Alcohol and sex… the link between the two has long been debated. Why do drunk people seem to carelessly fall in love with strangers on sight? How come your standards seem to suddenly hit rock bottom as the alcohol starts pouring in, and you just seem to find everyone more lovable? These questions have seeped into the minds of socialites to the point where science has gotten itself involved.
Surprisingly, there haven’t been many scientific attempts to investigate the idea that people seem to find others more attractive when drunk. That is, until now. In 2003, British psychologists measured the effect of moderate alcohol consumption on how attractive males and females rated unfamiliar faces. Eighty buzzed college students became unknowing participants in the experiment.
Researchers traveled bars and clubs surrounding campuses, tempting easily manipulative students with free beer under the rule they forego an experiment. Each participant was shown 118 photographs and asked to rate them for attractiveness. Results showed that students only found faces of members from the opposite sex more appealing after hitting the hard liquor.
Previous experiments have shown that drunkards are more willing to say bye to morals and dignity by having ravenous sex left and right with anyone they can get a hold of, especially if they’re attracted to someone’s face. Hmm… so drinking makes you more attracted to faces, while spontaneous sex is likelier when you’re drawn to a person’s face.
Surely researchers weren’t content with just one experiment forever deciding this issue, right? Apparently not, because another group of British researchers were hungry for fresh victims… I mean subjects for a similar experiment to test attraction influenced by alcohol. This time around researchers scavenged restaurants for participants who wanted a free beer. It didn’t take much to find 84 college kids willing to trade some of their time for beer. Not all the drinks served had alcohol though. Half were simply placebos that simply tasted like beer, but had no alcohol whatsoever!
15 minutes pass by and the researchers show photographs of men and women the subject’s age. Just like in the other experiment, people rated faces sexier when buzzed, but something interesting occurred. Contrary to the previous experiment, those with alcohol also rated faces of the same sex as more attractive! Oh boy, this caused some heated debate.
One explanation is that the first experiment was carried out in the highly sexualized atmospheres of clubs and bars, where the only reason to go there (let’s be honest) is for sex. Therefore, people are focusing their love on people they’d want to sleep with. In the second experiment’s restaurant setting, people are more able to talk about who they think looks better in general, because sex isn’t the first thing popping into their mind. It’s really anyone’s guess as to why the results differ, but one thing’s for sure. When you drink, everyone just seems to be slightly more tolerable for that special loving.
Works Cited:
•http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/drugs-alcohol/mg19926694.500-beer-goggles-are-real--its-official.htmlhuman/drugs-alcohol/mg19926694.500-beer-goggles-are-real--its-official.htmlhuman/drugs-alcohol/mg19926694.500-beer-goggles-are-real--its-official.html
•http://pt.wkhealth.com/pt/re/addi/abstract.00008514-200308000-00009.htm;jsessionid=Lrnf1W5PmcxYS1p6SpVCc19nwpsvp5s1wnfnpnLqMzyPG9TsQsgQ!1162365647!181195628!8091!-1200308000-00009.htm;jsessionid=Lrnf1W5PmcxYS1p6SpVCc19nwpsvp5s1wnfnpnLqMzyPG9TsQsgQ!1162365647!181195628!8091!-1
•http://psychology.psy.bris.ac.uk/people/marcusmunafo.htmo.htm
•http://alcalc.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/agn065v1gn065v1
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment