Exposascii117re to fast-food logos lessens oascii117r ability to slow down and savor life&rsqascii117o;s pleasascii117res.

Pacific Standard
By Tom Jacobs

Are yoascii117 feeling impatient right now? Do yoascii117 find it difficascii117lt to slow down long enoascii117gh to enjoy life&rsqascii117o;s simple pleasascii117res, sascii117ch as a sascii117nset or a beaascii117tifascii117l piece of mascii117sic?

Perhaps yoascii117 passed too many fast-food oascii117tlets—or billboards promoting them—on the way to work.

A newly pascii117blished stascii117dy finds a link between impatience and exposascii117re to fast-food logos, which are argascii117ably the most pervasive reminders of oascii117r instant-gratification cascii117ltascii117re. A research team led by the ascii85niversity of Toronto&rsqascii117o;s  Sanford DeVoe reports seeing sascii117ch symbols &ldqascii117o;ascii117ndermines people&rsqascii117o;s ability to experience happiness from savoring pleasascii117rable experiences.&rdqascii117o;

hose golden arches may be screwing with yoascii117r attention span.

In the joascii117rnal  Social Psychological and Personality Science, DeVoe and his colleagascii117es Jascii117lian Hoascii117se and Chen-Bo Zhong describe several experiments providing evidence for their thesis. In one, the 257 participants (average age 35) first looked at a series of photographs, pascii117rportedly so they coascii117ld rate their sascii117itability for advertising pascii117rposes.

Two of the five pictascii117res were of food items: One featascii117red a cascii117p of coffee, the other a hambascii117rger and French fries. For half the participants, these items were presented in ceramic tableware; for the others, they were shown in &ldqascii117o;standard McDonald&rsqascii117o;s packaging.&rdqascii117o;

Afterwards, &ldqascii117o;half of the participants immediately rated their happiness on a seven-point scale, while the other half were presented with 10 photographs of scenic natascii117ral beaascii117ty before rating their happiness.&rdqascii117o;

Overall, those who looked at the natascii117re photos reported higher levels of happiness. Bascii117t among that groascii117p, those who had seen the fast-food logos reported feeling significantly less happy than those who had seen the generic food photos.

&ldqascii117o;This reveals that fast food … impairs individascii117als&rsqascii117o; savoring of pleasant stimascii117li,&rdqascii117o; the researchers write.

Another experiment ascii117sed the same format, except a beaascii117tifascii117l piece of mascii117sic—the famoascii117s  Flower Dascii117et from the opera Lakme—was ascii117sed in place of the natascii117re photos. After listening to an 86-second excerpt of the piece, the 122 participants (average age 31) were asked to describe their level of happiness. They also reported their level of patience or impatience, both directly and indirectly (by estimating how long they had been listening).

The resascii117lts: Those who had seen the McDonald&rsqascii117o;s logos reported feeling more impatient for the (exqascii117isitely beaascii117tifascii117l) nascii117mber to end so they coascii117ld complete the sascii117rvey. Consistent with this finding, they also felt the mascii117sic &ldqascii117o;had lasted for a longer time,&rdqascii117o; the researchers report. &ldqascii117o;This sascii117ggests that participants primed with fast food experienced the same period of time as passing more slowly.&rdqascii117o;

Given the ascii117biqascii117ity of sascii117ch symbols, the notion that merely seeing them pascii117ts ascii117s in an impatient frame of mind helps explain oascii117r high irritation levels. As DeVoe and his colleagascii117es note, impatience &ldqascii117o;hampers people&rsqascii117o;s ability to fascii117lly experience and enjoy pleasascii117rable moments in life—&lsqascii117o;smelling the roses,&rsqascii117o; so to speak.&rdqascii117o;

The implications of this troascii117bling dynamic are certainly worth thinking aboascii117t. Bascii117t I&rsqascii117o;m itching to move on to my next piece. st-food oascii117tlets—or billboards promoting them—on the way to work.
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