presence
10-22-2014, 07:44 AM
Spouses Stab Voodoo Dolls
More Often When “Hangry”,
Study Reveals
$331,000
WASTEBOOK 2014
The feeling of anger caused by hunger is
so well-known that pop culture has given the
feelings their own name: hanger. Armed with
voodoo dolls and chalkboard noises, federally
funded researchers wanted to prove a hangry
spouse is also an unhappy one.
Over the course of twenty-one consecu
tive evenings, 107 couples were given a chance
to stick up to 51 pins into a voodoo doll rep
resenting their spouse.
The pin-pushing hap
pened in secret, away from the other partner.
Participants then recorded the number of pins
they poked into the dolls. Those tests revealed
what may already be obvious to many couples:
a spouse with low blood sugar was an angrier
one, and stuck more pins in the doll (on aver
age).
In a subsequent experiment, partners
were allowed to blast loud noises at their part
ner if they won a game. The winner could play
the loud noises – the sound of a smoke alarm,
dentist’s drill, and fingernails-on-a-chalkboard
– for any amount of time they chose.
Again, the results were just as any parent
of a toddler might expect. “Hungry people are
cranky and aggressive,” said the lead research
er.176 Partners with lower blood glucose levels
blasted their spouses with louder and longer
noise.
Not all academics believed the results.
Two psychologists who reviewed the work
suggested, “[I]t might be a big leap to inter
pret the results with voodoo dolls as indicating
risk for actual physical aggression against a
spouse.”
Funding for the voodoo doll project came
in part from National Science Foundation grant
worth $331,000.
http://www.coburn.senate.gov/public//index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&File_id=6932c44c-6ef4-491d-a0f1-078b69f1f800
More Often When “Hangry”,
Study Reveals
$331,000
WASTEBOOK 2014
The feeling of anger caused by hunger is
so well-known that pop culture has given the
feelings their own name: hanger. Armed with
voodoo dolls and chalkboard noises, federally
funded researchers wanted to prove a hangry
spouse is also an unhappy one.
Over the course of twenty-one consecu
tive evenings, 107 couples were given a chance
to stick up to 51 pins into a voodoo doll rep
resenting their spouse.
The pin-pushing hap
pened in secret, away from the other partner.
Participants then recorded the number of pins
they poked into the dolls. Those tests revealed
what may already be obvious to many couples:
a spouse with low blood sugar was an angrier
one, and stuck more pins in the doll (on aver
age).
In a subsequent experiment, partners
were allowed to blast loud noises at their part
ner if they won a game. The winner could play
the loud noises – the sound of a smoke alarm,
dentist’s drill, and fingernails-on-a-chalkboard
– for any amount of time they chose.
Again, the results were just as any parent
of a toddler might expect. “Hungry people are
cranky and aggressive,” said the lead research
er.176 Partners with lower blood glucose levels
blasted their spouses with louder and longer
noise.
Not all academics believed the results.
Two psychologists who reviewed the work
suggested, “[I]t might be a big leap to inter
pret the results with voodoo dolls as indicating
risk for actual physical aggression against a
spouse.”
Funding for the voodoo doll project came
in part from National Science Foundation grant
worth $331,000.
http://www.coburn.senate.gov/public//index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&File_id=6932c44c-6ef4-491d-a0f1-078b69f1f800