study
Can you really have a nice drink with your opponent?
© Viks_jin / Brigitte
“Give someone a nice drink” is a phrase we’ve all heard before. But what’s the point? Can alcohol really change a person’s perception?
Especially now that the Oktoberfest is about to start and the stronghold of drinking culture represents, one hears again of the principle of “drinking yourself“. But what is really behind it? Can you really drink a person nicely and does alcohol change the perception of another person? This current study is intended to provide answers.
Does alcohol really make you beautiful? A study says so
The method
The researchers proceeded as follows: 36 heterosexual men aged 21 to 27 consumed one alcoholic and one non-alcoholic beverage each in two laboratory sessions. While drinking, participants were asked to attractiveness different target persons on a scale evaluate. The target persons were women whom they could potentially meet. At the same time, they should decide which women they would date.
The result
The results of the study show that the participants did not consider women more attractive when intoxicated, but they did consider them to be a lot more attractive braver in the assessment of a meeting as soon as alcohol was involved.
This shows that while alcohol did not affect traditional attractiveness ratings, it did increase the likelihood that participants would choose to interact with the most attractively rated target individuals. In other words alcohol seemed the general not to change the perception of attractivenessbut increased the willingness to deal with the target persons classified as particularly attractive.
This raises interesting questions about how alcohol affects social interactions and potentially makes people feel more courageous when it comes to approaching attractive people. The keyword self-esteem is also of particular interest here.