Guilt makes chocolates more delicious for women

11 December, 2012

Almost 99 percent women love chocolates because it makes them feel special and loved. It gives them a great taste as it melts in mouth and takes them to a extraordinary emotional state.

ON THE flip side, eating chocolates could make you fat because it actually drives you to eat more. A research conducted by Kellogg School of Management at northwestern University in Chicago states that women enjoy eating the food, which they think is bad for them.

If you are under an assumption that depressing mantra like "a minute on the lips and a lifetime on the hips" will reduce their (women's) enjoyment of having chocolates, then you are certainly wrong. However, according to the study, the very guilt associated with indulging in forbidden foods can in fact enhance woman's enjoyment of them, reported Mail Online.

The study says that the feeling of guilt prepares women to have more pleasure in eating something which they consider to be illicit. The study led by Kelly Goldsmith of the Kellogg School of Management was carried on 40 women, who were divided into two groups.

The first group was given a magazine about 'Healthy Living' where they will see pictures of individuals looking slim and fit. The second group was given a magazine with pictures unrelated to well being. All the participants were given a chocolate bar at the end of the day and asked how much they enjoyed eating it.

And surprisingly, the group which had read the health magazine liked eating chocolate 16 percent more than the group that was given a magazine with pictures unrelated to well being, says Kelly Goldsmith.

If a product is advertised as 'guilt free' product then it creates a wrong perception about its taste and lowers the expectation of pleasure. So it is the guilt factor that increases the pleasure.