Ask anyone who has groggily awoken in the sweaty arms of someone who looks like this — beer goggles are no joke. Even science says so. That booze inflates our own egos isn’t breaking news either — hence those painfully incoherent rants about your boring-ass job that, in the moment, make you feel like the most fascinating person in the room. But are you a delusional dork because of the alcohol itself, or the idea of being drunk? A recent study from The British Psychological Society suggests that it’s actually the latter.
Researchers tested partiers at a bar, where they found that the more drinks a customer consumed, the more awesome, smart, and attractive they believed they were. In a second “bogus taste-test” study, several participants were given alcoholic dranks, while others were given non-alcoholic beverages that they thought contained booze. Ah, ye olde placebo effect…
Participants then “delivered a speech and rated how attractive, bright, original, and funny they thought they were. The speeches were videotaped and rated by 22 independent judges. Results showed that participants who thought they had consumed alcohol gave themselves more positive self-evaluations. However, ratings from independent judges showed that this boost in self-evaluation was unrelated to actual performance.” Ha.
Sorry, Jamie Foxx, looks like the only thing we have to blame is our big, stupid heads.
