Department of Communication Studies, University of Antwerp, Sint-Jacobstraat 2, Antwerp 2000, Belgium.
Department of Psychology, Saint Mary's University, 923 Robie Street, Halifax, NS B3H 3C3, Canada.
Appetite. 2015 Jan;84:54-60. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2014.09.022. Epub 2014 Sep 28.
This study focuses on the connection between prosocial behavior, defined as acting in ways that benefit others, and shared meals, defined as meals that consist of food(s) shared with others. In contrast to individual meals, where consumers eat their own food and perhaps take a sample of someone else's dish as a taste, shared meals are essentially about sharing all the food with all individuals. Consequently, these meals create situations where consumers are confronted with issues of fairness and respect. One should not be greedy and consume most of a dish; instead, rules of polite food sharing need to be obeyed. It is therefore proposed that those who have often engaged in shared meals during childhood will have a more prosocial personality, as compared to those who less often took part in shared meals during childhood. To test this hypothesis, data about frequency of shared meals during childhood and altruistic personality in early adulthood were collected using a cross-sectional survey in Belgium (n = 487). Results confirm that higher levels of shared meal consumption correspond to higher scores on the self-report altruism scale among students.
本研究关注亲社会行为与共餐之间的关系，亲社会行为定义为有益于他人的行为，而共餐则被定义为与他人分享食物的餐食。与消费者吃自己的食物、可能只品尝别人盘子里的食物的单人餐不同，共餐本质上是与所有人分享所有食物。因此，这些餐食会让消费者面临公平和尊重的问题。一个人不应该贪婪地吃掉大部分食物，而应该遵守礼貌的食物分享规则。因此，研究人员提出，与那些在童年时期较少参与共餐的人相比，那些经常在童年时期参与共餐的人更有可能具有亲社会人格。为了验证这一假设，研究人员在比利时采用横断面调查收集了参与者在童年时期共餐的频率和成年早期利他主义人格的数据（n=487）。结果证实，较高水平的共餐消费与学生自我报告的利他主义量表得分较高相对应。
