Need To Make A Decision? Study Findings, Will Be Better In Hungry Conditions

Illustration of holding hunger for a while(iStockphoto)

YOGYAKARTA – Hunger is always associated with emotions that slowly peak. When someone feels hungry, they are often more irritable or easy to make decisions without thinking. But research by the University of Utrech in the Netherlands found otherwise.

In conditions of hunger, body heat increases. At that time, a person is prone to impulsive things. But when it comes to making decisions, impulsive behavior is not necessarily a bad thing.

Reported by ScienceAlert, Monday, June 20, researchers engaged a group of students to test whether hunger leads to profitable strategic decision making. In all experiments, the students were divided into two groups. The first group, participants who did not eat for about 10. The other group was served a rich breakfast, they were free to eat and drink as much as they wanted.

In the first two experiments, students participated in a card game that reflected complex real-life decision making associated with various risks and rewards. Interestingly, the group that did not eat or managed to understand the pattern of long-term rewards for short-term gains compared to the group of participants who ate all-you-can-eat.

Illustration of holding back hunger for a while (Unsplash/Jason Goodman)

The results of the study, published in PLOS One, show that people who are hungry because they haven't eaten all night perform better when tasked with making complex decisions. People who are full actually make decisions that are not profitable in the long run.

The third experiment involved study participants in a series of questions. They have to choose between being given a small amount of money at that time or a large amount of money in the future. This experiment supports the findings of the two previous experiments. That participants who endure hunger have a larger amount of money in the future. Meanwhile, participants who eat to their heart's content tend to choose the option of getting small money at the beginning of the game.

Researchers write that a hot state of hunger promotes long-term gains rather than compromising on small gains in the near-term. Although the conclusions of this study have not been concluded, but it's not a bad thing to be hungry when you have a meeting. You see, hunger and appetite do not always make people more impulsive. But making hunches work sharper in making complex decisions.