From Gross to Great
Al-Zahra Al-Haifi
Grade 6
Presentation
No video provided
Hypothesis
Hypothesis:
If they eat the food when they are hungry, then they will like it more, because when we are hungry, our senses are more eager to eat, and food tastes sweeter, so we might be more excited to eat a food which can make us like it.
Research
Background Research:
Does hunger change how food tastes?
Food tastes sweeter when our stomachs are rumbling, but bitter food also becomes less difficult to eat. This could make foods you do not like taste better. When you are full, your body does not need food as much as when you are hungry, so you might focus on the taste more and decide if you like it or not.
https://neurosciencenews.com/hunger-taste-food-15085/
Does Food Taste Different When You are Full?
At some point when you are full your stomach can't hold any more food, so rather than throwing up the food you have, your brain signals that the food tastes bad. If it is a food you hate, focusing on the taste more might make you hate it even more. But you also might find something in the food that might change your mind about it, and make you like the food more.
Why Do We Hate Some Foods?
Some foods taste bitter, sour, or weird because our brain is trying to protect us. The senses of taste and smell have evolved to alert us that bitter taste is poisons and the sour taste or off-putting smell are spoiled foods, so we might avoid them. Another thing might be taste aversion when you eat a food, then get a flu after it, which makes you think the food caused it even though it doesn't spread the flu.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3342754/
https://www.healthline.com/health/taste-aversion#overview
What Is the Mere Exposure Effect?
Social psychologist Robert Zajonc stated that if you try a hated food over and over, you might start liking it. Your taste buds (the parts on your tongue that sense flavor) can get used to the flavor over time. This means even foods you hate, now could grow on you if you keep trying them.
Variables
Variables:
Independent Variable
What I am changing in the experiment to see what happens:
Whether the person eats the food when they are hungry (have not eaten for 2 hours) or full (after eating a meal and about 80% full).
Dependent Variable
What I am measuring or observing in the experiment:
How much the participants like the food.
- How would you rate the food from 1-5?
- Would you eat this food again?
- Has your opinion of the food changed?
Controlled Variables
Things I am keeping the same for everyone to make the experiment fair:
1. How often they eat the food:
- Each person eats the food 2 times a day (first when hungry, second when full), 4 times a week.
- How long the experiment lasts:
- The experiment lasts for 1 month, with a 1-week break at the end, then 1 more day.
- The two "most hated" foods:
- Each person eats the same two foods they started with to eat through the experiment.
4. The questions I ask to measure how much they like the food:
- I will ask the same questions each time to make it fair, and the same questions for each person.
5. When they eat:
- They will eat after waiting 2 hours when they are hungry or after a meal when they feel 80% full.
6. The amount of food they eat:
The amount they eat stays the same for each type of food. For example:
- If someone gets 3 grams of celery one time, they will always get 3 grams of celery every time they eat it.
- If they get 5 grams of tomato, it is always 5 grams of tomato each time.
Procedure
Procedure:
1. Find the Participants
- Choose three people and have each of them choose two disliked foods.
2. Gather the Foods
- Gather the foods and decide when they eat first food for when they are hungry and the second for when full.
- Keep the portions the same for each time.
3. Set the Schedule
- For 4 weeks (Sun, Tue, Thu, Sat), participants eat both foods:
- First when hungry (2+ hours after eating).
- Second when full (80% full after a meal).
4. Create a Questionnaire
- Ask participants:
- Rate the food from 1 to 5
- Would you eat it again? (Yes/No/Maybe)
- Do you like it more, less, or the same?
5. Start the Experiment
- Give foods at scheduled times and record the participants answers.
- Repeat this for 4 weeks.
6. One-Week Break
- Make sure the participants don’t eat their chosen foods for 4 weeks
7. Final Tast Test
- After the break, give the foods again, and ask them the same questions plus:
-
Did you notice growth in you liking of the food?
-
Would you eat it voluntarily?
-
What is your final opinion? Is it good or bad?
8. Analyze Data
- Compare the ratings between hungry vs. full. Look for patterns.
9. Conclusion
- Summarize what you found out in the experiment
Observations
Observations:
I had observed that almost all the participants were gaging because of how much they hated the food the first time they tried it. The second time they tried it they had the same opinions and were not happy with eating their hated food. Though on the very last day some participants were actually exited that they got to eat the food. I also noticed that on the first day all the voulnteers faces were all scrunched up showing that they geniunly hated the food. Over time they had more pleasent normal faces than the face they had the first time.
Analysis
Analysis:
When Hungry Analysis:
In the first question asked to rate the food from 1 to 5, the data showed that one third of the participants that ate the food when they were hungry did not change their liking of the food. However, the remaining two thirds of the participants had a change in their likeness from rating 1 at the beginning of the experiment to 4 at the end in a scale from 1 to 5.
On the next question, when asked their preference of the food compared to the last time they ate it, 90 percent of the time all the participants said that their liking of the food was the same as of the last time they had eaten it. Only two thirds of them stated during the experiment period they slightly liked the hated food more compared to the last time they had eaten it.
The last question where it asked whether they would eat it again, one third of the participants indicated that they would eat that food again. The other two thirds said that they might eat it again or not, so they were not too sure. Then the majority of the last answer, which was not to, only one out of three participants said that they would not eat that food again.
When Full Analysis:
On the first question when they had to rate the food from 1 to 5, one out of three participants started off with rating it 1 out of 5 then gradually started to increase their rating to a 4 out of 5. The other one of three participants started off at 3 out of 5 really liking the food from the beginning and going to 4 out of 5. The last participant only started at one and got to two out of five.
The next question was what their preference was the last time they ate the food, 80 percent of the answers for all participants was that they liked it the same compared to the last time they ate it. 2 out of 3 respondents stated that they liked the food more than the last time they tried it. Then again two out of three respondents said that they liked the food less than the last time they tried it.
The last question was would you eat the food again; one of three participants' majority answers was maybe, and the other two participants' majority of answers was no. But overall, all the participants said that they might eat the food again.
Conclusion
Conclusion:
The purpose of the experiment was to test whether being hungry or full will affect the theory of liking a food after about 16 tries. The data showed that most participants liked the food when they were hungry but also when they were full.
This experiment still supported and proved my hypothesis right. I said they would like the food more when they were hungry cause their senses to eat would be heightened and they would be more motivated. While most participants did like the food when they were hungry, one still constantly disliked the food showing individual differences in taste preferences.
I also found in the experiment that two out of three participants really liked the food when they were hungry, but then again two out of three participants also liked the food better when they were full.
Application
Application/Extension:
I think that people might be interested in knowing my results because they can use this for real life purposes. For example, if someone had a kid who was not interested in a certain food, they might try to make them eat it more so they can get used to the food and grow up to like it.
The small number of participants and the different hated food for each person might have affected the results. If I do this experiment again in the future I might experiment with a larger number of participants and try to see if they have the same hated foods so the results could be consistent, and the answer wouldn’t change due to the different foods.
Sources Of Error
(Its in the application/extention)
Citations
( The websites are listed in the background reasearch part.)