Marvelous headline, which unwittingly illustrates, in just seven words, the dichotomy between cause and effect. This is an actual scientific study from the University of Toronto.
The researchers are implying that something in fast food makes us impatient: trans fat, sugar, red meat, hormones, genetically modified veggies, or some combination.
It seems never to have occurred to the researchers that people who are already impatient might prefer fast food because it is, well, fast. That explanation fits the data just as well, and is considerably more plausible.
The headline should read, "Impatient People Prefer Fast Food", but that's an even more obvious tautology, and won't get you published.
The researchers are implying that something in fast food makes us impatient: trans fat, sugar, red meat, hormones, genetically modified veggies, or some combination.
It seems never to have occurred to the researchers that people who are already impatient might prefer fast food because it is, well, fast. That explanation fits the data just as well, and is considerably more plausible.
The headline should read, "Impatient People Prefer Fast Food", but that's an even more obvious tautology, and won't get you published.
Posts
3 comments:
I rarely stop at a fast food place. But, when I do, it's because I'm in a time squeeze and in a hurry. Of course, I'd be impatient in those circumstances.
I have one Fast Food weakness, the McDonalds Filet of Fish. It's not that great, but when I was starving as a pilot, on my way home from the airport, I'd get one, a fried apple pie and a medium coke. Nirvana. To this day it brings back that memory, though I usually skip the apple pie. They're baked now, no more fried pie with the filling like hot glue. If I'm going to blow calores, let it at least be good.
Oh, Brigid, you brought back a memory. When I was in college, I went year around. Usually, I lived in a dorm, but during the summer session, the dorms were closed. One summer, I shared an efficiency apartment with a grad student geographer. He spent a lot of time in the field so I mostly lived alone, walking to campus early in the morning, working for the university during the afternoon and evening.
I lived off a McD hamburger for lunch and a can of soup or a can of spaghetti in the evening. Come Saturday, I was ready to kill for an Egg McMuffin. Even today, at odd times, I'll crave an Egg McMuffin.
Post a Comment