Many people have said to experience suchtalk about experiencing a phenomenon called “hanger”, a sensation of anger caused by being hungerhungry. This term was looked at in greater depthsdepth by scientists, as they explored the emotional and social effects of hunger, whichand is discussed by Benedict Carey in an article titled “Don’t Get Mad, but ‘Hangry’ Isn’t Really Angry”. Carey sharesshared the research done by Jennifer MacCormack, a doctoral student in psychology and neuroscience at the University of North Carolina regarding the social and emotional states of students affected by hunger.
MacCormack’sMacCormack performed a study that involved over 230 participants who were hungry students. These participants’ patience was tested by having them perform a tedious task while their computer continued to deliberately crash. However, there was no significant difference to conclude that hunger caused them to become more impatient and grow angry. Thus, MacCormack then separated the subjects into two groups, the first group focused on their emotional state as they worked on the computer while the other did not. Only the group that was less self-aware of their growing agitation displayed clear signs of stress. Meanwhile, another researchersome other researchers, Jan Hausser and Nadira Fabe, performed a similar study that involved 600 participants in a cafeteria. In this study, the participants were given a certain amount of money or food, the difference being that 300 were fed prior, while the other group was not. These participants were then approached by someone in the research team to ask for spare food or money. Participants in both groups shared equal amounts of generosity, suggesting that they arewere more prosocial.
The results in both studies reported that “hanger” and itsthe validity areof the concept of “hanger” was debunked, as there was no change in the emotional state and as people becomebecame more prosocial.