Posted on 12/12/2010 7:50:16 AM PST by SunkenCiv
The sight of meat, such as a juicy roasted turkey on the Thanksgiving table, may promote caveman behavioral traits, according to new research recently presented at a McGill University undergraduate science symposium.
The study adds to the growing body of research on priming and aggression, which holds that looking at an object possibly learned to be associated with aggression, such as a gun, can make someone more likely to behave a certain way.
"I theorized that meat would elicit an aggressive response because it would be beneficial to our ancestor's adaptation in that it would place our ancestors in a state optimal for hunting and co-opting meat resources, where aggression would be necessary," project leader Frank Kachanoff told Discovery News.
"Fruits and vegetables would probably not require as much aggressive force to be acquired," added Kachanoff, a McGill Department of Psychology researcher...
The researchers predicted that when pictures of meat were sorted, as opposed to geometric shapes, participants would inflict more discomfort on the reader. Just the opposite happened, however. The meat images actually resulted in less punishment.
"It would make sense that our ancestors would be calm, as they would be surrounded by friends and family at meal time," Kachanoff said.
"It would have been favorable to our ancestors' fitness, if they would become less aggressive after hunting was completed, when he or she was around relatives sharing food," he further explained. "This would decrease the chance of one harming a relative with whom much of their DNA is shared."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.discovery.com ...
“Our culture does not value the experiences of our elder as we should’’ Bingo! Thank you for making my point. It wasn’t “Miss Manners’’ at my family’s dinner table for the sake of manners alone. It was an acknowledgment of the effort it took both my parents to work for the food we ate and the work my late mother put into making a meal for nine people every night . The least expected of us kids was not to behave at the dinner table like a pack of barbarians.
“....It was an acknowledgment of the effort it took both my parents to work for the food we ate ...”
We all had a stake in every meal. Our family garden was about 2 acres with an additional 3-5 for eating corn. We kids had to plant, tend, weed, harvest and process it all. We were dirt poor, but we ate like Kings!
alas, I was a city kid.
I must be a cave woman then, because I love the sight/taste of a well done turkey, ham, roast, chicken, ribs the rest are just side dishes to add color.
So, just how many of these liberal dolts knew a caveman?
Your experience sounds a lot like mine. Respect for parents and elders in general was required and despite living in the South would never have used the word "nigger" though many people did at the time, but meals weren't at all formal. My wife grew up in a more "cultured" family, but she thinks most of it's a bunch of poppycock. I sometimes catch myself calling even strangers younger than myself "maam" or "sir". I guess my brain hasn't caught up with my chronological age yet.
Yep. I sassed my mother once. Just once!
Mammoth meat?
Why, thank you!
Who knows if cooked right it probably tasted good to cave dwellers. I doubt they ate all that much of it, to hard to bring down. Deer, moose, those types were probably the most hunted.
I love RIBS, but then I’m a meat lover, so don’t turn my nose up at much if it is cooked right..not much on duck or goose, to greasy. I had a aunt who could cook deer or bear to perfection. Steak was another story.
bookmark
Bill Murray school of behavioral science???
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