School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.
Appetite. 2011 Jun;56(3):747-52. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2011.03.001. Epub 2011 Mar 21.
In a social eating context individuals tend to match their food intake to that of eating companions, regardless of whether the other person is eating a large amount. However, relatively little is known about the underlying processes of food intake matching. Findings from behavioural mimicry research suggest that individuals may copy how those around them act in order to facilitate social interactions and ingratiate themselves. The present paper reports two studies which were designed to examine whether ingratiation strategies may in part explain social matching of food intake in young females. In Study 1, female dyads completed a problem solving task together whilst having access to chocolate M&M's. We hypothesised that the extent to which individuals have a need to be socially accepted (trait self esteem) and are competent in social interactions (trait empathy) would predict the degree of matching. In Study 2 we directly manipulated the desire to ingratiate by priming social acceptance in half of participants prior to eating popcorn in the presence of a high eating confederate. In Study 1, both self esteem and empathy were associated with degree of matching within female dyads. In Study 2, priming social acceptance reduced the matching effect in females. These findings suggest that desire for social acceptance may be an underlying cause of social matching of food intake.
在社交进食的情境中，个体倾向于根据同伴的进食量来调整自己的食物摄入量，无论对方的进食量有多大。然而，对于食物摄入量匹配的潜在过程，我们了解得相对较少。行为模仿研究的结果表明，个体可能会模仿周围人的行为，以促进社交互动和取悦他人。本文报告了两项研究，旨在探讨取悦策略是否可以部分解释年轻女性的食物摄入量的社交匹配现象。在研究 1 中，女性二人组在解决问题的任务中一起完成任务，同时可以食用巧克力 M&M 豆。我们假设，个体在社交中被接受的需求程度（特质自尊）和在社交互动中的能力（特质共情）会预测匹配的程度。在研究 2 中，我们在一半参与者食用爆米花时，通过给他们一个高食量的同伴来直接操纵他们的取悦欲望。在研究 1 中，自尊和共情都与女性二人组中匹配的程度有关。在研究 2 中，社交接受的激发减少了女性的匹配效应。这些发现表明，对社会接纳的渴望可能是食物摄入量社交匹配的潜在原因。
