Why Do We Like (or Dislike) Things?

People's likes and dislikes are pretty interesting. What do you like? What do you dislike? That's pretty easy to answer. Certain items might not be that easy to answer for, but when we talk about why we like or dislike something, that is where it gets interesting.

I get asked about food that I like or dislike a lot. When I first came to Japan, I was asked if I like sushi, natto, or sake. I'm still asked those questions regularly. There is some entertainment value in the questions. For example, "Do you like bitter gourd"? Some people like it, like me. Some people don't. There is some excitement attached to those kinds of questions. I think it is linked to the asker's likes or dislikes.

If the asker likes bitter gourd, and I answer, "Yes," then there is something to talk about. If I answer, "No," then there is something to talk about, too, but it's very different. That is a fun way to have a conversation.

Preferences might not be as strong as likes and dislikes, but they are powerful forces on our behaviors. I prefer coffee to tea. I prefer green tea to black tea. I prefer dogs to cats. I enjoy all of those things from time to time. I certainly enjoy cats, but if I had the choice of which one I'd rather live with, I'd choose a dog. Likewise, if offered tea or coffee, I'd choose coffee, but I drink both.

But why do we have those likes, dislikes, or preferences? Are likes and preferences cultural? Biological? Both? It seems that they are a little of both. Babies prefer sweet tastes, and often reject bitter flavors. There is a gene that affects how people taste bitterness. When that gene changes, there will be a change in how children and adults taste bitterness. This also affects how sweetness is tasted in children. This gene stops affecting how adults taste sweetness, though in this case, genes do affect the way people taste foods and drinks.

That may be why adults develop a taste for coffee or beer as they grow older. Of course some people never develop a taste for coffee or beer. Those genes can be tricky, can't they!

People also have cultural preferences for food. In an experiment done in Spain, researchers found that people choose food that symbolically links them with their own culture. They said that it is because the food gives the person a sense of belonging.

This is not only about food choices, though. Food is just one example. There is a lot of information on food preferences. There is even more information on why a person prefers one kind of person over another as a mate.

Some universal preferences are based on where we live. One study showed that people who live in bigger cities preferred manly men and more feminine women. It may also have something to do with the harshness of the environment where they live.

Likes and dislikes are partially determined by genetics, but also by culture. It seems that preferences in mates is similar. Answering what we like or dislike might be easy, but answering why we like it might be more complicated.