The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain

by Annie Murphy Paul

The explanation may go back, again, to synchrony. Balachandra notes that when we eat together, we end up mirroring one another’s movements: lifting the food to our mouths, chewing, swallowing. “This unconscious mimicking of each other may induce positive feelings towards both the other party and the matter under discussion,” she writes. Other research has found that the positive effect of shared meals on cooperation is heightened if participants dine “family style”—eating the same food, served from communal dishes. It may also be enhanced if very spicy entrees are on the menu, since consuming such food increases body temperature and perspiration, raises blood pressure, speeds up heart rate, and prompts the release of adrenaline, all hallmarks of physiological arousal. A group of Australian researchers reported greater economic cooperation among people who together had eaten bird’s eye chilies, a painfully hot pepper.

The power of the pepper!