The main attraction, center of attention

January 5, 2019 1:18 PM

Food: The universal human experience. Heck, sharing food leads to better negotiation outcomes. But if you're eating too much and always feeling the need to clean your plate, a Vanderbilt professor has some tips for you.
posted by cashman (5 comments total)

That’s a fascinating study on the meal-sharing and negotiations. To summarize: study participants who shared a bowl of salsa and chips before a wage negotiation were able to come to negotiated agreement in 9 rounds (or “day equivalents”) while participants who had their own bowls took on average 14 rounds to come to agreement.

I would be interested to see what the average settlement wage arrived at by two groups. Sharing meals helps get to an agreement sooner, but does it advantage/disadvantage one party more than the other? Does it subvert the dominance paradigm of management? Or does it subvert labor’s sense of righteous cause in fighting management?

I also appreciated the note at the end of that article that said “every meal alone is a missed opportunity” to strengthen relationships. So true! But as an introvert, there are trade offs and practicalities.

Thanks for the post!
posted by darkstar at 1:32 PM on January 5, 2019 [9 favorites]

Considering this recent post about bad food science and that jerk Brian Wansink who falsified a ton of data to make points about food- why should I trust any of this as accurate? Isn't this also under the umbrella of all the psychology research that can't be duplicated?
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 2:01 PM on January 5, 2019 [9 favorites]

I sat down at a restaurant to catch up with friends who have a baby. When I placed my order and when I received my food, I was fully intending to eat everything on my plate. When the baby's parents' said "she's past her limit; she could melt down any minute now," I suddenly lost my appetite and wrapped up the last half of my meal to go without a moment's hesitation.
posted by Former Congressional Representative Lenny Lemming at 4:03 PM on January 5, 2019

I think PJ O’Rourke observed that without food, state dinners would be replaced by state pinochle games.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:06 PM on January 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

I brought cookies to a meeting recently where we were about to have very tense work-related negotiations. Everyone just stared at them angrily and wouldn't eat any. One colleague asked if they were poisoned.

On the plus side, I got to eat all the cookies, which was a good substitute every time I wanted to bite someone.
posted by lollusc at 7:18 PM on January 5, 2019 [7 favorites]