In their research article -- A social chemosignaling function for human handshaking-- Frumin et al. at the Weissman Institute of Science find that people use the touch of a handshake to sample and sniff signalling molecules.
During the experiment, around 280 people were greeted either with or without a handshake. They were filmed using hidden cameras and observed to see how many times they touched their face. One finding of the study was that people constantly sniff their own hands -- keeping a hand at their nose about 22% of the time. Subjects greeted with a handshake significantly increased touching of their faces with their right hand. However, this only seemed to be the case when the subject had been greeted by a person of the same gender.
Examples of the media coverage recieved by this research can be found below;
- After handshakes, we sniff peoples' scent on our hand (New Scientist)
- Smell the glove (The Economist)
- Palm scent: the science of smelling after a handshake (The Guardian)
- The Weird Reason Humans Shake Hands as a Greeting (TIME)
- Smell you later! The surprising reason we shake hands (The Today Show)
- The secret, smelly science of handshakes (Washington Post)
- Study reveals the hidden reason people shake hands (Fox News)
- Handshakes’ Purpose Could Be to Send Scent Signals (Discover Magazine)
- Pleasure to smell you (The Scientist)
- Humans use traditional greeting to SNIFF people we have just met (Mail Online)
- Do you have a terrible handshake? (The Telegraph)
- Israelis find it’s the smell, not the grip, that makes a handshake (Times of Isreal)
- People Sniff Their Hands after a Handshake (New York Magazine)
- This might be why handshaking evolved (Smithsonian Magazine)
- People 'Involuntarily' Smell Their Hands After Handshakes (Huffington Post UK)
- What a Handshake Smells Like (The Atlantic)
- This is the real reason why people shake hands (Metro)
- Her handshake can tell you if she is made for you (Times of India)
