Chicken Soup for the Soul:Comfort Food Fights Lneliness(心靈雞湯：爽心食品排解孤獨感)
Mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, may be bad for your arteries， but according to a study in Psychological Science, they’re good for your heart and emotions .The study focuses on “comfort food” and how it makes people feel.
"For me personally ,food has always played a big role in my family,” says Jordan Troisi, a graduate student at the University of Buffalo, and lead author on the study.The study came out of the research program of his co—author Shira Gabriel.It has looked at non-human things that may affect human emotions.Some people reduce loneliness by bonding with their favorite TV show, building virtual relationships with a pop song singer or looking at pictures of loved ones.Troisi and Gabriel wondered if comfort food could have the same effect by making people think of their nearest and dearest.
In one experiment, in order to make participants feel lonely, the researchers had them write for six minutes about a fight with someone close to them.Others were given an emotionally neutral writing assignment. Then, some people in each group wrote about the experience of eating a comfort food and others wrote about eating a new food.Finally ,the researchers had participants complete questions about their levels of loneliness.
Writing about a fight with a close person made people feel lonely.But people who were generally secure in their relationships would feel less lonely by writing about a comfort food."We have found that comfort foods are consistently associated with those close to us."says Troisi."Thinking about or consuming these foods later then serves as a reminder of those close others."In their essays on comfort food, many people wrote about the experience of eating food with family and friends.
In another experiment, eating chicken soup in the lab made people think more about relationships, but only if they considered chicken soup to be a comfort food.This was a question they had been asked long before the experiment, along with many other questions, so they wouldn’t remember it.
Throughout everyone’s daily lives they experience stress, often associated with our connections with others," Troisi says."Comfort food Can be an easy remedy for loneliness.
心靈雞湯：爽心食品排解孤獨感
土豆泥，通心粉和奶酪可能對動脈血管有害，但是，據(jù)《心理科學》一項研究表明，它們對心臟有利并且能抑制不利情緒。其研究對象是爽心食品，目的是探究人們對爽心食品的感覺。
“就我而言，食品在我的家庭一直是比較關注的問題”，JordanTroisi如是說。他是布法羅大學的研究生并且是本次研究的首席作者。該研究出自于他與ShiraGabriel合作的一個研究項目。它關注的是可能影響人類情感的物質的東西。有些人用諸如綁定喜愛的電視節(jié)目，和流行音樂歌手建立虛擬的關系或瀏覽親人的照片來排遣孤獨。Troisi和Gabriel想知道爽心食品是否能通過使人們想到他們最親近和最愛的人，同樣達到排遣孤獨的效果。
在一個實驗中，為使參與者感覺孤獨，研究者讓他們用六分鐘的時間描寫一次與最親近的人吵架的經(jīng)歷。而要求另外一些人寫一個情感中性的作業(yè)。然后，每一組的一些人描寫食用爽心食品的經(jīng)歷;而其他的人描寫食用新食品的經(jīng)歷。最后，研究者讓參與者書面回答關于孤獨程度的問題。
描寫與親人吵架的經(jīng)歷使人感到孤獨。但是，一般來說，人們的關系若處于穩(wěn)定狀態(tài)，通過描寫他們吃爽心食品的經(jīng)歷會排遣一些孤獨感。Troisi說道：“我們已經(jīng)得出這樣的結論：爽心食品與我們的親人密切相連，想一想或之后真正食用這種食品會提醒人們注意到他們的親人?！痹谒嘘P于爽心食品的文章中，許多人都描述了與家人和朋友共同進餐的經(jīng)歷。
在另外一個實驗中，在實驗喝雞湯令人想到和其他人的關系，但是，這只有在他們把雞湯認為是爽心食品的時候才會發(fā)生。參與者被要求回答這個問題和許多其他問題是在這個實驗很久以前，因此他們不會記得。
“在每一個人的日常生活中，都會經(jīng)歷緊張，而這往往與人際關系有關，爽心食品可能是排遣孤獨的便利食品”。Troisi如是說。