People who love organic food are mean...

Organic food lovers must be extra caring about our planet and our people – right? 

Wrong. According to researchers at Loyola University New Orleans, exposure to organic foods can make people more judgmental and less willing to help others.

In the study, college students were split into three groups, organic food, comfort food and non-organic/non-comfort food. All three groups were then asked to judge some moral scenarios. The organic group judged the fictional situations most harshly. They were the least forgiving and least likely to help someone in a pickle.

At the end of that experiment, the professor asked the students to volunteer for another study - which they would receive no credit or compensation for. Once again, the organic bunch were the least likely to help.

Lead author of the study, Kendall Eskine, PhD, says the findings may have to do with something psychologists call “moral licensing.” It means that viewing organic foods might have caused those participants to feel morally superior—and that, in their minds, gave them permission to be more judgmental and less helpful.