Most people will eat more if given a larger dish, but how much more could be determined by personality type; at least in children.
Researchers looked at the eating habits of kids between he ages of six and 10, and found extraverts were more likely to eat more when given a larger plate, a Cornell University food and Brand Lab news release reported.
Adults served the children breakfast in a large bowl, but allowed the children to dictate how much milk and cereal they would like to be served. On a separate occasion the study subjects were given either a large or small bowl and were allowed to serve themselves. The team weighed each child's portion using scales hidden inside of the table.
The researchers also determined each child's personality type. Four teachers and one counselor rated the participants' degree of introversion and extroversion on a scale of one to nine.
They rated each child based off of their average score. The team then compared the serving size between those classified as introverts, and the extroverts.
The researchers found the children that had been rated as extroverted were much more likely to be affected by bowl size.
The extroverted group served themselves about 33.1 percent more food in the larger bowl than they would have in the smaller bowl. The introverted children served themselves an average of 5.6 percent more milk and cereal.
When the participants were served by adults they almost always asked for more food, regardless of their introversion or extroversion rating.
"Extraverted children appear to be highly influenced by environmental cues when serving themselves, filling their big bowls to the brim when left in charge of their own portions. These extraverts may benefit from having an adult serve. Introverted kids, however, are less likely to base portions on bowl size only when serving themselves, so parents may want to allow young introverts to serve their own food to avoid dish-size bias," the news release reported.
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