title: Exhibitionist Eating: Who Wins Eating Competitions?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  How and why does competition and spectator involvement influence eating behaviors? The primary objective of this article is to explore the nature of competitive eating with the goal of identifying implications for other social situations.
  
  
  METHODS
  Study 1 investigated how many chicken wings were eaten by men and women in a 30-min eating competition when cheering spectators either were or were not present (compared to a control condition). The second study sought to explain Study 1's findings through a survey of 93 students who rated male or female competitive eaters (in randomized order) based on intelligence, attractiveness, health, strength, and how romantic they expected the eaters to be.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Exploratory findings show competitive eaters ate approximately four times as many chicken wings as a similar control group, and the presence of a cheering audience further increased wing consumption for males (but decreased consumption for females). Study 2 suggests part of the over-performance of males may be related to a shared positive perception that competitive male eaters are strong and virile.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Even in relatively low-stakes environments, competitive visibility may dramatically increase how much males eat. These preliminary results help illuminate recent discoveries that males overeat in various social situations where there are opportunities for men to "show off." This may have relevance for dining behavior - especially among younger males - at parties, banquets, group dinners, and similar social situations.
authors.affiliation: Charles S. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University , Ithaca, NY , USA.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wansink
authors.affiliation: Charles S. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University , Ithaca, NY , USA.
authors.forename: Kevin M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Kniffin
keywords: competitive eating; evolutionary psychology; gender; impression management