A new study found that a person's personality traits can predict whether he/she likes plain and bland food or spicy and hot meals.
Pennsylvania State University researchers conducted a study that revealed certain aspects of an individual's personality can help predict whether that person prefers plain and bland or hot and spicy food.
Nadia Byrnes, MS, a doctoral candidate at Pennsylvania State University, conducted the study on 184 participants. All of them were aged between 18 and 45 years and were non smokers. Out of these participants, 63 percent were women. For the study, Byrnes used the Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking (AISS). The test analyses personality traits of sensation-seeking. People who score higher in the AISS test are known to be more open and bigger risk takers.
All participants were given 25 micrometers of capsaicin, an active component in chili peppers. As the intensity of the capsaicin burn increased, participants were asked to rate how much they enjoyed a spicy meal. Researchers noticed that people with scores below the mean AISS score disliked the meals very quickly after the intensity of the capsaicin burn increased. Participants with scores around the mean AISS scores disliked the meal but later than the first group. Participants with above mean AISS scores liked the spicy meals for a longer time.
"Theoretically, we know that burn intensity and liking are linear related. The more irritating a compound or food gets, the less people should like it," Byrnes said in a press statement. "But that's not always the case."
The findings of the study were presented at the 2013 Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Annual Meeting & Food Expo.
