A newly published study lends credence to the notion that beer can double as liquid courage, finding that alcohol can make people believe they're sexier than they really are.
French, US and Dutch researchers carried out a pair of experiments which consistently found that the more participants had drunk, the more attractive they thought they were.
Picked up by trade website Drinks International, the study, published in the Journal of Individual Differences, asked 19 men and women drinking in a French bar to rate their own attractiveness and blow into a breathalyzer. The more alcohol in their bloodstream, the more highly they rated their own attractiveness.
Interestingly, a follow-up study among 86 young men also suggested that the mere insinuation of alcohol was enough to boost their own self-image.
In the second experiment, the men were given a minty lemon cocktail, some of which was alcoholic, some of which was not. They were then asked to record a fake advertisement for the drink.
While watching the playback of their performances, the participants rated their own appeal.
Results showed that -- regardless of the level of their intoxication and sobriety -- those who thought they were drunk rated themselves more highly than others.
Meanwhile, British scientists say the reason why revelers can sometimes be fooled by the ‘beer goggle effect' is that increased alcohol intake can impair a person's ability to detect facial symmetry