A study published in the British Journal of Psychology, by a group of French scientists, shows that the more drunk you are the more awesome you perceive yourself. In the first study they conducted, they had drinkers at a bar rate how attractive they are. The more alcohol a person ingested the higher they rated themselves in awesomeness.
The second experiment consisted of a staged “taste test”, in which participants were given cocktails with alcohol and some without. Half of the group was told that they were given alcohol, while the other half was told that they were given a “mocktail.” The volunteers then wrote and delivered speeches in which they rated how bright, funny, and original, they considered themselves to be as orators. The team along with 22 university students compared the ratings, and the results were saddening. Apparently, “according to the independent evaluations (Carpenter)” none of them were actually drunk. However, just thinking they were drunk caused them to consider themselves more attractive.
I really did not agree with this experiment. Yes, their results are consistent with their hypothesis; however, because the experiment was so small, the results could be due to pure chance. In my opinion they could make the experiment better by expanding the number of participants and the length. Then they might have a clear conclusion that shows how the independent variable(the alcohol) positively affects the dependent variable(self-esteem).
Carpenter, Meridith, and Lilian Fritz-Laylin. “Drunken Attraction Is Put to the Test.” Discovery Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2014. <http://discovermagazine.com/2014/jan-feb/drunken-attraction-is-put-to-the-test>.
This article is very funny. I did a little more additional research on this topic and found some other interesting facts. According to Look At Your Drinking, when you are drunk “you make contact with people more easily, feel more sure of yourself, are less bothered by guilt or shame, worry less, get to sleep more easily, enjoy sex more.” I believe that this all contributes to liking yourself more or ‘rating yourself higher on the awesome scale.’ I agree that the experiment was too small and the results could have easily been due to chance. You could also consider the third variables such as the personalities of each person. Some people might naturally be more self-egoed than others and some others might be more anti-self than others. The way a person is can really affect the way that person thinks about themselves. To eliminate that, the experiment should be used with a much higher and MORE RANDOM experimental group.
For more information, check out this article: http://www.lookatyourdrinking.com/you-and-alcohol/what-do-you-feel.aspx
Alcohol is definitely a huge confidence booster. You do things when your drunk that you would never do when you’re sober. Also the truth comes out when your drunk so you’re really just stating what you think is the truth. Alcohol changes our perception on almost any aspect of the real (sober) world. Thats how people end up falling off balconies and breaking their leg when they’re drunk. This was a good post and really gets you thinking about how much alcohol one should be consuming.
I really liked this post. I’m sure everybody knows somebody that thinks too highly of themselves when they’re drunk. Also, I agree with you about the experiment. I would like to see a larger amount of subjects and trials and them actually getting people drunk to compare the drunk people with the “drunk” people.
I love this article! I have already witnessed especially with my time so far here at Penn State that many people feel very confident when they have a few drinks in them. “Liquid Confidence” definitely plays a big part on whether or not people speak their mind 100%. I do believe that alcohol can have the same effect on a person but in the opposite way. Instead of feeling overconfident, people can have episodes when they feel very low and are filled with self doubt. Check out this link to show how alcohol can affect a person’s mood.
http://www.drugs.ie/alcohol_info/about_alcohol/how_alcohol_effects_mood/
This is a good topic because it shows how a simple thought of alcohol in one’s system can give someone instant confidence and let them act more freely than usual. This shows the alcohol affects on people and how some may rely on alcohol to make them more outgoing and carefree towards different situations like a speech. However, I do agree with you in the sense that maybe this study could of been conducted better if there were more people and for a longer time period. If there were more people and it was constructed over a longer period of time we could see more clearly if this experiment was due to chance or carefully shows how alcohol positively affects self esteem (independent variable affects the dependent variable). Alcohol has a way of giving people more self esteem and not care as much as oppose to if one was sober. I decided to look more into this and found this. Good job!
I found this study to be so entertaining. I always thought that alcohol caused people to act more confident and often people act way more intoxicated than for the amount they drank. I agree that the study is too small to conclude that drinking has this affect on self esteem. I think if better conducted the results will still remain the same, just add more reassurance to the issue. One of the interesting aspects to this study is that some people could have believed they were receiving and alcoholic drink when in fact they weren’t. It was then their own perception of drinking that caused them to act more confident. This is a typical placebo affect that we see everyday. I have heard from parties girls that acted drunk although they had been drinking a nonalcoholic drink all night. Sometimes the perception of drinking is all people need to act more social.
Here is a better conducted study that produced the same findings.
http://www.delish.com/food/recalls-reviews/study-shows-booze-boosts-confidence
This study is so funny! I would feel so stupid if I was a participant in this study and was in the group that thought they were drunk when they actually weren’t. But then again, I feel like I would definitely know if I was not drunk. I agree with you that this study seems a bit off. How much alcohol was the mocktail group told they were given and how much alcohol was the control group given? I think once I know that, this study will make a lot more sense to me. According to this study, intelligent people drink more! http://brookstonbeerbulletin.com/intelligent-people-drink-more-alcohol/ I wonder if this has to do with the fact that drunk people view themselves as smarter (maybe because they are already smart).
I found your post really interesting! But like you said, I find one thing to be a little off about the study you mentioned, the amount of participants. It was a rather small group of people studied by the University you mentioned which makes me question the credibility of the their results.
This article was interesting and funny. I feel like I’ve seen so many individuals have a bit of a confidence booster after a few drinks. I like how you found this experiment involving the college students and the individuals drinking.