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Eating a meal is associated with elevations in agreeableness and reductions in dominance and submissiveness
- Source :
- Physiology & Behavior, 144, 103-109. PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
- Publication Year :
- 2015
- Publisher :
- PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD, 2015.
-
Abstract
- Many studies have shown that having a meal together with others increases food intake. In contrast, the effects of having a meal on interactions with others have rarely been examined. More specifically, it is unknown if having a social interaction during a meal alters how people feel, behave, and perceive others. In the present study, 98 working individuals provided information on their everyday social interactions over a three-week period by filling in a form soon after each interaction. Record forms included items representing mood state, interpersonal behaviors, and perceptions of interaction partners. Participants also indicated whether interactions took place during a meal. Engaging in an interaction that involved eating a meal was associated with decreased alertness and, particularly in women, with increased pleasant affect, compared to interactions that did not involve eating a meal. Independently of this, during a meal participants reported fewer dominant and submissive behaviors and more agreeable behaviors, and also perceived interaction partners as more agreeable. These results were largely independent of contextual factors such as the gender and role of the primary social interaction partner, the presence of multiple partners, and the location of the interaction. Overall, social interactions during a meal were more positive in terms of how people felt, behaved, and perceived others. At the same time, agentic behaviors were reduced. These results suggest that shared meals are events in which affiliative bonds are strengthened in the context of weakened displays of hierarchy.
- Subjects :
- 030309 nutrition & dietetics
Poison control
feeding behavior
meal
postprandial state
Behavioral Neuroscience
Food intake
Hierarchy
Surveys and Questionnaires
Meals
0303 health sciences
Meal
adult
05 social sciences
digestive, oral, and skin physiology
article
Middle Aged
Dominance (ethology)
female
priority journal
Seasons
Psychology
Social psychology
Agreeableness
mood
sex difference
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Context (language use)
Affect (psychology)
050105 experimental psychology
social behavior
03 medical and health sciences
Young Adult
male
Humans
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
Interpersonal Relations
controlled study
human
alertness
Behavior
Affiliation
social interaction
major clinical study
Social relation
eating
Affect
Mood
Social Dominance
Perception
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1873507X and 00319384
- Volume :
- 144
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Physiology & Behavior
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....26d0cfccee3637e7695fc2ad899b3003