You probably know
that walking into a grocery store on an empty stomach is unwise. Now a new study suggests
walking into a mall while hungry is just as bad—at least for your wallet.
The study's title sums up the
finding: "Hunger promotes
acquisition of nonfood objects."
Reporting in the journal PNAS, researchers at the University of Minnesota say they conducted five experiments whose results consistently showed an increase in the desire to acquire things when people reported being hungry.
Reporting in the journal PNAS, researchers at the University of Minnesota say they conducted five experiments whose results consistently showed an increase in the desire to acquire things when people reported being hungry.
In one experiment where the items
(in this case, binder clips) were free, the hungry cohort left with 70% more
than satiated participants. And even when people had to pay (this time for
department store items), the hungry ones spent 64 percent more.
"It's probably better to feed
yourself before any type of shopping, whether you're going on an actual
shopping trip or shopping online," the researchers told Smithsonian.
"And if you're really hungry,
you'd better think twice before purchasing any items at all or you might regret
those purchases later." (The study notes that "hunger does not
influence how much they like nonfood objects.")
The researchers say ghrelin,
a hormone released by the stomach that makes people seek out food, may also
affect other behaviors.
This worldwide study found that people’s current degree of hungriness affected their propensity to acquire non-food items.
ReplyDeleteThe researchers admitted they did not prove cause and effect with the five experiments they performed. News articles also had fun reporting the findings with headlines such as “Why Hungry People Want More Binder Clips.”
The research caught my eye with quotes such as these: “..hunger’s influence extends beyond food consumption to the acquisition of nonfood items that cannot satisfy the underlying need..We conclude that a basic biologically based motivation can affect substantively unrelated behaviors that cannot satisfy the motivation.”
The researchers worked with the subjects’ present experiences of hunger. No food for four hours was the condition of one experiment, and other experiments assessed people in varying hungry conditions, presumably none of which were severe.
The area I think would be promising for hunger research is to find out how far back the impacts of experiences of being hungry extend. What enduring physiological changes occurred as a result of hunger? And how do these changes affect our behavior, thoughts, and feelings today?
Click the online newspaper I publish, Food Bank Daily, and read a few more articles on hunger.
http://surfaceyourrealself.com/2015/03/03/do-the-impacts-of-early-experiences-of-hunger-affect-our-behavior-thoughts-and-feelings-today-surfaceyourrealself/