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REAL LIFE NEWS: THE LAST CHOCOLATE IS THE BEST

by Hazed

Covering up the fact that you're cheating on your spouse isn't very romantic, so since it's almost Valentine's Day, let's talk about chocolate. My favorite subject.

An old ad campaign in the UK centered around the fact that giving someone the last chocolate in the pack was something you only do if you really love them (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YZ4R1fNYzI).

Now research shows that the last chocolate in the pack really does taste better than all those that went before, because the knowledge that something good is about to end makes us savor it even more. So it really is a big sacrifice to give up that last choccy.

The journal Psychological Science reports that researchers fed five small chocolates of different flavors to men and women, and asked them to rate their enjoyment of each one as they ate it. The order in which the chocolates were given varied. Some were told when they reached the last one, and others were not given any warning that the goodness was about to end.

Those that were pre-warned reported that the final sweet was much tastier than the others 66% of the time, whereas those who didn't know it was the last one only gave it the top rating 22% of the time.

This all makes sense - but then the researcher from the University of Michigan, Ed O'Brien, tries to speculate how this effect could be tied to our expectation that endings should be happy:

"Many experiences have happy endings - from the movies and shows we watch to dessert at the end of the meal - and so many people may have a general expectation that things end well, which could bleed over into these unrelated or insignificant judgments."

And then he goes completely off the rails by suggested that the effect could have negative consequences: for instance, the candidate who is interviewed first for a job may be viewed less favorably that the last one seen, or that exam candidates may suffer from having their papers at the top of the pile so they are marked first.

Since the process of marking papers, or interviewing candidates, is not usually considered pleasurable I would have thought the relief when it was over would negate any feelings that the last is the best!

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2098915/So-THATS-Rolo-hard-Study-finds-final-chocolate-pack-really-does-taste-best.html

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