A particular liking¹ for bitter-tasting foods and drinks such as coffee and tonic² water could mean you have psychopathic tendencies.

对苦味的饮食——如咖啡和奎宁水——有特别偏爱的人很有可能具有心理变态的倾向。

Psychologists have found that those with a preference for bitter tastes were more likely to exhibit signs of Machiavellianism, sadism, and narcissism³.

心理学家发现，那些偏爱苦涩口感的人，更易表现出马基雅维利式的操纵狂、施虐倾向以及自恋倾向。

That is, they were more prone⁴ to being duplicitous and self-serving, cold-hearted and lacking in empathy, vain and selfish, and more likely to derive⁵ pleasure from other people's pain.

也就是说，他们更加狡黠、以自我为中心、冷酷、缺乏同情心、自负又自私，喜欢将自己的快乐建立在他人的痛苦之上。

The findings of the study provide the 'first empirical evidence that bitter taste preferences are linked to malevolent⁶ personality traits,' said the researchers from Innsbruck University in Austria, who studied 1,000 people in two separate experiments.

奥地利因斯布鲁克大学的研究者通过两项独立的实验对1000人进行了研究，研究结果表明“通过第一手的经验资料，发现偏爱苦味的人与恶毒人格具有某种关联”。

'The results suggest that how much people like bitter-tasting foods and drinks is stably tied to how dark their personality is.'

“结果显示，人们对苦味饮食偏爱度越高，基本可以表明他们的性格越灰暗。”

Bitter foods include unsweetened cocoa, black coffee, radishes and the quinine in tonic water.

苦味食物包括无糖可可饮品、黑咖啡、小萝卜和奎宁水。

For the first experiment, 500 men and women were shown a long list of foods with equal numbers of sweet, salty, sour and bitter foods. These included chocolate cake, bacon, vinegar and radishes.

在第一次试验中，将列有许多食物的清单展示给500名男女，清单上包括甜的、咸的、酸的和苦味的食品，每类食品数量相同，其中包括有巧克力蛋糕、培根、醋和小萝卜。

They were asked to rate how much they liked each of them on a six-point scale ranging from dislike strongly to like strongly.

他们需要在一张由最不喜欢到最喜欢的六分量表上，评价自己对每一种食物的喜爱程度。

The participants, who had an average age of 35, then completed four separate personality questionnaires.

参与者的平均年龄为35岁，接下来他们要完成四种独立人格的问卷。

The first measured their levels of aggression⁷ by asking them to rate how much statements such as 'Given enough provocation⁸, I may hit someone' sounded like them.

第一个层面是对人格侵略性的测量，通过他们对侵略性陈述和自己的相似程度作出的自我评价来判断，比如“假如有人挑衅，我可能会出手揍他”。

For the second, participants were asked to rate how strongly they agreed or disagreed with statements designed to assess the personality traits of Machiavellianism, psychopathy and narcissism.

在第二个层面，他们被要求针对问卷设计的具有马基雅维利主义、病态人格和自恋症特征的陈述，表明自己的认同程度。

Example questions in each of these sections included 'I tend to manipulate others to get my way', 'I tend to be callous⁹ or insensitive' and 'I tend to want others to pay attention to me', respectively.

以上每一类的示例问题分别包括“为了达成目的，我可能会利用他人”，“我很容易变得冷酷无情或麻木不仁”以及“我希望他人能关注我”。

Next, the participants answered questions relating to the 'Big 5' personality dimensions of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness¹⁰ and emotional stability.

接下来，参与者需要回答有关外向型、亲和型、自觉型与情感稳定型的五大性格维度测试问题。

And lastly they completed the Comprehensive Assessment¹¹ of Sadistic¹² Tendencies, which assesses a person's tendency towards 'everyday sadism'.

最后，他们会完成施虐倾向的综合评价问卷，测试他们是否具有“日常施虐”的人格倾向。

This involved rating on a scale how much they agreed or disagreed with statements such as 'When making fun of someone, it is especially amusing if they realise what I'm doing', and 'I enjoy tormenting¹³ people'.

这一问卷基于他们对一系列陈述的认同程度，如“当恶搞某人时，如果他们意识到我对他们做了什么，我会感到特别好玩”，“我很享受折磨别人”。

'General bitter taste preferences emerged as a robust¹⁴ predictor for Machiavellianism, psychopathy, narcissism and everyday sadism,' the researchers wrote in the journal Appetite.

研究者在Appetite期刊上写道，“一般来说，偏爱苦味是马基雅维利式操纵狂、心理变态、自恋倾向以及施虐倾向强有力的预测信号。”

Agreeableness – the extent to which a person is kind, sympathetic and cooperative– was negatively correlated with bitter taste preferences, they added.

他们补充道，亲和性（善良、有同情心和合作精神的人格维度）与偏爱苦味呈负相关。