SASKATOON – New research suggests that the sight of cooked meat reduces aggression and will calm people down.
Frank Kachanoff, a researcher with McGill University’s psychology department, was surprised to learn that the sight of meat makes people significantly less aggressive.
He thought aggression would have helped our primate ancestors with hunting, co-opting and protecting meat resources.
“I wanted to know if just looking at the meat would suffice to provoke an aggressive behavior,” Kachanoff said in a news release.
Read Also
Quebec pork company calls for transparency around gene-edited pigs
Quebec-based pork company duBreton is calling for transparency around meats from gene-edited pigs on concerns that a lack of mandatory labelling will confuse consumers, and dilute certification claims. The organic sector is also calling for labelling rules.
His research found the exact opposite is true.
The study involved 82 men who believed they could punish an aide with various volumes of sound every time the aide made an error while sorting photos. One group of pictures showed cooked meat and another featured more neutral images.
The research team initially thought that the sight of meat would cause the men to inflict more punishment.
“In terms of behaviour, with the benefit of hindsight, it would make sense that our ancestors would be calm, as they would be surrounded by friends and family at meal time.”
He concludes the sight of meat at the dinner table means the hunt is over and it is now time to relax.
