Buying organic makes you selfish, research shows — this explains the Whole Foods parking lot

Last week, a couple in Chapel Hill, N.C., got married in a Whole Foods Market. The newlyweds, Ross and Jacqueline Aronson, described it as the culmination of a dream romance that blossomed during arm-in-arm walks through the aisles of organic produce and goodies, plucking dewy fresh ingredients for the gourmet meals Ross likes to cook for the two of them.

I’ve never been to Ross and Jacqueline’s Whole Foods or, for that matter, any Whole Foods that matches the scenes they describe. I mean, I’d like to see a couple try to stroll arm-in-arm through the tightly packed, mazelike produce aisles of a Chicago-area WFM, but it would be a foot race to see who’d take them out first: Clueless Dude With a Giant Backpack; Angry Man Who Wants That Last Bunch of Broccolini; or Lady Whose Life Does Depend on Going First.

Whatever — Ross and Jacqueline’s Hallmark-scripted, organic-fueled love would doubtless be cast asunder. In, like, 2.5 seconds.

It’s not that we’re especially mean here. It’s just that all that organic shopping … it does things to people. In the kind of life-affirming scientific breakthrough that makes sense of one of life’s frustrating mysteries, Brown University and Boston College neuroscientist Rachel Herz has documented a weird link between buying organic stuff and behaving like, um, a selfish jerk.

“There are two (negative) effects” associated with organic products, Herz says. “One is to undermine healthy eating behavior and diet. And the other is how being exposed to organic branding can undermine our interpersonal behavior.”

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