Do you want to know how to win friends and influence people? The answer is simple: give them coffee. This may sound like just the ramblings and conjecture of a biased coffee writerโwhich it definitely isโbut now there is science to make it less conjecture-y, though still very ramble-y.
According to PsyPost, a new study in the Journal of Psychopharmacology found that โdrinking coffee before a discussion can help people stay focused and feel better about the people in the conversation.โ So it stands to reason, if you want people to feel good about you, give them coffee before the meeting you both will be attending.
Titled โCoffee with co-workers: role of caffeine on evaluations of the self and others in group settings,” the research was authored by Vasu Unnava of the University of California, Davis, who split a total of 134 college students into groups and โhad them discuss the Occupy Wall Street movement for 15 minutes.” Unnava found that participants who were instructed to ingest caffeine before the discussion were โbetter at focusing on the topic at handโ over the uncaffeinatedโbecause no duhโbut they also โfelt better about themselves and their fellow participants.” These findings coincide with my own research on the subject, tentatively titled โWhy Does Everyone Suck So Much, Just Kidding, Iโve Had My First Cup Of Coffee Now And Youโre All OK In My Book.โ
The research is not without its caveats (theirs, not mine. Mine is flawless). From PsyPost:
โSecond, we used a topic that the participants generally agreed on. What the results might be if there is disagreement is an interesting issue to study further. Finally, we used only one type of task โ group discussion. How coffee may affect peopleโs performance in other kinds of tasks (e.g., group problem solving, group physical work) is not known.โ
Nevertheless, the takeaway here is to always bring coffee to a meeting to curry favor. It works like gangbusters on coffee drinkers. Maybe not so much on non-coffee drinkers, but jam enough of that sweet elixir down their gullets and theyโll get hooked and then weโre back to gangbusters.
Zac Cadwaladerย is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas.ย Read more Zac Cadwaladerย on Sprudge.