de Castro J M, Brewer E M, Elmore D K, Orozco S
Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta 30303.
Appetite. 1990 Oct;15(2):89-101. doi: 10.1016/0195-6663(90)90042-7.
The amount eaten by humans in spontaneously ingested meals is positively correlated with the number of other people present. This could be due to a social facilitation or may be produced as an artifact of a covariation produced by a third factor. Possible covariations produced by time and location of eating, alcohol intake, and snack/meal ingestion were investigated by paying 78 adult humans to maintain 7-day diaries of everything they ingested, when and where they ingested it, and the number of other people present. The results demonstrate that, although the covariances exist, they could not account for the social correlation. Strong, positive and significant correlations between meal size and the number of other people present were found separately for meals eaten during the breakfast period, the lunch period and the dinner period, eaten in restaurants, at home and elsewhere, eaten accompanied by alcohol intake or without alcohol, and for only snacks or only meals. The results suggest that the correlation results from a true social facilitation of eating and that this facilitation is an important determinant of eating regardless of whether alcohol is ingested with the meal, a snack or a meal is eaten and regardless of when or where it is eaten.
人类在自发进食时的摄入量与在场的其他人数量呈正相关。这可能是由于社会促进作用，也可能是由第三个因素产生的共变的人为结果。通过让78名成年人记录他们7天内摄入的所有食物、摄入时间和地点以及在场的其他人数量，研究了饮食时间和地点、酒精摄入量以及零食/正餐摄入可能产生的共变情况。结果表明，虽然共变情况存在，但它们无法解释这种社会相关性。分别在早餐时段、午餐时段和晚餐时段，在餐馆、家中和其他地方，在有酒精摄入或无酒精摄入的情况下，以及仅吃零食或仅吃正餐时，均发现了进餐量与在场其他人数量之间强烈、正向且显著的相关性。结果表明，这种相关性源于进食过程中真正的社会促进作用，并且这种促进作用是进食的一个重要决定因素，无论进餐时是否摄入酒精、吃的是零食还是正餐，也无论进食的时间和地点。
