Smaller plates make you eat less?

I was just playing around with my Google home page and found a gadget that gave a weight loss tip of the day. The tip today was:

"Buy smaller plates. It will make you eat less without feeling deprived."

Hmm, sounds great and all, but there's a few things wrong with this:

1. Most of us are not fat because of what we eat at home. Fast food restaurants don't give us plates and if a sit-down restaurant gave us a small plate or even a small portion on a big plate, we would feel ripped off and not full. More likely than not, this would cause us to end up at McDonald's on our way home from the restaurant.
   
2. We don't over-eat because we portion things out onto plates or into bowls. We eat our chips from the bag and ice cream right out of the carton until we can't eat no more. If we portioned it out in the first place, we would probably end up on the couch with an empty bowl, too lazy to get up and get more. By the time we felt like getting up, our stomach would be settled and we would be full.
3. I don't know about where you eat, but most buffets (if you notice) give you small plates. Well humans adapt- I know I've adapted to be able to carry at least two of those plates and a drink (or two) back to my table in one trip. It's even easier to carry more than one plate from your kitchen counter to the kitchen table that's 3 feet away.

I could probably go on, but I should stop. I don't mean for this to be a discouraging post, but some of these psychological weight loss techniques are pretty stupid. There are some that work - try standing in front of the mirror naked for some weight loss motivation - but if you purposely buy small plates to trick YOURSELF into eating less, I don't think you are going to fall for the trick.