Why do we find people more attractive when we drink alcohol?

Some data give an answer to this strange effect that we have all noticed.

It is common to notice how, after a night accompanied by a person you met at a party, you realize that you feel much less attracted to them when you see them in broad daylight. A possible explanation for this phenomenon could be due to this very absence of light, which certainly hides some imperfections.

But the number one culprit of this effect is well known: alcohol. The more alcohol we consume, the more attractive we tend to perceive the people around us.especially if our romantic-affective predisposition is high.

Alcohol and perception of sexual attractiveness

Indeed, there is an effect popularly known as "beer goggles".It increases libido and eliminates social inhibitions, causing us to have a greater predisposition to make contact with people we would not be attracted to in a sober state.

Alcohol conditions your perception

Science explains why attraction to other people increases when we have had a few drinks. Research from the universities of Glasgow and Saint Andrews revealed that both women and men found that both women and men found the faces of the opposite sex 25% more attractive compared to subjects who did not compared to subjects who did not try alcohol.

Another study conducted at Bristol University pointed in the same direction: research participants reported the attractiveness of other people as 10% higher after drinking 70 centiliters of beer (the equivalent of three pints). It was also found that the sex of the other person did not influence the increase in perceived attractiveness: men found other men more attractive, and women found other women more attractive, regardless of the sexual preferences of each participant.

Alcohol and symmetry, allies

Experts say that alcohol consumption disrupts our perception of other people's attractiveness because it it alters our ability to perceive asymmetry in other people's faces and bodies.. Typically, and without going into other cultural determinants of beauty, one of the fundamentals of physical attractiveness is bilateral symmetry.

Other research from Roehampton University, London, suggested that alcohol inhibits our visual perception of asymmetries in other people. This reinforces the idea that alcohol acts as a symmetrizer, and therefore makes the people we see in a drunken state more attractive.

Alcohol makes others more attractive... but also oneself.

A few more notes: scientists at the Pierre Mendes-France Université in Paris have pointed out that the "beer goggles" effect works in a bidirectional way; in both directions: alcohol not only improves our perception of the attractiveness of others, but also makes us feel more attractive ourselves.. 

In this research, the experiment consisted in assessing the self-perception of attractiveness of several participants who drank alcohol, with respect to the control group who were given a drink that emulated alcohol, but did not actually contain alcohol. Those who actually drank alcohol reported higher levels of self-perceived attractiveness than those who did not drink.

The conclusion of the matter seems obvious: it will be easier to enter into a relationship with someone who has consumed alcohol than with someone who is sober, not only because of the disinhibition caused by alcohol but also because of the tendency to symmetrize faces, and therefore perceive them as more attractive than they really are.

That's right, the next day you may be disappointed..

Bibliographic references:

• Crowe LC, George WH, Alcohol and human sexuality: review and integration. Psychol Bull. 1989 May;105(3):374-86.