TY - JOUR
T1 - Choosing from an optimal number of options makes curry and tea more palatable
AU - Onuma, Takuya
AU - Sakai, Nobuyuki
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments: Part of this research was carried out under the Cooperative Research Project Program of the Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 MDPI Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute. All rights reserved.
PY - 2019/5
Y1 - 2019/5
N2 - Previous studies have shown that affording people choice increases their satisfaction with subsequent experiences: the choice effect. However, it remains unclear whether the choice effect occurs in the hedonic response to foods and beverages. Thus, the present study aimed to demonstrate the choice effect on the palatability perception. Ready-to-serve curries and tea were presented as options in Experiment 1 and Experiment 2, respectively. Experiment 1 failed to demonstrate significant differences among palatability ratings for a curry chosen by participants and for a curry chosen by the experimenter. However, Experiment 2 demonstrated that participants perceived a tea chosen by themselves as more palatable than another tea chosen by the experimenter, regardless of the fact that the two cups of tea were identical. Intriguingly, the effect was obtained only when the number of options was neither too small nor too big. These results indicate that the exercise of choice from an optimal number of options, even when the choice is ostensible and illusory, makes people perceive their chosen foods and beverages as being more palatable. Some implications for the domain of food business are also discussed.
AB - Previous studies have shown that affording people choice increases their satisfaction with subsequent experiences: the choice effect. However, it remains unclear whether the choice effect occurs in the hedonic response to foods and beverages. Thus, the present study aimed to demonstrate the choice effect on the palatability perception. Ready-to-serve curries and tea were presented as options in Experiment 1 and Experiment 2, respectively. Experiment 1 failed to demonstrate significant differences among palatability ratings for a curry chosen by participants and for a curry chosen by the experimenter. However, Experiment 2 demonstrated that participants perceived a tea chosen by themselves as more palatable than another tea chosen by the experimenter, regardless of the fact that the two cups of tea were identical. Intriguingly, the effect was obtained only when the number of options was neither too small nor too big. These results indicate that the exercise of choice from an optimal number of options, even when the choice is ostensible and illusory, makes people perceive their chosen foods and beverages as being more palatable. Some implications for the domain of food business are also discussed.
KW - Choice
KW - Curry
KW - Palatability perception
KW - Tea
KW - The number of options
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U2 - 10.3390/foods8050145
DO - 10.3390/foods8050145
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85069766264
VL - 8
JO - Foods
JF - Foods
SN - 2304-8158
IS - 5
M1 - 8050145
ER -