It’s a saying coined by Snickers, but a new suggests that there may some truth behind ‘You’re just not yourself when you’re hungry.’
Researchers from the University of Dundee have revealed that hunger significantly alters your decision-making skills, making you more impatient and more likely to settle for a small reward that arrives sooner than large one that comes later.
In the study, the researchers asked 50 participants questions about food, money and other rewards twice - once when they had eaten, and again when they had skipped a meal.
The results revealed that when the participants were hungry, they expressed a stronger preference for smaller rewards to be given immediately rather than larger ones that would arrive later - not only for food, but also for money and other rewards.
Delving deeper into the results, the team noted that if you offer people a reward now or double that reward in the future, they’re usually willing to wait for 35 days to double the reward. But when they’re hungry, this plummets to just three days.
These findings suggest that hunger may affect people’s preferences in ways that they may not know, and indicate that making important decision on an empty stomach isn’t wise.
Dr Benjamin Vincent, who led the study, said: “People generally know that when they are hungry they shouldn't really go food shopping because they are more likely to make choices that are either unhealthy or indulgent.
“Our research suggests this could have an impact on other kinds of decisions as well. Say you were going to speak with a pensions or mortgage advisor – doing so while hungry might make you care a bit more about immediate gratification at the expense of a potentially more rosy future.
“This work fits into a larger effort in psychology and behavioural economics to map the factors that influence our decision making.
“This potentially empowers people as they may forsee and mitigate the effects of hunger, for example, that might bias their decision making away from their long term goals.”
