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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: 4, Insightful) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Saturday November 03 2018, @07:51AM (2 children)

    by Rosco P. Coltrane (4757) on Saturday November 03 2018, @07:51AM (#757216)

    I used to weigh 290 lbs. Years ago, I decided to drop the weight and I went on a one year crash diet. I now weigh 165 lbs.

    But I didn't go on a "regular" diet: I figured dieting the way people usually did it involved constantly craving for things they couldn't eat. Me, I decided to retrain my brain to enjoy things that are good for me instead. That way, when I'd reach my target weight, I wouldn't have to constantly fight the urge to eat junk food afterward to maintain my weight.

    So I learned to enjoy coffee without sugar, pasta without cheese, green veggies without sauce, replace greasy or sweet dressings with spices, etc. Yes, many of my meals are either bland, bitter or harsh-tasting, but I now crave these things because I forced my brain to like them. And you know what? I'm still a nice guy. I didn't start a career in BDSM, or began abusing my employees.

    By that token, I call the study bullshit: I *know* tastes can be 100% acquired. And I suspect they're highly linked to cultural habits too, depending on which country one has grown up and been fed what foodstuffs by their parents as a child.

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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by pkrasimirov on Saturday November 03 2018, @12:52PM (1 child)

    by pkrasimirov (3358) Subscriber Badge on Saturday November 03 2018, @12:52PM (#757259)

    > I didn't start a career in BDSM, or began abusing my employees.
    Umm... should we will ask them instead?

    </joke>
    Respect.

    Meanwhile in the coffee shop:
    -- One espresso, please. Black!
    -- ??? GTFO you racist psychopath!!

    • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday November 03 2018, @09:51PM

      by Gaaark (41) on Saturday November 03 2018, @09:51PM (#757397) Journal

      Ooooo...love espresso.

      --
      --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---