Have you ever wondered why the last piece of cake,
the last slice of pizza, or the last bite in a hamburger tastes especially
delicious? Nope, there’s no magic involved since no ingredient is secretly
added. Just the fact that it is the last
makes it really special.
In a taste perception experiment by O’Brien and
Ellsworth (2012) published in the Psychological Science, they recruited 52 students
from University of Michigan to evaluate new flavors of Hershey’s Kisses. Each
participant was randomly given five chocolates with different flavors: milk,
dark, creme, caramel, and almond.
The participants were randomly assigned into two
conditions. One treatment is where an experimenter would tell them “Here is
your next chocolate” after every turn
up to the last chocolate. On the other condition, the experimenter still said
the same thing after every turn, but before giving the fifth chocolate, he
would say “Here is your last
chocolate”.
As they had predicted, it was found that the
participants rated the 5th chocolate (irrespective of flavor) more delicious
when they have been told that it was the last, as compared to when it’s just
another chocolate they would taste. They have also found that the overall
eating experience was more enjoyable when the last chocolate was made salient.
What makes it more intriguing is that it is just a
mock “ending” since the participants could still eat chocolates even after the
experiment. Just the fact that they were made aware that they would be eating
the last chocolate in the series makes the 5th chocolate extra-special, showing
our biases in end experiences.
Ersner-Hershfield et al. (2008) even show how senior
students always have mixed emotions whenever they are reminded of graduation
day as compared to those who are not expecting to graduate. Also, they found
that people perceive a meaningful location to be more beautiful when they were
told that they would see it for the final time. Indeed, temporal knowledge not only affects
taste perception, but also poignancy felt by people while perceiving situations
or places.
This is really interesting because the current
research suggests, aside from adding up to a plethora of evidence that
highlight how we give value to the “lasts”, that not only do we give importance
on the significant experiences that end, but on mundane things (i.e. eating
chocolates) as well.
This struck me as having a lot of astounding
implications. Our unconscious bias to endings may give a favorable but
undeserved treatment to the last student who presented a report, the last
performer we watched, or the last applicant for a job. Being able to anticipate
the last should also come hand-in-hand with the awareness that there is such a
thing as a positivity bias for these endings.
So the next time you open a pack of chocolates,
study for an exam, or just have lunch with a friend, why don’t you savor it by
thinking every day as if it is your last?
References:
O’Brien, E. & Ellsworth, P. (2012). Saving the Last for Best:
A Positivity Bias for End Experiences. Psychological
Science, 23(2), 163-165. Retrieved from http://www.sitemaker.umich.edu/eob/files/obrienellsworth2012.pdf
Ersner-Hershfield, H., Mikels, J., Sullivan, S., & Carstensen,
L. (2008). Poignancy: Mixed Emotional Experience in the Face of Meaningful
Endings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94(1),
158-167. Retrieved from http://people.stern.nyu.edu/hhershfi/resources/Research/Journal-of-Personality-and-Social-Psychology-2008-Ersner-Hershfield.pdf
Tuscany chocolate [Photograph]. (2008). Retrieved August 12, 2012, from http://www.wayfaring.info/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/tuscany_chocolates3.jpg
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