HEDONIC RESPONSES, VARIETY-SEEKING TENDENCY AND EXPRESSED VARIETY IN SANDWICH CHOICES

The relationships between liking, variety-seeking tendency and choices were examined in six experimental lunch occasions, in which 26 young subjects freely chose sandwiches from a selection of eight fillings. S ubjects rated their liking for the sandwiches during the first and six th sessions and, among other attitude questionnaires, filled in the VA RSEEK-scale which measures variety-seeking tendency. The choices were very strongly connected to hedonic responses. Contrary to expectations , the variety-seeking tendency was not related to expressed variety in sandwich choices nor did it interact with hedonic responses. The vari ety-seeking tendency was, however, to some extent related to appropria teness of sandwich fillings. In experimental situations where most of the externally derived variety is removed, the meaning of liking may b e emphasized instead of the internal need for variety. The choice freq uencies of some fillings could be explained by both liking and variety -seeking tendency, and they seem to influence choices independently.