And let's not forget the tobacco companies! Annette
Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 [email protected] ---- Original message ---- >Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2008 10:45:17 -0500 >From: "Christopher D. Green" <[email protected]> >Subject: Re: [tips] Cognitive effects of chewing gum >To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> > > Rick Froman wrote: > > I saw some footnotes in an ad in Sports > Illustrated for Wrigley's gum. Following up at: > http://wrigleygumisgood.com/focus_concentration_alertness.html > produces reports of various ways that chewing gum > can improve cognition. > Looks like an interesting site to investigate in > Research Methods. > The initial ad caught my eye with a reference to > an article in Psychological Science: > Yue, Z., Huang, L., & Zhou, X. (2006). Regional > brain activities during gum chewing. Psychological > Science, 29, 1153-1156. > The original ad in Sports Illustrated was on p. 87 > of the December 29, 2008 issue. > > Beech-Nut and Wrigley have a long history of > commissioning research to "demonstrate" that gum > chewing has various fashionably healthful > consequences. Beech-Nut commissioned the well-known > Columbia psychologist Harry Hollingworth to write a > whole book on the topic -- The Psycho-Dynamics of > Gum Chewing (1939). Phil Wrigley (legendarily awful > owner of the Chicago Cubs) used this and other > research to persuade the US military to include his > chewing gum in the K-rations of every single US > soldier sent to Europe during WWII. He made (more > of) a fortune (see my "Psychology Strikes Out: > Coleman R. Griffith and the Chicago Cubs" History of > Psychology, 6, 267-283. footnote 5). > > Gum companies aren't the only ones to use > "scientific" research as part of their marketing > campaigns. Coca Cola hired Hollingworth back in 1911 > to show that the caffeine they added to their > product did not have have detrimental effects, and > then to testify on their behalf in a court case (see > Benjamin, L. T., Rogers, A. M., & Rosenbaum, A. > (1991). Coca-Cola, caffeine, and mental deficiency: > Harry Hollingworth and the Chattanooga trial of > 1911. Journal of the History of the Behavioral > Sciences, 27, 42-55). > > Some would say that the pharmaceutical industry does > the same thing on a massive scale today. > > Merry/Happy/Joyous, > > Chris > -- > > Christopher D. Green > Department of Psychology > York University > Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 > Canada > > > > 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 > [email protected] > http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ > > ========================== > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly ([email protected]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
