AUTHOR: Jeff Grabmeier
PUBLICATION NAME: ScienceDaily
DATE OF PUBLICATION: Dec. 1, 2010
SUMMARY: A study performed by Brad Bushman (co-author of the study and professor of communication and psychology at Ohio State University), C. Nathan DeWall and Timothy Deckman of the University of Kentucky and Matthew Gailllot of SUNY-Albany found that people who drink lemonade with sugar are less aggressive to strangers a few minutes after drinking the beverage than those who drink lemonade with a sugar substitute. This study was performed with 62 college students as test subjects. The students fasted for 3 hours to reduce their glucose levels and then, half of them were given lemonade with sugar while the other half were given lemonade with a sugar substitute. Eight minutes were given for students to absorb the sugar into their blood. Participants were then informed that they and an unseen rival were to compete against each other by pressing a button as quickly as possible in 25 trials. Whoever lost would be punished with a blast of white noise, whose volume was determined by the winner of the trials. (In actuality, each participant “won” 12 random trials.) The sound was rates on a scale of 1-10. During the first trial (before being punished with any noise by their “partners,” it was found that students who had drunk the sugared lemonade, on average, gave a noise level of 4.8, while the ones who had drunk the substitute gave a 6.06.
Bushman believes that since the act of resisting aggressive behavior takes so much energy, glucose is essential for providing the energy needed to resist such impulses. Those people who have difficulty using the glucose present in their bodies (notably those with diabetes) are more prone to aggressive behavior and less willing to forgive others. This turns into a problem because diabetes level (which are shown to correspond directly with violence and crime rates) are rising in America.
LINKS TO STUDY: None
ARTICLE: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101130161535.htm
SUBMITTED BY: Lordesa Fok
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