When they tested the new and improved product, they expected a warm reception. Instead, they got more complaints than before. Deprived of hearing the coating collapse and crumble, the experience of eating the ice cream was fundamentally changed. And not for the better. Smell and taste researcher Alan Hirsch, M. Depending on the snack, the noise can reach 63 decibels. Normal conversations are around 60 dB; rustling leaves, 20 dB. When we hear it, we eat more. Psychologically, our lust for crispy sustenance is baked in. But why is it so satisfying to create a cacophony of crunch?
And if we love it so much, why do some of us actually grow agitated and even aggressive when we hear someone loudly chomping away? The science of crunch has long intrigued Charles Spence, Ph. Food companies have enlisted him and consulted his research across the spectrum of ingestion, from packaging to shapes to the sound chips make rustling around in grocery carts.
Missing the sound is important. In , Spence decided to investigate the sonic appeal of chips in a formal setting. To keep a semblance of control, he selected Pringles, which are baked uniformly—a single Pringle doesn't offer any significant difference in size, thickness, or crunch from another. He asked 20 research subjects to bite into Pringles about two cans while seated in a soundproof booth in front of a microphone.
The sound of their crunching was looped back into a pair of headphones. After consuming the cans, they were asked if they perceived any difference in freshness or crispness from one Pringle to another. At loud volumes, the chips were reported to be fresher; chips ingested while listening at low volume were thought to have been sitting out longer and seemed softer.
The duplicitous sounds resulted in a radical difference in chip perception. It may have been a small study, but in the virtually non-existent field of sonic chip research, it was groundbreaking. For Spence, the results speak to what he considers the inherent appeal of crunchy foods.
Naturally, this signal becomes slightly misguided when it reinforces the quality of a potato chip, a processed slab of empty calories. But Spence has a theory on this, too: Trying to deny yourself pleasure and the satisfaction of your real needs is like trying to push water uphill with a broom.
Success comes with getting better at enjoying food and life, not learning how to suffer some diet or boot camp. My clients learn about all the needs we have, in body, mind and spirit, and we get good at satisfying them. We get good at lighting up the reward or pleasure centers of our brain that need to be lit up to sustain our lives. Those pleasure centers will be lit up, one way or another, while we are still breathing. Of that, you have no choice. However you can choose what you use to light them up. If all you have is eating, you will be overly dependent on food, like an addict, and your chances of having healthy eating control and losing weight will be just about zero.
Now you may think that I'll be telling you that you need to have a better sex life. That may be, but that's not where I'm going. I'm not a Freudian. Freud was stuck on sex. He thought that our physical body created the psychic energy, and the final goal of that energy was to create another body, via the sex act, and then die.
He thought that was the real goal of life. He thought overeating or getting over-involved with work or creativity were substitutes for sex. His terms for this were "regression" and "sublimation," a result of sexual dysfunction. I think Freud was missing a few chapters in his book of life. Others great minds like Maslow and Frankl proposed that we have needs beyond food, sex and the body. They said that we experience pleasure and truly express our life's energy by satisfying these higher needs, like having meaning and purpose in life, having relationships, experiencing love and "peak experiences," experiencing spirituality, even transcendence.
Eating and sex are not the only ways we experience pleasure, not the only ways our life's energy expresses itself.
This concise treatise on the unconscious was originally published in as a chapter in the book Psychoanalysis and Behavior. Originally published in as a chapter in the book Psychoanalysis and Behavior, this particular article discusses puritanism within the context of human sexuality. Among the topics under review are egotism and destructive persecution.
Puritanism A Dignified Neurosis. First published in as a chapter in the book Psychoanalysis and behavior. Among the issues discussed in relation to Self-Knowledge Through Dream Study are how to remember dreams, emotion in dreams and useful nightmares. Self-Knowledge Through Dream Study.
This fascinating critique was first published in as a chapter in the book Psychoanalysis and behavior. Among the issues discussed in relation to the neurotic aspects of war are: Displays of cruelty, the lure of the uniform, patriots and traitors, sexual license and neurotic death threats. The Neurotic Aspects of War. Originally published in the easy lessons series was designed to provide the reader with a highly accessible primer of psychoanalysis presented in simple language.
This publication showcases lessons 1 to 3. Easy Lessons in Psychoanalysis Lessons 1 to 3.
This publication showcases lessons 5 to 7. Easy Lessons in Psychoanalysis Lessons 5 to 7. This publication showcases lessons 8 to Easy Lessons in Psychoanalysis Lessons 8 to First published in as a chapter of the author's book Psychoanalysis and behavior, this is a succinct, clear and concise account of Freud's role in the history, scope and influence of psychoanalysis. First published in as a chapter of the author's book Psychoanalysis and behavior, this is a succinct, clear and concise account of Jung's role in the history, scope and influence of psychoanalysis.
Jung, The Zurich School. First published in as a chapter of the author's book Psychoanalysis and behavior, this is a succinct, clear and concise account of Adler's role in the history, scope and influence of psychoanalysis.
Nor does your psyche care who your psychotherapist votes for. I am pretty resist, knowing our history of being overwhelmed by our cravings?. SELFKNOWLEDGE THROUGH DREAM STUDY V. PROBLEMS OFSEX I. THE LOVE LIFE II. CAN WE SUBLIMATE OUR CRAVINGS? III. PURITANISM, A.
First published in as a chapter of the author's book Psychoanalysis and behavior, this is a succinct, clear and concise account of Kempf's role in the history, scope and influence of psychoanalysis. Originally published in as a chapter in the book Psychoanalysis and Behavior, this particular article addresses the concept of sublimation in relation to human sexuality. Among the topics discussed are sexual cravings, Madame Bovary and parasitic cravings. Can We Sublimate Our Cravings?
First published in as a chapter in the book Psychoanalysis and Behavior, this particular article discusses love in the sense of a physical attraction and stimulation. Among the issues addressed are the choice of a mate, love at first sight, neurotic jealousy and fetichism. First published in as a chapter in the book Psychoanalysis and behavior, this particular article addresses the question of why so many people lead a negative life.
Among the issues discussed are inferiority, withdrawing from reality, the craving for safety and neurotic superiority.