Posted June 16, 2018 04:19:52The world is full of people who don’t appreciate being wrong, or who, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, don’t care to acknowledge their errors.
A recent survey of cake-crunching cake-eaters in the US found that just over one-in-five people were willing to make a mistake when it came to a baking holiday, with just over half of those willing to eat a baked product in the kitchen after they’ve made a mistake admitting it in the post-holiday discussion.
But why does it matter?
Well, it’s because a lot of people are very willing to admit they’re wrong.
In a new study published in the journal PLoS ONE, a team of psychologists from Australia’s Gold Coast University found that while just under one-third of cake crunchers admitted to making a mistake during their holiday baking, more than one-quarter of the participants who didn’t make a cake-making mistake had no intention of ever making another mistake.
While it’s hard to prove that cake-makers are inherently bad people, this finding makes it clear that people are willing to let others have a go at them, even when it comes to cake.
“When we asked participants whether they’d made a cake mistake before they were going to be around, they tended to say no,” lead author Dr David A. Johnson told news.com.au.
“But after a while, this tendency was reversed, and we found that most participants made a small number of mistakes.”
Johnson’s research, which was conducted with Dr Lisa Devereaux, was part of a larger research project involving more than 30 participants across four countries.
“We looked at how the impact of errors on cake-eating behaviour differed across countries,” Johnson said.
“The research also explored the extent to which cake-related errors were perceived as problematic.”
Our results suggest that when participants make mistakes they tend to blame others for making them.
“There is some evidence that people make a range of ‘bad’ choices in life, but a strong association has emerged between poor decisions and poor cake-discovery outcomes.”
While the research in this study doesn’t prove that a cake error was caused by the person making the mistake, it suggests that people have a tendency to blame other people for making mistakes.
“What does the research say?
Johnson’s team asked participants to complete two tasks in the lab.
One was a survey about their cake-taking habits.
The other was a self-report questionnaire, which asked participants how they had found out about the research.”
In both the survey and the self-questionnaire, people were asked whether they had made a recipe cake before, during or after a cake tasting,” Johnson explained.”
They also reported whether they would eat the recipe cake.
“The participants were asked to provide as many details about their recipe-making experiences as possible, such as the number of ingredients, the quantity of ingredients and the total cost of ingredients.”
All of these are important indicators of how much time they spent preparing and baking the recipe,” Johnson noted.”
Participants were also asked how much they would spend on the recipe if they had to buy new cake-cooking supplies.
“While Johnson’s research has only examined the effects of mistakes on the quality of the cake-maker’s product, the results suggest they’re unlikely to be of much concern to the average cake-eater.”
For example, in one study of Australian participants, people who reported making a cake with a lot more ingredients tended to be more satisfied with the result,” Johnson added.”
However, in another study of Australians, people whose recipe-dealing habits were linked to poor cake quality were less satisfied with their cake.
“If you or someone you know needs help with eating disorder issues, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit the Suicide Crisis Lifeline.
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