Hunger Games: Fluctuations in Blood Glucose Levels Influence Social Welfare Support

23 Pages Posted: 13 Jun 2013

See all articles by Lene Aarøe

Lene Aarøe

Aarhus University - Department of Political Science

Michael Bang Petersen

Aarhus University - Department of Political Science

Date Written: June 11, 2013

Abstract

Social welfare policies are a modern instantiation of a phenomenon that has pervaded human evolutionary history: resource sharing. Ancestrally, food was a key shared resource in situations of temporary hunger. If our evolved psychology continues to shape how individuals think about current, evolutionarily novel conditions, this invites the prediction that attitudes regarding welfare politics are influenced by short-term fluctuations in hunger. Using blood glucose levels as a physiological indicator of hunger, we test this prediction in a study in which subjects are randomly assigned to consume a soft drink with carbohydrate or an artificial sweetener. Analyses show that subjects with experimentally induced low blood glucose levels express stronger support for social welfare. Using an incentivized measure of actual sharing behavior, we furthermore demonstrate that this increased welfare support does not translate into genuinely increased sharing motivations. Rather, we suggest, it is “cheap talk” aimed at increasing the sharing efforts of others.

Keywords: Evolutionary Psychology, Social Cognition, Hunger, Political Attitudes

Suggested Citation

Aarøe, Lene and Petersen, Michael Bang, Hunger Games: Fluctuations in Blood Glucose Levels Influence Social Welfare Support (June 11, 2013). Psychological Science, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2277902

Lene Aarøe

Aarhus University - Department of Political Science ( email )

Nordre Ringgade 1
Aarhus, DK-8000
Denmark

Michael Bang Petersen (Contact Author)

Aarhus University - Department of Political Science ( email )

Bartholins Allé è
DK-8000 Aarhus, 8000
Denmark

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