Alcohol and attractiveness: what’s the connection?

Have you ever wondered why alcohol is such a popular social lubricant? Despite the after-effects and the known long-term effects of alcohol, as a society we still embrace it with gusto. Why? Well, there is the fact that your inhibitions do disappear under the influence of alcohol and up to a point (the point where you think others really want to hear your rendition of Pharrell Williams’ “Happy”) that is a good thing. There is the additional obvious social benefit that as alcohol melts away critical faculties in your companions your stories (viewed by a sober audience as banal at best) suddenly become the height of wit and insight. So it’s not really surprising that we use alcohol to make social interaction flow but now a new study has shown a further social bonus of alcohol; if you just consume a little then you actually appear more attractive to others.

The results showed that after drinking one glass of wine the subjects were rates as more attractive than when they were sober but they were rates as less attractive the more they had consumed after that.

The new study involved heterosexual people who were asked to view pictures of people and rate them for attractiveness. The people in the pictures were photographed after they had consumed 100mls of wine, 250 mls of wine and then 500 mls of wine, which equates to around 1, 2.5, or 5 standard drinks respectively. The subjects rated pictures of the drinkers when they were sober as well as after drinking the different amounts of wine.

The results showed that after drinking one glass of wine the subjects were rates as more attractive than when they were sober but they were rates as less attractive the more they had consumed after that.

So a little alcohol, like one standard drink’s worth, makes you look more attractive but more than that does not help. This is probably happening because small amounts of alcohol cause vasodilation (blood vessels to open) giving you a slightly flushed look which is regarded as healthy and attractive. Low doses of alcohol can also increase positive mood which is apparent in subtle smiles and muscle relaxation. Of course, the paradox of alcohol is that once you consume it beyond the one or two drink level the opposite happens; it becomes a depressant, your co-ordination disappears, muscle control wanes, your eyes glaze, and it’s just not a good look.

Nevertheless, this study seems to suggest that beer goggles operate in reverse and make the drinker look good to the observer rather than the other way around; or should that be “beer goggle”, after all, it only works for one glass.