Jake Young is a 
If you don't want to overeat, make sure they don't bus your table:
People watching the Super Bowl who saw how much they had already eaten -- in this case, leftover chicken-wing bones -- ate 27 percent less than people who had no such environmental cues, finds a new Cornell study.The difference between the two groups -- those eating at a table where leftover bones accumulated compared with those whose leftovers were removed -- was greater for men than for women.
"The results suggest that people restrict their consumption when evidence of food consumed is available to signal how much food they have eaten," said Brian Wansink, the John S. Dyson Professor of Marketing and of Applied Economics at Cornell, and author of the 2006 book, "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think."
The study, conducted with Cornell postdoctoral researcher Collin R. Payne, is published in the April issue of Perceptual and Motor Skills. It included 50 graduate students at a sports bar where an open buffet featured chicken wings during the Super Bowl; some tables were bused and some were left unbused.
Why can't I participate in studies like this?
It does make sense though. If you have a huge pile of chicken bones in front of you, you will be more likely to come to the conclusion "My God...I am a total glutton." To avoid this recognition, I always try to hide them under stuff like napkins or my date's chair. (Why I am bringing a date to a sports bar is another matter...)
Comments
Given, I'm a vegetarian, but I'd imagine that a plateful of ravaged buffalo wings is just unappetizing in itself. This paper is certainly interesting, and certainly warrants further research, but would Hershey's Kisses wrappers have the same effect? Or might it even be a more social issue, that somebody might not want to appear to OTHER people to be such a glutton?
Posted by: Garrett | April 10, 2007 12:23 PM
Given a sufficient amount of testosterone at the table - say two or three men to one female, or college age men, or an all you can eat format, the discards can often be regarded as a source of pride and treated as a trophy; the object becomes to fill huge plates with mounds of bones, shells, carcasses......
Posted by: CJ | April 10, 2007 12:57 PM
Perhaps because you and your date like one another and share common interests? Or maybe I don't understand dating.
Posted by: Tricia | April 10, 2007 2:12 PM
I recently went home to the Midwest and met some friends at BW-3. I was shocked at how many wings my friends ate and still went back for more. Maybe there's a male thing where it's a badge of honor to have a giant pile of bones in front of you. Mind you, I'm male and after 6 I had an upset stomach and stopped.
I've been craving buffalo wings for more than a year and that one night ruined them for me.
Posted by: Jeremy | April 12, 2007 8:40 AM
Where did that picture come from? (Certainly nowhere near Buffalo!)
Only four wings??!! Nah, sorry. There's got to be at least twelve, and served with blue-cheese and celery sticks, not a bloody salad.
Posted by: Ed | April 12, 2007 4:37 PM