What Loving Sweets Might Say About Your Personality
It might seem like a sugar-coated overgeneralization to say that people with sweet dispositions also really like sweets, but a small new study is giving some weight to the idea.
The findings, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, show that people who like sweets are also more likely to be agreeable, friendly and compassionate than people who prefer other tastes, like bitter or spicy foods.
Researchers also found that people given sweet foods were more likely to help someone in need afterward, compared with people who don't eat anything or people who eat a bland food, MSNBC reported.
"Our results suggest there is a robust link between sweet tastes and pro-social behavior," study researcher Michael D. Robinson, of North Dakota State University, told EHS Today. "Such findings reveal that metaphors can lead to unique and provocative predictions about people’s behaviors and personality traits."
The findings were based off a series of experiments involving college students.
Another study published earlier this year also shows that there seems to be an association between having a sweet tooth and having a slim waist (though that study was admittedly funded by the National Confectioners Association), but researchers said that's likely because they exercise more to compensate for the extra calories, MSNBC reported.
Now if you were to completely disregard the scientific method, the Baltimore Sun published this (totally invented) guide to what your favorite candy says about your personality type.
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The Huffington Post First Posted: 10/13/11 04:30 PM ET Updated: 12/13/11 05:12 AM ET