title: Individual differences in bitter taste preferences are associated with antisocial personality traits.
abstract: In two studies, we investigated how bitter taste preferences might be associated with antisocial personality traits. Two US American community samples (total N = 953; mean age = 35.65 years; 48% females) self-reported their taste preferences using two complementary preference measures and answered a number of personality questionnaires assessing Machiavellianism, psychopathy, narcissism, everyday sadism, trait aggression, and the Big Five factors of personality. The results of both studies confirmed the hypothesis that bitter taste preferences are positively associated with malevolent personality traits, with the most robust relation to everyday sadism and psychopathy. Regression analyses confirmed that this association holds when controlling for sweet, sour, and salty taste preferences and that bitter taste preferences are the overall strongest predictor compared to the other taste preferences. The data thereby provide novel insights into the relationship between personality and the ubiquitous behaviors of eating and drinking by consistently demonstrating a robust relation between increased enjoyment of bitter foods and heightened sadistic proclivities.
authors.affiliation: University of Innsbruck, Institut für Psychologie, Innrain 52, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria. Electronic address: christina.sagioglou@uibk.ac.at.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sagioglou
authors.affiliation: University of Innsbruck, Institut für Psychologie, Innrain 52, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria. Electronic address: tobias.greitemeyer@uibk.ac.at.
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Greitemeyer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000374:Aggression; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004435:Eating; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008257:Machiavellianism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009289:Narcissism; D010555:Personality Inventory; D057566:Self Report; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013649:Taste; D055697:Taste Perception; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Aggression; Agreeableness; Bitter taste preferences; Dark Triad; Everyday sadism