ALCOHOL AND ATTRACTIVNESS

Abstract

Alcohol consumption can have a major impact on the judgment of an individual (Neave, Tsang, & Heather, 2008, pg 360). For many individuals alcohol can influence an individual to partake in risky behaviors. Three theories have been connected to the explanation of alcohol and risky behavior. One theory states that while under the influence of alcohol, and individual is more focused on short- term goals and immediate desires. Another theory states that alcohol has a set of learned beliefs that it enhances a sexual experience (Neave et al., 2008, pg 360). With these theories describing an individual under the influence, behaviors such as sexual intercourse with strangers are expected (Friedman, McCarthy, Förster, & Denzler, 2005, pg 672). The alcohol increases the sexual desire of an individual but impairs the judgment of with whom they have sexual intercourse with. As the amount of alcohol increases, the more an individual becomes sexual minded resulting in impaired sexual responses (Markos, 2005, pg 126).

When an individual is looking for a sexual partner, they tend to focus on the attractiveness of the other individual. Due to the impairment of judgment, when alcohol is introduced, the perception of an opposite- sex individual’s attractiveness increases (Neave et al., 2008, pg 359). Many studies have been done on the reliability of this theory on perception of attractiveness with consumption of alcohol. Studies have found that participants that had been drinking significantly rated higher on attractiveness with opposite-sex face individuals (Neave et al., 2008, pg 360) (Jones, Jones, Thomas, & Piper, 2003, pg 1072). While other studies, such as one conducted by Northumbria University, there was no significant difference found between the ratings of attractiveness from sober participants compared to intoxicated participants (Neave et al., 2008, pg 365).

With the theory of with the increase of alcohol the increase of facial attraction also increased, we conducted a research to help support this theory. The hypothesis tested was to find if there is any significance difference in participant’s perception of facial attractiveness compared to the perception of participants that had consumed alcohol.