There are many things we shouldn’t do when we are hungry, going to the supermarket is one of them but is not using Tinder another? Sometimes our eyes are bigger than our stomachs when we are hungry but some researchers think that’s not the only change that happens to our eyes. Researchers think that hunger may also change the body type we are attracted to. Yes, really.

The team of researchers took 44 participants, 23 men and 21 women with an average age of about 24 years old and placed them in 2 conditions, a snack condition and a fasting condition. When in the fasting condition, they were asked to not eat for 12+ hours overnight before completing the tasks, when in the snack condition, they were asked to complete the take after have a snack.  In both conditions they were asked to look at 2 male and 2 female computer generated (CG) 3D models of different weights, 2 male and 2 female CG models with different roundness of faces, and 3D objects. These were shown to participants in different orders.

The results, surprisingly, showed a difference between the conditions. While the ratings were higher for the slim bodies and faces overall, those in the fasting condition rated the rounder faces and bodies MORE attractive than they did when they were in the snack condition. The participants ratings also changed in the fasting condition when the rating the 3D objects. These results were modulated by the participants BMI, “only participants with a high BMI provided higher aesthetic judgements for round stimuli after fasting than after a snack.”

Researchers feel that these results demonstrate our aesthetic preferences can change when we are hungry vs when we are full and “successfully expanded the literature on hunger’s effects on aesthetic preference.”

Original Article: https://www.psypost.org/2022/06/hunger-can-alter-aesthetic-preferences-for-human-bodies-and-other-objects-study-finds-63354
Study: https://bmcpsychology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40359-022-00807-7