STUDY: MESSY KITCHENS MAKE US EAT MORE

(February, 2016) A study published this month in the journal Environment and Behavior finds that clutter makes us eat more. Brian Wansink of Cornell University and his colleagues set up two kitchens. One kitchen was neat and tidy. The other was strewn with mail, newspapers and dirty dishes. Then, they recruited 100 women to participate in the study. The participants were given a writing assignment. Some were told to write about a time they felt out of control. Others were to write about a time when they felt in control. The participants were also given snacks – including cookies, crackers and carrots. And all were told: “Feel free to eat as much as you want, because we have tons of this food.” Among women who wrote about feeling out of control, those in the messy kitchen tended to consume twice as many calories from cookies as women in the tidy kitchen. Those in the messy kitchens averaged 103 calories worth of cookies. “We think we’re smarter than the environment around us,” Wansick said. “That’s why these external cues are so powerful. We’re often not aware that they’re influencing our behavior.”
* Then he tried to get the ladies to clean up the kitchens.
* By the way, if you’re wondering WHY a messy kitchen makes you eat more, forget it. They don’t have a clue.
* Does a messy bedroom make you sleep more?
* 103 calories worth of cookies. That’s like, what, one cookie?
* I also wonder if you can call something healthy – like carrots – a snack?
* Okay, maybe if you dip the carrots in some artery-clogging cheese dip.
* This is very valuable data especially if you eat regularly in strange kitchens with someone else’s dirty dishes in them.
* Meanwhile, the women want to know when their stories will be published.
* Do you get the feeling these scientists enjoy pointing out how stupid people are?
* They sound like Trump: “You people think you’re smarter than your environment, but you’re not. You’re just pathetic little losers influenced by external cues.”