How does hunger affect our decisions?

Going to the grocery store to all peopleit is worth observing one extremely important rule - before leaving the house you need to eat tightly. You have probably heard many times in your life that if a person goes to the store hungry, then with a high degree of probability he will buy there more products than he needs. From this we can make a logical conclusion that the feeling of hunger can greatly affect decision-making, and this is relevant not only for issues related to food. For example, a hungry person can go to a business meeting and make an unprofitable money transaction, and then regret it all his life. But mistakes could be avoided simply by eating a chocolate bar before the meeting.

Feeling hungry makes you make mistakes

On the impact of hunger on important decisionstold Australian scientists who conducted a small study involving 50 volunteers. Researchers offered the assembled people a reward in the form of delicious food, money and the opportunity to listen to beautiful music. The participants in the experiment had two choices: either they received a reward immediately, or after a while, but in double size.

How does hunger affect thinking?

The study took place in two stages - duringthe first volunteers made the decision when they were full, and the second time they were hungry. As you might have guessed, people who ate before the test turned out to be more patient and, following rational thinking, were ready to give up momentary pleasure and wait at least a month in order to receive a double reward. When they were hungry, they did not want to wait even three days - the participants wanted to eat as soon as possible, get money and listen to music.

Golden rule - before making important decisions you need to eat tight

Scientists were especially surprised that hungry peoplemade unfavorable decisions not only in relation to food, but also when it came to money. According to research leader Benjamin Vincent, this property of human thinking can be used by marketers to sell things that people don’t need at all. For example, when communicating with a credit specialist on an empty stomach, a person can take a much larger amount of money than he needs.

Have you made mistakes on an empty stomach? Write your stories in the comments or in our Telegram chat, we will be grateful!

How to avoid cheating?

The study can be considered excellent.a reminder that everyone should always be aware of their decisions. It is important to understand that a feeling of hunger can greatly affect a person’s behavior in certain situations. Based on this, the rule of satiety before going to the grocery store can be expanded to the point that it is important for people to be full during any situation where they have to make a decision.

Do you know why very soon people will stop buying smartphones?

However, in the modern world it is always important to beon the alert - marketers are relentlessly trying to get us to buy unnecessary things. In an article about how the Internet makes us buy more, we already wrote about the so-called “dark patterns” that are installed in most online stores. These include items that encourage people to buy goods at a great discount for five minutes. The temptation to acquire an unnecessary thing at such a “profitable” offer is very great, right? But the goods can be really useless - you run the risk of wasting money.