Drinking alcohol doesn’t give people ‘beer goggles’ after all

Drinking alcohol doesn’t give people “beer goggles” that make others seem more attractive, but it may give them the confidence to approach those they already found attractive

By Chen Ly

30 August 2023

Alcohol is said to give people “beer goggles” that make others seem more attractive, but new research suggests that may not be the case

Scott Halleran/Getty Images

Contrary to popular belief, people may not get “beer goggles” after a few drinks. Researchers have found that consuming a few alcoholic drinks doesn’t make other people seem more attractive, but may give individuals the courage to approach those who they already found attractive.

Previous studies that supported the concept of “beer goggles” showed a small, inconsistent effect and usually tested the idea by having people drink alcohol by themselves, says Molly Bowdring at Stanford University, California.

Bowdring and her colleague Michael Sayette at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, wanted to investigate this concept in a more social setting, so recruited 18 pairs of friends, all heterosexual men.

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First, the men rated the attractiveness of 16 women who they didn’t know based on photos and videos. They then chose four of the women who they would most like to meet, which they were told may happen in a future study.

The men were then given straight cranberry juice, which they knew contained no alcohol. After half an hour, they were asked to rate the attractiveness of the same group of women and who they would most like to meet.

This experiment was then repeated on a different day, with the same men judging a separate group of 16 women. This time, they were then given a cocktail of cranberry juice and vodka, containing enough alcohol to raise their blood alcohol concentration to roughly 0.08 per cent, the legal driving limit in the US. This is the equivalent of drinking around three standard-strength vodka-based drinks, says Bowdring.