Risky eating—that is, indulging in ultra-processed, high-calorie foods including sweets, salty snacks, and/or fried foods—will increase interpersonal closeness. However, go easy on the TAG Heuer because ...

... from the perspective of would-be friends, individuals who display high-status markers are found to be less attractive as new friends than those with neutral status markers. IOW, Dacia beats Bentley.

Not sure that holds true with a lot of women.

Let's kick it off with the hot and risky food stuff which in this first paper actually sounds pretty tame. No Vietnamese snake booze and such.

Hey Tinder users, if it didn't work out the way you thought it would, get her laid by eating risky.

Food loves company: Risky eating with friends increases interpersonal closeness

Abstract

Risky eating—that is, indulging in ultra-processed, high-calorie foods including sweets, salty snacks, and/or fried foods—harms physical health. Yet, risky eating is pervasive with many people unwilling to give it up. Why do people engage in risky eating despite known risks? The current research tests a novel hypothesis that engaging in risky eating with friends increases feelings of interpersonal closeness. 

In Study 1, participants (N = 385) reported how often they engaged in risky eating in three non-romantic/non-familial relationships with varying degrees of interpersonal closeness. Individuals more frequently engaged in risky eating in their closer relationships than in their less close ones. 

In Study 2, participants (N = 100) were randomly assigned to perceive they were engaging in high-risk versus low-risk eating behavior with a friend. They then reported feelings of interpersonal closeness as well as chose how close to sit to their friend. Individuals who were randomly assigned to perceive they were engaging in high-risk eating behavior with a friend reported increased feelings of interpersonal closeness. Also, restrained eaters in the high-risk eating behavior condition reported greater feelings of interpersonal closeness while eating, which was mediated by increased feelings of activated positive affect (e.g., excited, alert). No effect on how close participants sat to their friend was observed. Overall, the current research highlights a previously unstudied pathway from risky eating to excitement to feelings of interpersonal closeness. This provides insight into one psychosocial process that may undermine personal and public health efforts.

Now that we have reached that closeness we should keep it and not risk any form of distancing like with ostentative bling. Unless you are an influencer but then you live in different universe altogether.

The Status Signals Paradox

Abstract

Making friends is critical to well-being. We also live in a society where the display of status is ubiquitous and billions of dollars are spent on high-status consumer goods. In the present analysis, we introduce the Status Signals Paradox: When making new friends, people tend to think that displaying high-status markers of themselves (e.g., a BMW, a Tag Heuer watch) will make them more attractive to others than neutral markers (e.g., a Honda, a generic brand watch); however, from the perspective of would-be friends, individuals who display high-status markers are found to be less attractive as new friends than those with neutral status markers. Six studies provide converging evidence of the status signals paradox.