Unit Bias

Here's an interesting article about the unit bias of food. This article finds, through various experiments, that the amount of food consumed has some correlation to the unit size presented.

In other words, for some reason, we are conditioned to consume more food if it is presented in a large serving size, i.e., if we can consume a large amount with just one "take". The article presents various plausible explanations, including social pressures and what I would like to label "expert pressure".

Expert pressure is the influence that any authoritative-seeming person has on a person's beliefs. Perhaps the simplest explanation would be a combination of herd instinct and something I couldn't find on the cognitive bias page (a wonderful thing to browse), namely the observation that the illusion of knowledge is enough to influence decisions that haven't been made up already.

In this case, expert pressure is the irrational notion that the packagers/presenters of food know the right amount you should consume. Of course, this is not the case, not only because some foods are meant to be shared, but because unit sizes are chosen on purpose.

Logically, I want to say that serving size does not affect how much I eat. However, even if you feel no remorse repeatedly going for chips at a party, don't you feel much more comfortable with a large bag in hand, so you only have to make one trip?

Personally, I feel like small serving sizes can reduce the amount I eat, but I believe only in cases of over-indulgence. If I'm at a restaurant and I get a dessert far larger than I want, I'll probably make a bold effort to finish it anyway because it would go to waste. But at Bowdoin, where the food is all-you-can-eat, and thus largely under my control, I have no such problems.

I eat a lot at each meal, perhaps even over-eat, but I do it consciously, because I know roughly how much food I need to make it to the next meal. Of course, snacking regularly is a healthy way to combat this, but in the end, I'm eating the same amount anyway. Plus, snacks are less healthy and more expensive than Bowdoin meals.

In fact, ever since freshman year, I have kept tabs on how much I eat at each meal. Every once in a while, I consciously eat less than I usually do, to make sure I really need that extra bit. Every time, I end up starving by the next meal, which results in over-eating, or have to snack on whatever is available in my dorm. In fact, I tried this tonight, because I didn't really like the dinner, and sure enough, I'm hungry now.

Well, I feel like this post made very little sense. Sorry about that. I can promise that you will be entertained if you just follow the links I've provided, though.

Till next time...