If you venture over to the snack cupboard, are you reaching for a packet of crisps or a chocolate bar?
According to a new study, your answer could reveal a lot about your personality.
Researchers surveyed people in China, Germany, Mexico, and the US about their snack choices, as well as their key characteristics.
Their analysis revealed that, across all four countries, people with a sweet tooth tended to be more agreeable.
The findings could explain why we tend to describe nice people as ‘sweet’, according to the team from Gettysburg College.
‘The association between agreeableness and the preference for a sweet taste coincides with terms sometimes used to describe kind and nice people as well as people we love in some cultures (e.g., “sweet”, “sweetie”, or “honey”),’ the researchers wrote.
Previous studies have found a link between a preference for sweet foods and agreeableness.
However, until now, it’s remained unclear whether or not this link applies across different cultures.
If you venture over to the snack cupboard, are you reaching for a packet of crisps or a chocolate bar? According to a new study, your answer could reveal a lot about your personality (stock image)
Writing in their study, published in the Journal of Research in Personality, the team, led by Brian P Meier, wrote: ‘Although studies have found an association between preferences for sweet tastes and agreeableness, past work has focused on samples in the U.S.
‘This association may or may not occur in multiple cultures.’
The team enlisted a total of 1,629 participants – 373 from China, 471 from Germany, 400 from Mexico, and 399 from the US.
Firstly, the participants completed a survey to assess their levels of the ‘Big 5’ personality traits – Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Extraversion and Neuroticism.
Next, they completed a ‘sweet taste preference scale’.
‘[This] has ten items (candy, caramel, chocolate cake, honey, ice cream, maple syrup, pears, raisins, strawberries, and sugar) that people rate their preference for using a 1 (dislike strongly) to 6 (like strongly) scale,’ the researchers explained.
Participants were also asked to rate their preferences for sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and spicy foods.
The results revealed that, across participants from all four countries, agreeableness was ‘significantly and positively’ correlated with sweet taste preferences.
The results revealed that, across participants from all four countries, agreeableness was ‘significantly and positively’ correlated with sweet taste preferences (stock image)
‘The results of this project suggest that the agreeableness and sweet taste preference link extends across cultures that vary greatly in social values, norms, customs, languages, and locations,’ the researchers said.
The team highlights that metaphors for sweetness are universal.
‘Eating sweets is a universally pleasant experience more so than other taste types,’ they added.
‘Additionally, being nice and caring seems to be evolutionary adaptive to both individuals and societies compared to traits like conscientiousness or openness.
‘The universal occurrence of these metaphors and the preferences for sweet food and nice/caring people suggests that sweet taste experiences might be an apt perceptual experience for conceptualizing more abstract concepts like niceness.’
