How important is hedonism? Reasons given by college students for ending a meal☆

College students (N = 64, 50,and 36 in three replications) were asked to complete the statement, “I usually stop eating a meal when…”. A number of alternatives were offered, together with an open (write-in) option. By far the most common completion was “… I feel full”. The hedonic alternatives, “… the food stops tasting good” (first study) or “the food tastes less good” (first replication) were chosen by very few of the subjects, though explicitly presented as alternatives. In a second replication, subjects rank-ordered in importance the various reasons for ending a meal; not all subjects ranked the hedonic alternative at all, and most of those who did ranked it low in importance. Though hedonic shifts during a meal have been repeatedly shown to occur, these data suggest that they are of little salience, and perhaps of little importance, as factors in meal termination.