(Wansink 2010 : 18). No onefinished all the popcorn. When those receiving the
large bucket were asked if they thought they had eaten more because they had the
large bucket, most disagreed. In another study of popcorn consumption, moviegoers
consumed 45.3% more fresh popcorn and 33.6% more very stale (14 days old)
popcorn when eating from large containers (240 g) versus medium containers
(120 g) even though they complained of the quality and taste of the stale popcorn
(Wansink and Kim 2005 ).
Other cues also increasing consumption were the distraction of the movie,
expectations of appropriate movie audience behavior, smelling the popcorn and
butter, and seeing and hearing others eating popcorn. When food is available,
distractions (e.g., movies, TV, reading, computer games) lead to eating more, eating
longer, and forgetting how much one has consumed (Wansink 2010 ). A preload of
lunch or the poor taste and texture of the stale popcorn had little influence on
consumption. Even when food was not palatable, the large container size led to
greater consumption. One confirmatory experiment with sweet-tasting M&M’s
found that people ate 71 M&M’s from a half-pound bag and nearly twice as much,
137 M&M’s, from a one-pound bag (an additional 264 calories). Wansink ( 1996 ,
2004b) concludes that people regularly consume 18–45% more from large com-
pared to average-/standard-size packages.
In another series of cleverly deceptive experiments, Wansink et al. ( 2005 ) rigged
soup bowls to imperceptibly refill with tomato soup. People with regular 18-oz
(532 ml) bowls ate about 9 oz (266 ml) of soup while those with the refilling bowls
Fig. 10.1 What 100 calories look like. Photographed by Heather Hubbard, permission from Keith
Kovach
10 Objective and Subjective Aspects of the Drive to Eat in... 201