countryside where the poppies and other wild flowers decorate the fields and hillsides.
It turns out that my response to the flowers that are blooming around us is the subject of increasing research. Studies are proving that flowers do impact our moods in a positive way and that they can be used to improve the quality of our lives.
Jeanette Haviland-Jones, PhD is a Professor of Psychology at Rutgers University and was the lead researcher on "The Emotional Impact of Flowers Study" which was published in the April 2005 issue of Evolutionary Psychology. Researchers conducted three studies all of which demonstrate that flowers induce powerful positive emotions. In study one flowers were presented to 147 women. They all responded with the Duchenne or true smile, characterized by raised corners of the mouth as well as crow's feet around the eyes . The women who received the flowers reported continued positive moods three days later. In study two, 122 men and women in an elevator were given either a flower, a pen or nothing. Those who received a flower smiled more, talked more and stood closer together than those receiving a pen or nothing. In study three bouquets were delivered to 113 men and women in a retirement community who reported positive moods and improved episodic memory.
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