There’s been this idea that people who love sweets tend to have a sweet demeanor, and while it’s been observed here in the U.S. before, science has now found it’s true internationally, too. A new study from Gettysburg College finds that people with a sweet tooth tend to have a more cheerful, friendly personality.
“Research has shown that a preference for sweet foods is associated with agreeableness,” study authors write. But they wanted to test whether this is true everywhere, so they recruited 1,629 participants from other countries, including China, Germany, and Mexico, as well as the U.S.
- Participants filled out surveys to determine their levels of openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion and neuroticism.
- They also rated a variety of sweets, from candy to maple syrup and raisins, and ranked their taste for sweet, sour, salty, bitter and spicy foods to see where they fall on the flavor spectrum.
- It turns out, there’s a cross-cultural correlation between being good-natured and being a fan of sweets.
- But why is this true? Researchers aren’t exactly sure, but they conclude that it mostly has to do with the language and not the psychological result of a sugar infusion.
- They haven’t shared whether those who love hot sauce have a fiery temper or if fans of trail mix are a little nutty.
“The preference for sweet foods is a universal human characteristic that is described as positive,” study authors explain. “If people understand that sweetness and niceness are linked via metaphor, and people believe they are either nice or like sweet foods, people might seek consistency by viewing the self as one who is nice and likes sweet foods.”
Source: NY Post