Beer goggles are a well-known term among those who regularly drink alcohol. It means that when you drink beer or any alcoholic beverage, people will look more attractive to your eyes.
However, a new study debunked this belief. Here's what experts revealed.
No, Beer Doesn't Make People More Attractive
Phai Dip wears novelty, beer-related glasses at the Great British Beer Festival in the Olympia Exhibition Centre on August 13, 2013 in London, England. The festival, which runs until August 17, 2013, has over 24 bars serving over 800 different beers, ciders, and perries.
New Scientist reported that a new study suggested that beer goggles don't exist, which is contrary to most people's beliefs.
Recently studies claiming beer goggles' existence usually tested the idea of having individuals drink beer by themselves. They also showed a small, inconsistent effect.
Because of this, Molly Bowdring at Stanford University, California, and her colleague Michael Sayette at the University of Pittsburgh decided to conduct a new study to check if drinking beer makes people seem more attractive.
They recruited 18 pairs of friends who were all heterosexual men.
Based on their study, which was published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, involved researchers who didn't find that alcoholic drinks increased drinkers' perceptions of other people's attractiveness.
"The well-known beer goggles effect of alcohol does sometimes appear in the literature, but not as consistently as one might expect," said Professor Sayette, one of the experts involved in the study.
Read Also: Don't Shower or Wash Your Hands During Thunderstorms-NWS Explains Why
Beer Gives You Courage to Interact Instead
Aside from checking if beer goggles are true, the new study also added an additional dimension, which is the possibility of actually meeting people in the photos.
Prof. Rebecca Monk at Edge Hull University, who was not involved in the research, said that letting participants choose to interact with individuals in the photos added a nice element of realism.
"Their paradigm also allows for an exploration of the liquid courage adage rather than solely the so-called beer goggles phenomenon," she added.
Bowdring said that although alcohol doesn't increase people's attractiveness, they did discover that alcoholic beverages give drinkers the courage to interact with individuals they find most attractive.
"Their findings essentially suggest that while intoxication may not have resulted in beer goggles, it did seem to increase liquid courage," said Monk.
You can visit this link to learn more about the so-called liquid courage.
Related Article: Humans 300x Deadlier Than Sharks! Scientists Finally Add More Specific Figures
