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posted by martyb on Saturday November 03 2018, @01:21AM   Printer-friendly
from the dark-observations dept.

Are You Really a Psychopath If You Drink Black Coffee?

A study has linked bitter taste preferences to antisocial personality traits. But there's more to the headlines than meets the eye.

Do you drink your coffee black? According to quite a few headlines circulating online right now, that might make you a psychopath. The same goes for people who enjoy other bitter foods and beverages, like tonic water, kale, broccoli rabe, and radishes.

We were, of course, curious to know more, so we dug up the original study on which these claims are based. We also looked at some of the other research on taste preference and personality traits. It turns out, a fondness for bitter foods is linked to some pretty dark characteristics. But it’s also not as straightforward as some articles have made it out to be.

That study in the news right now—the one linking coffee to psychopathic personality traits[0]—was actually published in 2016, in the journal Appetite. The study authors, from the University of Innsbruck in Austria, wrote in their introduction that “some connection between taste preferences and personality has been established, yet the evidence is still scarce.”

[...] But back to the results: The researchers found that bitter taste preferences were “positively associated with malevolent personality traits,” especially everyday sadism and psychopathy. “Taken together, the results suggest that how much people like bitter-tasting foods and drinks is stably tied to how dark their personality is,” they wrote.

[...] a person’s taste preference explained less than 5% of his or her likelihood of having dark personality traits. “This is a very small percent in psychological research,” Meyers says.

In other words, “you are more likely to learn whether a person has aggressive or psychopathic tendencies in a restaurant by watching how they treat you or their waiter,” Meyers says, “compared to watching how much they enjoy their bitter foods and drink.”

[...] They do point out that a preference for bitter taste might be a useful “real-world behavioral correlate” of antisocial personality traits, similar to unusually intense eye contact. Nowhere in their study do they say, however, that liking bitter beverages automatically makes you a sadist or a psychopath.

So while these findings may make for fascinating conversation around the office coffee machine, they’re certainly no reason to start shunning your coworker who likes her brew black. And, by the way, coffee is good for you! And that’s especially true when you go easy on the cream and sugar.

I suppose one should question whether those traits are truly "anti" social, or merely asocial. Always, question authority.

[0Individual differences in bitter taste preferences are associated with antisocial personality traits (DOI 10.1016/j.appet.2015.09.031$)]


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  • (Score: 2) by Subsentient on Saturday November 03 2018, @02:09AM (4 children)

    by Subsentient (1111) on Saturday November 03 2018, @02:09AM (#757163) Homepage Journal

    I like my coffee as dark and bitter as my sense of humor.

    --
    "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
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  • (Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday November 03 2018, @02:13AM (1 child)

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Saturday November 03 2018, @02:13AM (#757166) Homepage

    Get Ready for it, as you will experience an attack on your life as you have never experienced before.

    Come into my web.

    • (Score: 2) by Subsentient on Saturday November 03 2018, @05:37AM

      by Subsentient (1111) on Saturday November 03 2018, @05:37AM (#757203) Homepage Journal

      Don't bother. I've been dead for a very long time.

      --
      "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
  • (Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 03 2018, @02:16AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 03 2018, @02:16AM (#757167)

    dark and bitter

    That's how I likes my bitches!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 04 2018, @05:10AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 04 2018, @05:10AM (#757510)

      I prefer mine bottomless.