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It’s snack time; what do you do? You can pick an orange, some potato chips or a bag of pretzels and instead opt to go around the street to buy a candy bar. Why is that? If you’re making an effort to get those extra sugar intake; maybe it’s time you recognize your sweet tooth.
A sweet tooth is an indicator of how healthy your body is. Many people complain about their sugar cravings, but what if that sugar craving simply means that your body is lacking the energy it needs to keep working throughout the day. We need sugars to maintain our energy levels; it’s all about keeping with moderations though!
An exploration of how sweet tooth status can reveal so much about identity
Thought provoking BTRtoday and Dr. Michael Robinson, associate professor of psychology at North Dakota State University, got to chat about intriguing concepts like sweet taste metaphors and conceptual metaphor theory. He discusses how metaphors like these play an essential role in our everyday lives.
If you study behavioral psychology, you will soon discover the psychology behind the word ‘sweet’. From birth, infants are attracted to sweet flavors. This can be because sweetness signals carbohydrate, which our brains are designed to crave as a result of our need for energy. Psychology also plays a large role in using the term “sweet” to describe people.
According to one scientist, people who are sweet in personality tend to prefer sweet foods. However, they theorize that this pertains not just to sugar tastes but also salty tastes. They also found that sour-tasting foods correlate with people who have a negative outlook on life.
What can your taste of chocolate say about your personality? Dr. Christina Sagioglou, Social Psychologist and post-doctoral researcher at Innsbruck University agrees with Dr. Robinson. “There are quite a few studies that found correlations and causal relationships between various taste preferences and psychological variables,” she explains. “Our own research shows that drinking bitter drinks increases interpersonal hostility, and that bitter taste preferences are related to everyday sadism and sub-clinical psychopathy.”
Dr. Robinson found that when you enjoy sweet foods, you are likely to be more outgoing.
According to Dr. Ryan Robinson, if you happen to learn that someone has a sweet tooth prior to meeting them, then you’re more likely to automatically think that they’re a good person. But why? Robinson says it’s because people who crave sweeter food also crave social connections, so they may desire friendlier interactions.
However, according to Dr. Sagioglou, a person’s preference of sweet tasting foods does not have a causal effect on one’s pro-sociality.
If you’re an introvert, consider yourself skilled at reading people, attentive to detail, and focused on task completion. If you’re extraverted, expect having a constant need for social interaction with an immediate attention span.
The recent published work also brings attention to the fact that until recently, such ideas were largely based solely on a linguistic viewpoint. Recent studies showed robust linguistic metaphors can alter behaviors and thoughts in a metaphor-consistent direction.
A 2006 study, conducted by Meier and Robinson, found that people who prefer the taste of sugar are more likely to feel empathy for others.
Good or bad moods might be mapped out based on where positive and negative words are located on the computer screen. The researchers found that people processed words quicker depending on the type of word and where they were presented on the screen. For example, negative words were processed quicker when presented in the lower half of the screen, while positive words were processed quicker when presented in the upper half. Consequently, because we often use metaphors – like “I’m feeling down” for a bad mood and “I’m
They also reference their findings on why we say we’re “heated” or “boiling” when we’re angry. They found that ambiguous faces were thought to be angrier when superimposed on a background suggestive of heat versus non-heat, consistent with anger– heat experiences and metaphors (Anderson & DeLisi, in press).
Have you ever wondered why the people with a sweet tooth are often described as “sweet” or “agreeable”? It’s because there’s actually some truth to this statement, linguistically speaking.
People with a sweet tooth are not only prone to developing obesity …
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