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. Subjects rated their liking for the sandwiches during the first and sixth sessions and, among other attitude questionnaires, filled in the VARSEEK-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 variety-seeking tendency was, however, to some extent related to appropriateness of sandwich fillings. In experimental situations where most of the externally derived variety is removed, the meaning of liking may be emphasized instead of the internal need for variety. The choice frequencies of some fillings could be explained by both liking and variety-seeking tendency, and they seem to influence choices independently.