The results? The guys who could choose to give up access to a second-tier option were much more likely to get the, uh, “bigger reward.”
“This is a classic phenomenon that we call preference reversal. If you ask me before I have to wait, do I prefer a large reward over a small one? Yeah! Of course I prefer the large one,” says Molly Crockett, PhD, lead researcher and Wellcome Trust Research Fellow at University College London, UK. “But after I’ve been waiting for a little while, I get sick of waiting and then that small reward starts to look really tempting.”
Food to a hungry tummy works the same way as pornography did to these “hungry” men. When it comes to your meals, you’ve got two possible rewards: the small immediate reward of something sweet on your taste buds and the larger future reward of long-term health benefits. The key to choosing the latter is to make a commitment to it in advance.
If you’re at the grocery store and your goal is to eat healthy, don’t even venture down the junk food aisle, Dr. Crockett recommends. Instead, stock up your pantry with granola bars, nuts, or fruits and veggies. That way, when you’re at home and in the heat of your midday hunger pangs, you’ll have only one option to satisfy your stomach: the healthy one.
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