Will Eating Sweets Make You Sweeter?
10/28/11
FRIDAY, Oct. 28 (HealthDay News) -- If you have a sweet tooth,
you may have a sweeter personality.
That's the finding of U.S. researchers who conducted a series of
experiments that compared people's tastes for sweets with their
behavior.
One test found that people who ate chocolate were more likely to
volunteer to help another person in need, compared to those who ate
a cracker or no food. Another test found that people tend to
believe that people who like sweet foods are also more agreeable or
helpful, but not more extroverted or neurotic.
"Our results suggest there is a real link between sweet tastes and pro-social behavior. Such findings reveal that metaphors can lead to unique and provocative predictions about people's behaviors and personality traits," Michael D. Robinson, a psychology professor at North Dakota State University in Fargo, said in a university news release.
The study was recently published in the
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
"It is striking that helpful and friendly people are considered 'sweet' because taste would seem to have little in common with personality or behavior. Yet, recent psychological theories of embodied metaphor led us to hypothesize that seemingly innocuous metaphors can be used to derive novel insights about personality and behavior," Brian Meier, an associate professor of psychology at Gettysburg College, in Pennsylvania, said in the news release.
"Importantly, our taste studies controlled for positive mood so the effects we found are not due to the happy or rewarding feeling one may have after eating a sweet food," he added.
Meier, noting that the findings might not apply across all
cultures, said similar cross-cultural research would be
informative.
More information
The American Psychological Association has more about
personality.
Copyright © 2011
HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Please be aware that this information is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.