Moore's analysis suggests a correlation: 69% of people who had been convicted of a violent act by age 34 reported eating candy almost every day as youngsters; 42% of people who had not been arrested for violent behavior reported the same.In an effort to see whether there was a direct correlation between diet and behavior, Moore sought to eliminate potential differences in geography and parental conduct. And he came to the conclusion that grabbing candy and committing a crime may have the same root cause -- a lack of impulse control.
In some respects, this feels like an updated version of the classic Stanford University experiment with children and marshmallows, which studied whether kids could delay
gratification in exchange for a reward -- in that case, two
marshmallows, instead of one. That study deduced that the children who
were able to wait were more likely to be successful and have more
fulfilling lives as adults.
The difficulty in analyzing
Moore's results lies in ascribing the choices in relation to food as
predictors of future behavior. But just in case, you should keep an eye
on the ghost and the witch who come to your house on Halloween -- they
might be casing the joint.
[Image via Flickr: candymancan]
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