Research Design Connection: Coffee!

by Sally Augustin, Ph.D. | August 13th, 2018

Unnava, Sing and Unnava evaluated how drinking coffee affects groups. Their findings support designing to encourage coffee consumption. The researchers found that “consuming a moderate amount of caffeinated coffee prior to indulging in a group activity enhances an individual’s task-relevant participation in the group activity. In addition, subjective evaluations of the participation of other group members and oneself are also positively influenced.” So, consuming coffee enhanced actual on-task performance as well as impressions of the performance of all meeting attendees. Vasu Unnava, Amit Singh, and H. Unnava. “Coffee with Co-Workers: Role of Caffeine on Evaluations of the Self and Others in Group Settings.” Journal of Psychopharmacology, in press, https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881118760665 Sally Augustin, PhD, a cognitive scientist, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com), a monthly subscription newsletter and free daily blog, where recent and classic research in the social, design, and physical sciences that can inform designers’ work are presented …