Psychological Reports: Human Resources & Marketing 2012, 111, 1, 228-232. © Psychological Reports 2012 DOI 10.2466/01.PR0.111.4.228-232 ISSN 0033-2941 FaSt FOOD ReStauRaNt lIghtINg aND MuSIc caN ReDuce calORIe INtaKe aND INcReaSe SatISFactION 1, 2 BRIaN WaNSINK Cornell University KOeRt van ItteRSuM Georgia Institute of Technology Summary.—Recent research shows that environmental cues such as lighting and music strongly bias the eating behavior of diners in laboratory situations. this study examines whether changing the atmosphere of a fast food restaurant would change how much patrons ate. the results indicated that softening the lighting and music led people to eat less, to rate the food as more enjoyable, and to spend just as much. In contrast to hypothesized u-shaped curves (people who spend longer eat more), this suggests a more relaxed environment increases satisfaction and de- creases consumption. environmental cues have been shown to increase the food intake of unwary individuals (Wansink, 2006, 2010). Yet if these factors—including lighting and music—lead people to eat more, would changing these fac- tors lead them to eat less? a restaurant’s atmosphere might lead people to overeat if it stimulates them to eat faster (lawton, 2004), or it might lead people to overeat if it encourages a person to stay longer at the restaurant and order additional food (Wansink, 2004). For instance, one study exam- ined 1,400 diners in a restaurant that either played fast music or relaxing, instrumental music. When the music was relaxing, diners ate 11 minutes longer (56 minutes in total). While they did not spend more money on food, the average table spent over $30 on drinks, far more than the $21.62 spent by the fast music group (Milliman, 1986). Fast food restaurants, often considered to contribute to obesity, are not designed to be relaxing. they are characterized by bright lights, noise- relecting surfaces, and stimulating yellow-and-red colors (Sobal & Wan- sink, 2007). Lighting and noise could have a psychological inluence on food consumption because they directly or indirectly inluence eating du- ration (Garg, Wansink, & Inman, 2007). a frequent observation and a ro- bust empirical inding (Cohen’s d = .60) is that the longer one dines, the more one eats (Caldwell & Hibbert, 2002). Both lighting and noise may in- luence consumption partly because they encourage people to spend more 1 address correspondence to Brian Wansink, John S. Dyson Professor of Marketing, charles h. Dyson School of applied economics and Management, cornell university, 110 Warren hall, Ithaca, NY 14853-7801 or e-mail (wansink@cornell.edu) or Koert van Ittersum, associ- ate Professor of Marketing, Scheller college of Business, georgia Institute of technology, 800 West Peachtree Street NW, atlanta, ga 30308-1149 or e-mail (koert.vanittersum@scheller. gatech.edu). 2 the authors are grateful for the generous cooperation of the national management of hard- ees and carl’s Jr. and their local franchise in champaign, Il. thanks also to John Murray and Matthew M. cheney for help in data collection.