PSYCHOLOGY OF EMOTIONS

Detailed explanation-1: -Conditioned taste aversion is a learned association between the taste of a particular food and illness such that the food is considered to be the cause of the illness. As a result of the learned association, there is a hedonic shift from positive to negative in the preference for the food.

Detailed explanation-2: -Psychologists John Garcia and Robert Koelling studied taste aversion in 1966 while researching the effects of radiation on laboratory rats. Garcia and Koelling noticed the laboratory rats started to avoid drinking the water from plastic bottles in the radiation chambers.

Detailed explanation-3: -In the 1950s, John Garcia demonstrated conditioned taste aversion under quite different laboratory conditions and came to realize that the phenomenon represented much more than a potential means of improving pest control.

Detailed explanation-4: -Garcia discovered that taste aversion is an acquired reaction to the smell or taste that an animal is exposed to before getting sick. He discovered this by giving rats flavored water before exposing them to radiation that made them sick. This discovery was also named The Garcia Effect to honor Dr. Garcia’s work.