We hear a lot about how diet is very important. In this era of eating healthfully and reducing meat consumption, a new study has been released suggesting that for men, thinking about meat may be a major stress reducer.
Scientists at McGill University in Canada have found that images of meat actually have the ability to calm men down and make them less aggressive. The study was conducted on 82 male subjects who were told the study was about multitasking. Next, participants were asked to sort through stacks of pictures while simultaneously following an actor reading a script. When the actor messed up on the script, study participants inflicted varying degrees of punishment, in the form of loud noises. The highest-volume sounds were believed by the subjects to be harmful to the actors.
Findings revealed that male participants were less likely to choose to inflict pain if they were looking at a photo of cooked meat when the mistake was made. This was a startling finding since the scientists anticipated that the sight of meat would make the men more aggressive.
The researchers suspect this may be because meat is associated with relaxing times with friends and family.
“It wouldn’t be advantageous to be aggressive anymore, because you would’ve already used your aggression to acquire the meat, and furthermore, you’d be surrounded by people who share … your DNA,” stated the team’s lead researcher, Frank Kachanoff.
Kachanoff, a researcher with a special interest in evolution at McGill University’s department of psychology, added that “One of the basic principles in evolution is to want to preserve not only your DNA but also that of your next of kin.” He suggested that some men may experience a calming effect as a result.
His research was carried out under the direction of Dr. Donald Taylor and Ph.D. student Julie Caouette, and was presented at the university’s annual undergraduate science symposium.
