Well, this is just the abstract, not the whole article and the whole article isn't available for free, so difficult to engage the subject matter with any great authority.
However, the abstract presents a huge number of red flags from a research perspective. The first sentence could reasonably be seen to set up a dichotomy presupposing that organic food tastes disgusting and therefore harshens moral judgments. The author does not quite say that, though, so perhaps it is just bad writing. But even getting to the supposed meat of the abstract...wtf? They set up three categories..organic, comfort and control. Organic food can't be comfort food? Holy presupposition, batman! And they have the people "view" the food? Not eat it? That is not only farcical, it completely dissociates the study from the supposed reason they did it in the first place, the aforementioned new studies on taste affecting moral judgement. Perhaps the rest of the article is better written and has some solid research in it, but the abstract makes me think that there is a high likelihood of this being a steaming pile of crap. Cheers, Judah On Thu, May 24, 2012 at 5:52 AM, Jerry Barnes <critic...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Wholesome Foods and Wholesome Morals? Organic Foods Reduce Prosocial > Behavior and Harshen Moral Judgments > > > Recent research has revealed that specific tastes can influence moral > processing, with sweet tastes inducing prosocial behavior and disgusting > tastes harshening moral judgments. Do similar effects apply to different > food types (comfort foods, organic foods, etc.)? Although organic foods are > often marketed with moral terms (e.g., Honest Tea, Purity Life, and Smart > Balance), no research to date has investigated the extent to which exposure > to organic foods influences moral judgments or behavior. After viewing a > few organic foods, comfort foods, or control foods, participants who were > exposed to organic foods volunteered significantly less time to help a > needy stranger, and they judged moral transgressions significantly harsher > than those who viewed nonorganic foods. These results suggest that exposure > to organic foods may lead people to affirm their moral identities, which > attenuates their desire to be altruistic. > > > http://spp.sagepub.com/content/early/2012/05/14/1948550612447114.abstract > > > > Does organic food turn people into jerks? > > As it turns out, new research has determined that a judgmental attitude may > just go hand in hand with exposure to organic foods. In fact, a new > studypublished this week in the journal of Social Psychological and > Personality Science, has found that organic food may just make people act a > bit like jerks. > > "There's a line of research showing that when people can pat themselves on > the back for their moral behavior, they can become self-righteous," says > author Kendall Eskine, assistant professor of the department of > psychological sciences at Loyola University in New Orleans. "I've noticed a > lot of organic foods are marketed with moral terminology, like Honest Tea, > and wondered if you exposed people to organic food, if it would make them > pat themselves on the back for their moral and environmental choices. I > wondered if they would be more altruistic or not." > .., > Eskine says he was surprised by the findings ("You'd think eating organic > would make you feel elevated and want to pay it forward," he says) and > hopes to do additional studies that look at conditions that might prompt > people to act differently. > > > http://todayhealth.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/18/11737146-does-organic-food-turn-people-into-jerks?lite > > J > > > > > Of course, the question could be turned around. Who is more likely to be > an ass: a person who chooses organic food or a person who doesn't? If > phrased like this, then, unlike Erskine, the findings don't surprise me a > bit. > > > > > - > > Find out just what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact > amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these > will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. > The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they > oppress - Frederick Douglass > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:351340 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
