Can't Concentrate? Maybe It's the Fast Food

[marmar]

via AlterNet:



Miller-McCune.com / By Tom Jacobs

Can't Concentrate? Maybe It's the Fast Food
How the tendency to grab a quick bite at Burger King could affect other areas of life.

April 27, 2010 |


Americans have been saving less and less of their income in recent decades, a trend that has only recently abated. At the same time, we have been eating more and more meals at fast-food restaurants.

Coincidence? Perhaps not. A new study suggests thinking about fast-food chains — or even being exposed momentarily to their logos — can increase impatience and intensify one’s desire for immediate gratification.

Two University of Toronto researchers, Chen-Bo Zhong and Sanford DeVoe, reach that conclusion in a paper titled “You Are How You Eat,” just published in the journal Psychological Science. It is, appropriately, a quick read.

Zhong and DeVoe conducted three experiments to determine how our increasing tendency to grab a quick bite at Burger King has affected other areas of our lives.

In the first, 57 university undergraduates were instructed to concentrate on the center of their computer screens while colorful objects flashed in the corners. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/food/146613/can%27t_concentrate_maybe_it%27s_the_fast_food

[liberal N proud]

1. I want it all and I want it now = Americans

We have become a society of instant gratification and are no longer willing to wait for anything.

I do mean anything!

[ixion]

3. Nor are we willing to work for something, generally, and often balk

if there is ANY effort required whatsoever.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Vicious cycle for kids.

Harried and rushed parents give their kids too much fast food. Kids can't concentrate. School, parents, and doctors put them on Ritalin b/c they ate too many fast food burgers.

[trotsky]

6. That's a ridiculous and disrespectful generalization. n/t

[notesdev]

4. Stop watching TV

and all the instant-gratification urges you have been brainwashed into acting upon will fade away

[barbtries]

5. we're all pavlov's dogs

i guess it makes sense.