Voodoo dolls shed light on domestic spats

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Having low blood glucose means you are more likely to stick pins in a voodoo doll that represents your spouse, a new study suggests.

And you are more likely to blast your spouse with a loud unpleasant noise - given the chance, finds a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The findings could point to a previously unrecognised contribution to aggression between married couples, says lead author Dr Brad Bushman, a professor of communication and psychology at Ohio State University in Columbus.

Preventing aggressive behaviour relies on self control, which is governed by our pre-frontal cortex, says Bushman.

Self control requires energy, part of which comes from glucose.

"It's widely accepted that glucose boosts self control," says Bushman.

On the contrary, when our brain doesn't get enough glucose, we can get cranky - something most of us can attest to from personal experience.

Voodoo doll experiment

Bushman and colleagues previously showed that glucose was linked to control of anger in a short-term lab experiment involving interactions between strangers.

But everyone knows we are most likely to snap at people we're closest to. So in their latest study, Bushman and colleagues studied interactions between married couples in their own home, over a much longer time frame.

More on the link. The article ends with this advice:

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But the study, funded by the National Science Foundation, has a serious side.

"I think the implications are pretty broad," says Bushman.

"What we eat is related to our angry feelings and aggressive behaviours towards our most intimate partners."

Bushman's recommendation: "If I was going to have a serious discussion with my spouse, I'd make sure I wasn't hungry first."

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Topic: Voodoo dolls shed light on domestic spats

osmanthus

OP - April 15, 2014, 07:23 AM

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