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The same meals can help build trust with your partner
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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Establishing relationships between people is a rather complex process, whether it concerns business partners, office workers or just a man and a woman. At a private research university in Chicago, a team of psychologists has established how to establish contact and increase the level of trust between people. As it turns out, everything is simple - to please a person, you need to choose the same food.
Scientists conducted a series of experiments in which they determined the connection between the choice of identical dishes and the resulting feeling of trust. It has long been known that people who want to become closer to each other develop similar habits, tastes, musical preferences, etc. But now this is a scientifically proven fact.
Recently, experts have proven that laughter helps to establish social connections and if a person laughs at your jokes, it means that he likes you. A similar situation is observed when choosing dishes.
To find out, scientists conducted several experiments, in the first of which people took a standard test for trust levels - all participants were divided into pairs and each had to determine the amount that they would be willing to give to their partner for investment (double increase). According to the terms of the experiment, the one who gave the money had no guarantee of receiving the money back, and the one who received it had the right not to give it back at all. The amount that the participants were willing to give determined the level of trust between them.
During the study, some couples were given the same candies, while others were given different ones, thus creating two groups of participants. The scientists also left some participants without candies, i.e. created a control group. As a result, the scientists noted that the highest level of trust was in the group where the couples were given the same candies.
Next, the scientists tried to confirm the fact that choosing the same food affects the level of trust in a person. For this, another test was used - the participants had to reach an agreement in negotiations on a labor contract. Just like in the previous experiment, some of the participants received the same dishes, some different ones. The results amazed the scientists - in the group where the couples received the same dish, an agreement was reached 2 times faster.
University of Chicago professor Islet Fischbach noted that people believe that all decisions are made using logic, but the fact that choosing the same food can influence thinking does not even occur to anyone. According to scientists, food can be used at a basic level as a means of establishing contact and trust.
Such techniques are suitable for business negotiations and for ordinary work canteens - by limiting the range of food, you can push people to choose the same dishes, thereby bringing them closer together. According to scientists, if canteens have a limited range of food, this will help increase labor efficiency, since employees will begin to trust each other more.
This approach can be used not only for work purposes, but also for personal purposes - on a first date or after a quarrel, but to avoid it looking like manipulation, you should inform your partner.