The Existence Of Beer Goggles Confirmed By Researchers

Beer Goggles, the commonly known phenomenon which makes other people more attractive after a few drinks, has been substantiated by a group of researchers.

A recently concluded study has proven that people are more attractive after a few alcoholic drinks. The research, conducted by the University of Bristol’s Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group (TARG), conducted laboratory tests to gauge whether inebriation changed people’s perceptions of what is attractive.

Volunteers were randomly offered either an alcoholic drink or a non-alcoholic placebo drink. After each drink, they were shown images of 20 male faces, 20 female faces, and 20 landscapes. The subjects were asked to rate the pictures based on “attractiveness.”

Sure enough, researchers confirmed attractiveness ratings were quite higher for all three image types among those who consumed alcohol as compared to the placebo group. The conductors of the study hence concluded the beer goggle hypothesis, which claims that people become more attractive to the opposite sex after a few drinks, seems to be true.

However, the team hasn’t hung their coats yet. The Bristol team has extended the research into a more realistic setting of a pub. They are conducting beer goggles tests, spread over four nights at three different pubs in Bristol. Screened volunteers will be taken to the Green Man, the Portcullis, and the Victoria, after which point the hypothesis will be tested again, reported Bristol Post.

Interestingly, last year, similar research was conducted by Dr. Amanda Ellison of Durham University to test the exact same hypothesis, as reported by The Inquisitr. However, the methods were quite different and involved observing neural activity of drinkers. The study had concluded that alcohol doesn’t have any perceptible alteration in the appearance of the person of opposite sex. Rather, drunken people are merely aroused and hence may have slightly lower standards of what they consider to be beautiful. “There is no imagined physical transformation – just more desire,” Dr. Amanda had concluded.

This beer goggles study was mocked by MSN Now, who questioned, “Maybe the sex part of the brain is affected, but what about our vision?”

On the contrary, the TARG research appears to be a little more comprehensive owing to the fact that apart from images of males and females, the study also included images of landscapes. While the former two could have misled the researchers, there certainly shouldn’t be much arousal from images of landscapes.

However, this is not the intention behind this fresh study, clarified researcher Olivia Maynard. “If alcohol does change perceptions of attractiveness, then that could be a factor in the kind of risky behavior you see when people are drunk, such as unprotected sex.”

[Images via Bing]