TITLE

The Science Behind Why We Eat so Much at the Movies

DESCRIPTION

What an astounding and fascinating article that discusses how the cues in a movie theater stimulate greater hunger and eating behavior.

“Often, we eat the way the world around us tells us to—environmental cues help us decide when, how much, and what to chow on. And the dark, cool uniformity of movie theaters make them some of the most manufactured sensory environments we eat in.  Dine-in theaters are often marketed as a cross between a restaurant and a cinema, but in practice, they end up serving fairly different instincts. Foods we crave in a restaurant may have little appeal in a movie theater, while a tub of popcorn—a monotonous meal in any other setting— is endlessly satisfying. As it turns out, there are a lot of psychological effects at play when you enter a theater, and they reveal a lot about the interplay between food and our surroundings.”  Studies have found that the lighting, temperature, scenes on the screen, menu choices, and social interactions in a movie theater generate greater hunger, eating, and revenue for the theater.

SOURCE

Time, AUGUST 8, 2023, by Haley Weiss

LINK TO RESOURCE

https://time.com/6302767/movie-theaters-turn-us-into-bottomless-pits/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=sfmc&utm_campaign=newsletter+health+default+ac&utm_content=+++20230809+++body&et_rid=207786296&lctg=207786296

(Tiny URL)  https://tinyurl.com/5y38yn3v

CLASS DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

•Having read the article: what are the findings regarding the amount of light in a theater and also in restaurants affect our hunger motivation?

•Can watching food being eaten in a movie scene stimulate our appetite?  What are the findings?

•If lecturing to a group of parents about the effects of taking their children to a kids movie, what advice would you give them about the foods and eating in the theater?