Are you a fan of dark chocolate and black coffee and more generally bitter food? A study reveals what lies behind these preferences.
A recent study has revealed that lovers of dark chocolate, black coffee, and more generally bitter foods have psychopathic traits. Recall that the psychopath is a person with psychopathy, a psychic imbalance characterized by a deficiency of control of emotions and impulses and the inability to adapt to the environment leading to anti-social behavior. Without necessarily being a violent and bloodthirsty criminal, the psychopath could be much closer to you than you think.
The link between bitterness and psychopathy
A study was conducted by Christina Sagioglou and Tobias Greitemeyer of the Psychology Department of the University of Innsbruck (Austria) with 953 people aged around 35 to determine the correlation between food attraction bitter taste and traits of the human personality. She revealed that bitter food people tend to have much darker personality traits than normal.
Two different experiments were conducted, one of which consisted of asking a series of questions to measure the appreciation of 500 volunteers for a list of foods and foods. Each participant had to qualitatively rate the different dishes on a scale of 1 to 6 ranging from not appreciating anything to strongly like.
Subsequently, they received a questionnaire about their personality and measuring their level of aggressiveness, their Machiavellian side, the extent of their psychopathy and narcissism, etc ... For a more precise measure, the researchers conducted a second study gathering 450 people, second study that only confirmed their findings. Bitter taste preferences stand out as a strong indicator of Machiavellianism, psychopathy, narcissism and everyday sadism, according to the researchers. While participants with a fondness for sweetness were perceived as more agreeable, why do people with psychopathic tendencies prefer bitter-flavored foods? According to the researchers, this could be explained by the fact that they feel an excitement at the time of consumption of these foods.
The theory of excitement is based on Nature. According to evolutionists, bitter-tasting, wild foods reported the presence of poison and provided a form of excitement when consumed. Besides, who would accept to swallow poison if not a psychopath?
Close correlations have been established with daily sadism which is a concept of benign masochism (taking pleasure in performing painful activities). In the case of intrinsically aversive foods, pleasure can come from the fact that the body signals rejection when the person knows that there is no real danger.
Of course, although the results of the study are overwhelming, a preference for a certain type of food is not enough to establish the psychopathy of an individual.
How to distinguish a psychopath?
It is difficult to distinguish a psychopath from a normal person because psychopaths are good at hiding their unhealthy tendencies. This is why people end up in dangerous situations and do not know that a person represents a danger for them only when it is too late.
In order to avoid these situations, Jacob Wells, who considers himself a psychopath, recommends observing and identifying the following when trying to identify a psychopath: high self-esteem, the need for stimulation and impulsivity, pathological lying, the ability to manipulate others and a lack of remorse and empathy.
Psychopaths are able to mask their true personality and to mimic normal reactions. They know how to react in certain situations even if their reactions may not be sincere.
However, it is possible to see when a psychopath is not sincere by observing his gestures. When providing an emotional response, their body language or tone of voice may not match the emotion expressed. This is an indication that they may be simulating and that you have to be careful about the trap they are trying to reach you.