We've already established that you are what you eat — and that you are what you drink — so it's reasonable to assume your taste in ice cream probably says a little something about your personality.
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Baskin-Robbins teamed up with smell and taste researcher Dr. Alan Hirsch, founder of The Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, Illinois, for a study on the links between ice cream preference and personality.
Working with U.S. adults ages 18 to 65, Hirsch administered a battery of psychological and personality tests — including the Million Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III (MCMI-III), Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2), Beck Depression Inventory, Zung Anxiety and Zung Depression test — then correlated these results to ice cream "hedonics" or, in layman's terms, what kind of ice cream participants liked.
"We uncovered quite a few surprising findings when investigating what a person's favorite ice cream flavor says about their personality," Hirsch said. "For instance, we found that people who prefer Rainbow Sherbet are more pessimistic than you would think, in spite of the flavor's bright taste profile, and that those who prefer Rocky Road are actually very good listeners."
Among Hirch's findings:
If your favorite flavor is Vanilla, you're more likely to be impulsive, easily suggestible and an idealist.
If your favorite flavor is Chocolate ice cream, you're more likely to be dramatic, lively, charming, flirtatious, seductive and gullible.
If your favorite flavor is Very Berry Strawberry, you're more likely to be a tolerant, devoted, and an introvert.
If your favorite flavor is Mint Chocolate Chip, you're more likely to be argumentative, frugal and cautious.
If your favorite flavor is Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, you're more likely to be ambitious, competitive and a visionary.
If your favorite flavor is Pralines 'n Cream, you're more likely to be loving, supportive and prefer to avoid the spotlight.
If your favorite flavor is Jamoca (i.e. coffee), you're more likely to be scrupulous, conscientious and a moral perfectionist.
If your favorite flavor is Chocolate Chip, you're more likely to be generous, competent and a go-getter.
If your favorite flavor is Rainbow Sherbet, you're more likely to be analytic, decisive and a pessimistic.
If your favorite flavor is Rocky Road, you're more likely to be aggressive, engaging and a good listener.
This isn't the first time Hirsch has studied the link between taste and personality.
In 2004, he partnered with Stolichnaya vodkas for a similar study, looking at the personality traits associated with different flavored vodkas.
What is the Most Popular Ice Cream Flavor in America?
According to a report by Instacart, Americans purchased vanilla ice cream the most using their service. So does that mean that 26% of Americans are considered impulsive, easily suggestible, and idealist?
Other flavors hitting the ice cream cone include Moose tracks (Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wisconsin), Rocky Road (Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming) and coffee (Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont).
Here's the full list of favorite flavors of ice cream:
- Alabama - Moose Tracks
- Alaska - Green Tea
- Arizona - Rocky Road
- Arkansas - Rainbow Sherbet
- California - Rocky Road
- Colorado - Green Tea
- Connecticut - Pistachio
- Delaware - Cherry
- Florida - Rum Raisin
- Georgia - Rum Raisin
- Hawaii - Mango
- Idaho - Green Tea
- Illinois - Moose Tracks
- Indiana - Moose Tracks
- Iowa - Moose Tracks
- Kansas - Rainbow Sherbet
- Kentucky - Chocolate Chip
- Louisiana - Birthday Cake
- Maine - Coffee
- Maryland - Cookie Dough
- Massachusetts - Coffee
- Michigan - Moose Tracks
- Minnesota - Moose Tracks
- Mississippi - Birthday Cake
- Missouri - Cookie Dough
- Montana - Rainbow Sherbet
- Nebraska - Moose Tracks
- Nevada - Rocky Road
- New Hampshire - Coffee
- New Jersey - Pistachio
- New Mexico - Chocolate Chocolate Chip
- New York - Pistachio
- North Carolina - Birthday Cake
- North Dakota - Moose Tracks
- Ohio - Chocolate Chip
- Oklahoma - Cookie Dough
- Oregon - Green Tea
- Pennsylvania - Mint Chip
- Rhode Island - Coffee
- South Carolina - Moose Tracks
- South Dakota - Birthday Cake
- Tennessee - Moose Tracks
- Texas - Rainbow Sherbet
- Utah - Rocky Road
- Vermont - Coffee
- Virginia - Birthday Cake
- Washington - Green Tea
- Washington, D.C. - Mango
- West Virginia - Moose Tracks
- Wisconsin - Moose Tracks
- Wyoming - Rocky Road
Sorry, Butter pecan, you didn't make it this year!
