Check Up: Sweet people dote on sweets

Ah, the power of chocolate.

Or maybe it's the power of metaphor.

Researchers intrigued by a branch of psychology that studies the interplay of metaphor and personality looked at whether sweet people are more likely to like sweets. In five studies using college students, they found that study subjects thought that fictional people who liked sweets were more agreeable - one of the five major personality domains that includes friendliness, cooperativeness, and compassion - than people who liked spicy, bitter, sour, or salty food. They also found that students who liked sweets or had just eaten chocolate really were more agreeable and likely to help others.

The unfunded studies were conducted at Gettysburg College and North Dakota State University and led by Brian Meier, an associate professor of psychology at Gettysburg.

Meier said that interest in the "embodied metaphor" began among linguists, who see descriptions like "I'm feeling up" as shortcuts to complex emotional concepts. Psychologists are interested in more concrete repercussions: the "untapped wisdom" of metaphors.

Researchers, for example, found that people holding a warm cup of coffee are more likely to like a stranger. Ambiguous faces are more often seen as angry when superimposed on backgrounds that convey heat.

The sweets study is the first to show that "taste metaphors are consequential in predicting social functioning," the group said.

Meier said he was interested in sweets because they are "universally pleasant" and often associated with likable people. You might call your lover "sweetheart" or refer to someone with a pleasant disposition as "sweet."

In one study, students were shown pictures of people and told only what foods they liked. Those who savored honey were more likely to be considered agreeable than those who liked grapefruit, lemons, peppers or pretzels.

In another test, students were given a piece of milk chocolate, a cracker, or nothing. Then they were told another professor needed help and asked how much time they were willing to volunteer. The chocolate eaters gave 24 minutes, compared with 17 minutes for those who ate crackers, and 14 minutes for those who got nothing.

- Stacey Burling