Future Now
The IFTF Blog
Eating healthy helps others
Author Jonah Lehrer always seems to have something interesting to say these days—whether in his book, How We Decide, or on his blog, the Frontal Cortex—about our brains and how we make decisions. He recently picked up on the idea of social contagions and how it applies to self-discipline.
Lehrer notes that we commonly think of self-control as "an individual trait," and that failure to exercise self-control is "your own fault, a character flaw built into the brain." However, a new study from psychologist Michelle vanDellen at the University of Georgia has shown that self-control is yet another human experience (such as happiness and obesity) that is influenced by the people around you.
"Self-control contains a large social component; the ability to resist temptation is contagious."
Lehrer describes one of vanDellen's experiments and shares her conclusion that self-control spreads because of the "'accessibility'" of thoughts about self-control. When we see someone resist the cookie, we're cognitively inspired, and temporarily aware that resistance is possible." Another of the five studies she conducted indicates that thinking about self-control (or watching it happen) makes us more aware of its benefits and so we act accordingly.
vanDellen's research reveals the powerful persuasive effects of instances of self-discipline, or lack thereof, that we are exposed to in our daily lives. Lehrer suggests, for example, that Dominos Pizza, Taco Bell, and McDonald's spend so much money on television ads because their commercials glorify indulgence by showing "people happily consuming thousands of calories." Resistance is futile.
On the other hand, kids who are frequently exposed to people who do not act on their impulses all the time develop a sense of their own potential to exercise self-control. When parents and peers regularly choose carrots over cookies, kids internalize these examples and "catch" the healthy habit of avoiding unhealthy indulgences.
This suggests to me that if we want to break the cycle of childhood obesity, we need to have parents set the right example. The message shouldn't be, "Eat all of your vegetables because I said so." Instead, you should be eating all of your vegetables, too. And resisting that piece of chocolate cake for dessert.