Experts in Austria have weighed in on the correlation
Scientists believe those who shy away from sugary creamers and prefer to drink their coffee black are more likely to exhibit ‘psychopathic’ tendencies.
Despite the term ‘psychopath’ being thrown around quite a lot, it isn’t a clinical diagnosis and is often used to refer to someone with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD).
People diagnosed with ASPD are often characterized by their impulsive and sometimes criminal behavior, their genuine lack of empathy and their deceitful disposition.
Further signs include the inability to distinguish right from wrong and the ability to manipulate others.
While these ASPD sufferers can sometimes be hard to spot, researchers have allegedly discovered that the secret could be down to how you drink your caffeinated beverages.
In 2016, scientists from the University of Innsbruck in Austria sampled 953 Americans on their coffee preferences.
Americans were quizzed on preferences for bitter tastes. (Getty stock image)
The study – published in the popular international journal Appetite – saw the cohort self-reporting their taste preferences using ‘two complementary’ measures before answering four personality questionnaires.
These assessments were looking for Machiavellianism, psychopathy, narcissism, everyday sadism and trait aggression.
Moreover, tests wanted to asses the ‘Big Five’ factors of personality.
These are extroversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism, according to Simple Psychology.
Following the study, the Austrians collated results and discovered those who exhibited a preference for bitter tastes were also ‘positively associated with malevolent personality traits’.
It’s said that these people had the ‘most robust relation to everyday sadism and psychopathy’ and that the association held when researchers controlled for ‘sweet, sour, and salty 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.
Despite concluding that black coffee, gin and dark chocolate fans exhibited greater ‘psychopathic’ tendencies than others, scientists noted there was a crucial distinction between preference and practice.
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Bitter tastes include black coffee, gin and dark chocolate. (Getty stock image)
They wrote in the journal that some people will avoid consuming the likes of milk chocolate or full-fat milk due to having access to ‘healthier’ or less-expensive alternatives.
Furthermore, they added that linking taste preference to personality traits is ‘still in its early stages’ and that further study would be needed to be sure of the results.
Interestingly this isn’t the first time experts have discussed the alleged link between bitter food and psychopathic tendencies.
In 2015, Megan Willis, who is now an Associate Professor at Australian Catholic University, wrote a piece for The Conversation.
She claimed that recent results from a study showed a ‘weak correlation between psychopathy scores and participants’ scores on their general preference for bitter tastes.
“So you might say that people at the psychopathic end of the spectrum are slightly more likely to express a preference for eating or drinking bitter things in general.”
She added that if you want to know whether someone is a psychopath then the truth is that ‘most will reveal themselves soon enough’.
Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/Hitoshi Nishimura/Cold Snowstorm
