two taste?

[keannu]

The first "taste" is translated as "sense" and the second, "short experience". Are the two same or different? The two are quite complicated to understand.

is21
ex)The tendency to seek information about those who have done more poorly than we have is especailly pronounced when the stakes are high. And if we can't find people who are doing more poorly than we are, we may go out and create them.Volunteers in one study took a test and were then given the opportunity to provide hints that would either help or hinder a friend's performance on the same test. Although volunteers helped their friends when the test was described as a game, they actively hindered their friends when the test was described as an important measure of intellectual ability.
Apparently when our friends do not have the good taste to come in last so that we can enjoy the good taste of coming in first, we give them a friendly push in the appropriate direction. Once we've successfully sabotaged their performances and ensured their failure, they become the perfect standard for comparison.

 

[SoothingDave]

To have "good taste" is another way to say one has good manners and knows how to behave in social situations. That is what the first one means.

The second is to say one enjoys a "taste" of victory, meaning one enjoys the sensation.

 

[keannu]

Thanks a lot, but the dictionary doesn't seem to have the first definition. Which do you think is the one among the followings?

Taste | Define Taste at Dictionary.com
15. the act of tasting food or drink.
16. the sense by which the flavor or savor of things is perceived when they are brought into contact with the tongue.

17. the sensation or quality as perceived by this sense; flavor.

18. a small quantity tasted; a morsel, bit, or sip.

19. a relish, liking, or partiality for something: a taste for music.

 

[Rover_KE]

Look further:

20. discernment, perception, judgment.

Rover​

 

[keannu]

Another question has risen on my side!
I think "friendly push" is to make your friend fail in some important test to make you look better than him. Then, why was "friendly push" used here along with "appropriate direction"? Is it an irony or any meaning of trick?

ex)The tendency to seek information about those who have done more poorly than we have is especailly pronounced when the stakes are high. And if we can't find people who are doing more poorly than we are, we may go out and create them.Volunteers in one study took a test and were then given the opportunity to provide hints that would either help or hinder a friend's performance on the same test. Although volunteers helped their friends when the test was described as a game, they actively hindered their friends when the test was described as an important measure of intellectual ability.
Apparently when our friends do not have the good taste to come in last so that we can enjoy the good taste of coming in first, we give them a friendly push in the appropriate direction. Once we've successfully sabotaged their performances and ensured their failure, they become the perfect standard for comparison.

 

[SoothingDave]

It's definitely not "friendly" to try to make someone fail. So there's irony in that statement.

The "appropriate direction" is towards failure. It's "appropriate" for us because we want them to fail.