ScienceDaily (Feb. 2, 2012) — Women dining together finely tune their eating behaviour to that of their dining partner. Rather than eating at their own pace, they tend to take bites at the same time as the person sitting across the table. These are the findings of a study carried out by Roel Hermans from the Behavioural Science Institute of Radboud University Nijmegen.
The results are published in the international scientific journal PLoS ONE on 2 February 2012.
The idea that people adjust the amount they eat to fit in with their eating companion is nothing new. However, previous studies into this phenomenon had only examined the way in which the eating behaviour of person A influenced that of person B. Hermans wanted to broaden this one-sided approach. He explains his reason using an example: ‘If the two of us eat together, my eating behaviour can influence yours, but your reaction can then also influence my behaviour. It’s a perpetual chain of reactions.’
Categories: Behaviour, Psychology, Research