***WARNING: Chocolate is not living. (I can’t really decide whether or not this is a good thing, but whatever.) The experiment was done with people though, so it IS a biological discovery***
Summary: A recent study shows that you’ll like the kind of chocolate you had last the most. Researchers did a test on this. Five different kinds of chocolate were taken randomly from a bag and given to test subjects to taste. Before the subjects were given the fifth and final chocolate, some were told “Here is the next one”, while others were told “This is the last one.” Subjects didn’t know how many they were testing, only that they were to rate how enjoyable it was from 0-10. The last chocolate eaten was rated to be the best, no matter what kind it was, when the subjects were told it was the last one (64%). The people who weren’t told which one was last only rated it as the best 22% of the time. 52 people – male and female – were tested with Hershey’s kisses.
Critique: My personal favorite is dark chocolate. It is, indeed, what I had last. The woman at Costco glared at me for taking more than one dark chocolate sample, but it was worth it. It tastes like coffee a little, and even though I don’t like coffee itself because it’s quite bitter, the taste appeals to me. (Different types of Chocolate are made depending on what is put in. Dark chocolate is called such because it’s closest to chocolate without the embellishments. Milk chocolate obviously has milk in it, making it creamier. White chocolate has the most cream, making it the worst for you. So it’s lucky for me that dark chocolate is the healthiest!)
Impact: People from the world of psychology say the results are because of the natural human attachment to finality. An example is graduation. This is called the positivity effect. So think to yourself right now what your favorite chocolate is and think about how long ago you had it. Don’t you now realize how cool the experiment and the results are?!
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209102003.htm
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I think that this is very cool. I think that the last chocolate was rated the highest because when people were told that it was the last one they savored it more than the previous pieces. I've realized that when I stop thinking when I'm eating, look down, and realize that I only have a little bit left, I take the time to enjoy the last few bites I have. I’m not sure when they rated the chocolates, but if the subjects rated them after they had tested all of them, the last one would be freshest in their mind. I thought it was interesting when you talked about the human attachment to finality. Even though the people were doing something as enjoyable as eating chocolate, they may have been excited to be done and hold “the end” to higher expectations than the beginning or the middle. When people are told, “Here’s the next one” they think that there’s something coming later. They’re subconsciously waiting for the end. If someone said “Here’s the next one” and it ended up being the last one I would be really upset. There’s also something to be said that people should enjoy the present more and not get caught up with what may or may not happen to them in the future.
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