Your Brain Doesn’t Let You Enjoy Your Tastes: Confront It.
You think you know what you like, but you don’t.
In life, most people are usually clear about what they want. Knowing the answer to questions such as what you like to do, or what kind of people you are attracted to, is a good foundation on which to build a healthy personality.
However, there is one element that, at times, does not allow you to enjoy life. And until now, as you are reading this article, you didn’t even know it. That element is your enemy to be able to be happier, and I am sorry to tell you that you have the enemy at home: it is none other than your brain.
You’re probably wondering: how can my brain not enjoy my tastes, or you’re thinking “I know my favorite food is hamburger”.
Dear reader, this is not so.
At certain times, your brain is in charge of you.
Unconsciously, your brain puts the brakes on your development as a person.
But don’t worry, it doesn’t do it because it’s evil: it does it for your own good.
Let me tell you about a real experiment that will open your eyes.
PEPSI VS COCA COLA: LET’S FIGHT!
The experiment I am going to tell you about today is relatively simple.
It consists of giving random people two glasses, one with Coca Cola and one with Pepsi, without telling them which one is which, and asking which one they like more.
Under the conditions of this experiment, people were encouraged to choose based on the taste of both drinks, and that’s what they did.
The result? Most people liked Pepsi better than Coke.
Without telling them that result, the scientists moved on to the second phase of the experiment: they gave the same people two glasses, one with Coke and one with Pepsi, but this time the people could see a label on the outside of each glass telling them which drink was in each glass.
The result? 75% preferred Coke to Pepsi.
The experiment is undoubtedly curious and interesting. It demonstrates, for example, the importance of good branding and marketing. What interests us, however, is the functioning of the human brain as demonstrated by this experiment.
During both phases, the scientists performed a brain MRI on the people who were the subject of the study.
In the first phase, without knowing what drink was in each glass, the subjects only used the part of the brain associated with our tastes.
However, in the second phase, knowing what drink each glass contained, in addition to using the part of the brain associated with tastes, an area related to memories and experiences was activated.
The conclusion is simple: we think we know what we like, but sometimes we don’t. Our brain plays tricks on us more often than we think. Our brain plays tricks on us more often than we think, but since we don’t realize it, we don’t care.
If a relatively objective fact, such as what drink we like best, can be modified simply by having more information, imagine the number of events, meals, and people we miss because, a priori, we don’t like them.
With this I want to encourage you to try new things and break with your schemes and mental prejudices.
I encourage you to overcome the self-imposed barriers that we all have in our heads.
That’s all for today!
I hope you enjoyed the article. If you have any comments or questions, feel free to share.
If you want to know more about the experiment, I leave the reference below:
McClure, S. M., Li, J., Tomlin, D., Cypert, K. S., Montague, L. M., & Montague, P. R. (2004). Neural correlates of behavioral preference for culturally familiar drinks. Neuron, 44(2), 379–387.
