Beer Goggles Idea Is a Myth, Claim Scientists

A study found that alcohol actually has the opposite effect and made men see women as less attractive.

Drink also makes no difference to a man’s ability to guess a woman’s age, the research found.

Scientists asked a group of 240 men and women in bars and cafes to look at photos of women and comment on their age and attractiveness.

Half the participants used in the experiment had consumed alcoholic drinks, with effects rated as "relaxed and benign", "blunted and disinhibited", "boisterous and over-expressive", and "unambiguously drunk".

Some of the pictures of 10 young women aged 17 were digitally altered to make them appear younger or older. Make-up was also applied digitally to a number of images.

The findings showed that alcohol reduced the ability of women to guess the age of the photo models, but not men.

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April 23, 2009