Yes, it’s that time again. It’s early January, the hangovers are finally wearing off, and many people out there are thinking January is the month to detox. Whether it be from drink, junk food or even some habits outside the scope of this blog. In today’s blog we are talking junk food and how something as simple as a mirror can help.
Researchers recruited 185 students and let them choose between either chocolate cake or fruit salad. They then let them eat their choice in a room with mirrors or in a room without. The students eating the chocolate in the room with no mirrors rated the chocolate cake tastier than those in the room with the mirrors.
Apparently it all comes down to self perception. According to the lead author, seeing yourself in the mirror gives you a different perspective and seems to make you judge yourself and your behaviours the same way you would judge others. As chocolate is a guilty pleasure seeing yourself eat it can generate feelings of discomfort leading you to rate the cake as less tasty.
The results are published in the inaugural issue of the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research entitled „The Behavioral Science of Eating.“