The Science of Assorted Flavors
If I were some sort of liberal arts or math student, I would do my graduate thesis on the science of peoples' perceptions and mindsets of favorite flavors in a group of assorted x. Examples being skittles, starburst, and what brought this preponderance up- jellybeans.
On the one hand, it seems as though "they" never give enough of the best flavor, and that, say, strawberry/grape skittles are outnumbered 5 to 1 to disgusting lemon.
On the other hand, however, it would appear logical that candy company's would put proven favorites in higher quantity to make people buy more.
But then enters the brain's psychology. When you are waiting for a specific time, or there is a random set of 3 or 4 digits (on a digital clock) that are meaningful to you, you think you "always look at the clock at that time." In reality, yes, you do (or else you wouldn't know that you looked at it) but you also look at dozens of other combinations that are meaningless.
Take (for a relevant) example 311. Not only is it the ending characters of this particular journal name, but it's also.. a time. Twice during Earth's standard rotation.
I often look at the clock, it would seem, and see 3:11pm. On occasion I see 3:11am, but if that's the case than I see it quite blurry. Right now I look at the clock and see 7:59. If I wasn't writing this, I wouldn't remember that I noticed it was 7:59 (unless I was was waiting for 8pm or something). But when I see a 3:11, I'll think (okay, I'll say out loud even by myself) "oh cool it's 3:11 and they're my favorite band! <3." (By the by, pronouncing that ice-cream cone is a task).
Getting back to the sugary example, it would seem that when looking for your favorite flavor/color, you most always say "Why the fuck are there so many lemons in here?" unless a) you actually like yellow (and not to pick on lemon/yellow, because a lot of people have a distaste for green/lime and orange/orange) or b) you live in a tropical climate where a majority of your diet is our citritastic friend.
To be legit and get a shot at being published, I just took a sample of the population of jellybeans in my apartment. Out of the 11 I grabbed, there are 3 lemon, 3 orange, 3 cherry, 1 grape and one licorice (ew). I will now put them back in to the bag, shake it, and draw out 11 more.
For the second sample, I get: 7 cherry, 2 lemon and 2 licorice (ew). Interesting!
Third sample: 3 lemon, 2 lime, 2 cherry, 2 orange, one grape and one white (pineapple?). Interesting! So after 3 samples (33 jellybeans): 8 lemon (24.2%); 5 orange (15.1%); 12 cherry (36.4%); 3 licorice (ew(9%)) and negligible others.
So it would appear that in fact, the bag is almost evenly mixed (minus the one outlier of cherry). My theory is correct! We consume just as much cherry, over different times, creating the illusion to our brain that it is disproportionately distributed to lemon or whatever. Of course, the sample size is small compared to the whole bag, and that's why I'm confident that in the end the results would be much closer.
So why wouldn't candy manufacturers put more of the 'good' flavors in to a bag of assorted goodies? One could argue that "good flavors" are indefinable as many people have various favorites, but it has to be possible for these large companies to conduct adequate and reliable marketing analyses (for example, issue bags of individual flavors and see what the best seller is). Is it a way for corporate America to create artificial demand by intentionally undersupplying the reds and purples? Is there a critical shortage of red 40 and a surplus of yellow 5? Unfortunately, this study is limited in that it cannot answer these questions at this time.
If I was high right now, this would have been the coolest thing EVAR. And I haven't even started drinking yet!
It's okay, you can use my study, but please be sure to cite my work appropriately.
On the one hand, it seems as though "they" never give enough of the best flavor, and that, say, strawberry/grape skittles are outnumbered 5 to 1 to disgusting lemon.
On the other hand, however, it would appear logical that candy company's would put proven favorites in higher quantity to make people buy more.
But then enters the brain's psychology. When you are waiting for a specific time, or there is a random set of 3 or 4 digits (on a digital clock) that are meaningful to you, you think you "always look at the clock at that time." In reality, yes, you do (or else you wouldn't know that you looked at it) but you also look at dozens of other combinations that are meaningless.
Take (for a relevant) example 311. Not only is it the ending characters of this particular journal name, but it's also.. a time. Twice during Earth's standard rotation.
I often look at the clock, it would seem, and see 3:11pm. On occasion I see 3:11am, but if that's the case than I see it quite blurry. Right now I look at the clock and see 7:59. If I wasn't writing this, I wouldn't remember that I noticed it was 7:59 (unless I was was waiting for 8pm or something). But when I see a 3:11, I'll think (okay, I'll say out loud even by myself) "oh cool it's 3:11 and they're my favorite band! <3." (By the by, pronouncing that ice-cream cone is a task).
Getting back to the sugary example, it would seem that when looking for your favorite flavor/color, you most always say "Why the fuck are there so many lemons in here?" unless a) you actually like yellow (and not to pick on lemon/yellow, because a lot of people have a distaste for green/lime and orange/orange) or b) you live in a tropical climate where a majority of your diet is our citritastic friend.
To be legit and get a shot at being published, I just took a sample of the population of jellybeans in my apartment. Out of the 11 I grabbed, there are 3 lemon, 3 orange, 3 cherry, 1 grape and one licorice (ew). I will now put them back in to the bag, shake it, and draw out 11 more.
For the second sample, I get: 7 cherry, 2 lemon and 2 licorice (ew). Interesting!
Third sample: 3 lemon, 2 lime, 2 cherry, 2 orange, one grape and one white (pineapple?). Interesting! So after 3 samples (33 jellybeans): 8 lemon (24.2%); 5 orange (15.1%); 12 cherry (36.4%); 3 licorice (ew(9%)) and negligible others.
So it would appear that in fact, the bag is almost evenly mixed (minus the one outlier of cherry). My theory is correct! We consume just as much cherry, over different times, creating the illusion to our brain that it is disproportionately distributed to lemon or whatever. Of course, the sample size is small compared to the whole bag, and that's why I'm confident that in the end the results would be much closer.
So why wouldn't candy manufacturers put more of the 'good' flavors in to a bag of assorted goodies? One could argue that "good flavors" are indefinable as many people have various favorites, but it has to be possible for these large companies to conduct adequate and reliable marketing analyses (for example, issue bags of individual flavors and see what the best seller is). Is it a way for corporate America to create artificial demand by intentionally undersupplying the reds and purples? Is there a critical shortage of red 40 and a surplus of yellow 5? Unfortunately, this study is limited in that it cannot answer these questions at this time.
If I was high right now, this would have been the coolest thing EVAR. And I haven't even started drinking yet!
It's okay, you can use my study, but please be sure to cite my work appropriately.