Are you impulsive and an idealist? Chances are your favorite ice cream flavour is vanilla. On the other hand, is your go-to flavour at the ice cream parlor strawberry? You’re more likely to be tolerant, devoted and an introvert.

At least that’s according to “smell and taste expert” Dr. Alan Hirsch, who was commissioned by Baskin-Robbins to psychoanalyze our ice cream preferences and connect them with personality traits.

Among some of the more interesting findings, is that though vanilla -- the basic, classic standard -- has traditionally been linked to more prosaic, dull and predictable personalities, Hirsch, a neurologist and psychiatrist, says that those who order vanilla are easily suggestible, but also impulsive idealists.

Likewise, despite its “bright taste profile” and schizophrenic colors, rainbow sherbet belies a darker side, as people who choose this flavor are more likely to be analytical, decisive and pessimistic, he said.

For the report, adults aged 18 to 65 completed psychiatric and personality tests which were then analyzed and correlated with ice cream preferences.

Here’s how the other ice cream flavours stacked up.

  • Vanilla: Impulsive, easily suggestible, idealist
  • Chocolate: Dramatic, lively, charming, flirtatious, seductive, gullible
  • Strawberry: Tolerant, devoted, introverted
  • Mint chocolate chip: Argumentative, frugal, cautious
  • Cookie dough: Ambitious, competitive, visionary
  • Pralines and cream: Loving, supportive, avoid the spotlight
  • Coffee: Scrupulous, conscientious, moral perfectionist
  • Chocolate chip: generous, competent, go-getter
  • Rainbow sherbet: Analytical, decisive, pessimistic
  • Rocky road: Aggressive, engaging, good listener

Nestle also had the same idea for their site IceCream.com, which claims that those who prefer butter pecan can be characterized as fiscally conservative, hardworking, devoted, respectful and extremely sensitive to other people’s feelings.

Similarly, in line with Hirsch’s diagnosis, vanilla lovers are described as colorful, dramatic risk-takers who rely more on intuition than logic who set high goals for themselves.