If you like a super strong, freshly-roasted black coffee then you may be someone who prefers to take care of their health or just enjoys the strong, bitter flavors.
Or, you may have a very dark and scary side to you, meaning you possess psychopathic personality traits that include: anti-social behavior, sadism, and narcissism.
At least, that’s according to a study carried out by researchers from the University of Innsbruck in Austria, who investigated 953 Americans on their coffee preferences.
The investigation discovered a correlation between a love of black coffee and sadist or psychopathic tendencies.
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The participants were questioned about their opinions on sweet, sour, salty, and bitter meals and beverages. They were then instructed to answer four different personality surveys that evaluated anti-social characteristics such as psychopathy, narcissism, aggression, and sadism.
The results shockingly revealed that there was an important link between the “increased enjoyment of bitter foods” – which includes gin and tonics, black coffee, and dark chocolate – and “heightened sadistic proclivities.”
“In two studies, we investigated how bitter taste preferences might be associated with anti-social personality traits,” the study’s abstract read. “Two US American community samples 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,” they added.
The study discovered a correlation between a love of black coffee and sadist or psychopathic tendencies. Credit: cold snowstorm / Getty
According to Psychology Today, everyday sadism refers to a person who “takes pleasure from ordinary experiences in which cruelty is vicarious,” meaning they may enjoy gory films, violence, or think torture is exciting.
Meanwhile, Psychopathy is a disorder “characterized in part by shallow emotional responses, lack of empathy, impulsivity, and an increased likelihood for antisocial behavior,” as stated in the National Library of Medicine.
The research concluded that “bitter taste preferences are associated with more pronounced malevolent personality traits, especially robustly with everyday sadism.” They added that since a “large community sample” was questioned, it was a clear representation of a “wide section of the population”.
However, the investigators acknowledged the crucial distinction between preference and practice, emphasizing that some people will avoid consuming desired foods that are expensive or fattening while eating other meals to be social or healthy.
They also noted that food items such as beer, wine, chili pepper, and coffee are initially disliked, yet become fondly accepted through exposure and social consequences. There is also the case of food sensitivity, as well as experience, which can occasionally result from accidental consumption.
Nevertheless, if you enjoy your coffee black then you need to reevaluate your life…
