...que esses eternos descobridores do obvio - ululante? -, os tais
especialistas em 'mente' teimam em dizer como grande novidade: tome umas
lapadas de cana que uma mujer feia como um trubufu fica mais
bunitinha...idem ibidem no caso delas, o mais menos dotado pela natureza dos
tais atributos 'belezais' parecerá para a inebriada manceba ou mesmo senhÔra
um apolineo macho digno de ser levado ao leito para os devidos floreios e
jogos gozosos.

Orf

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Robert Karl Stonjek <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: 2008/8/14
Subject: [Mind and Brain] News: 'Beer goggles' are real - it's official
To: Psychiatry-Research <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Mind and
Brain <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>


   'Beer goggles' are real - it's official

   - 13 August 2008
   - From New Scientist Print Edition.
Subscribe<http://www.newscientist.com/subscribe.ns?promcode=nsarttop>and
get 4 free issues.
   - Peter Aldhous

 THE next time you hear someone blaming "beer goggles" for their behaviour,
you may have to believe them. People really do appear more attractive when
our perceptions are changed by drinking alcohol.

There have been few previous attempts to investigate the idea that people
seem to find others more attractive when drunk. In 2003, psychologists at
the University of Glasgow, UK, published a study in which they asked
heterosexual students in campus bars and cafés whether they had been
drinking, and then got them to rate photos of people for attractiveness.
While the results supported the beer goggles theory, another explanation is
that regular drinkers tend to have personality traits that mean they find
people more attractive, whether or not they are under the influence of
alcohol at the time.

To resolve the issue, a team of researchers led by Marcus Munafò at the
University of Bristol in the UK conducted a controlled experiment. They
randomly assigned 84 heterosexual students to consume either a non-alcoholic
lime-flavoured drink or an alcoholic beverage with a similar flavour. The
exact amount of alcohol varied according to the individual but was designed
to have an effect equivalent to someone weighing 70 kilograms drinking 250
millitres of wine - enough to make some students tipsy. After 15 minutes,
the students were shown pictures of people their own age, from both sexes.

Both men and women who had consumed alcohol rated the faces as being more
attractive than did the controls (*Alcohol and Alcoholism*, DOI:
10.1093/alcalc/agn065 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/alcalc/agn065>).
Surprisingly, the effect was not limited to the opposite sex - volunteers
who had drunk alcohol also rated people from their own sex as more
attractive.

This contrasts with the Glaswegian team's results, where there was only an
effect when men were looking at pictures of women, and vice versa. One
explanation, says Munafò, is that alcohol-boosted perceptions of
attractiveness tend to become focused on potential sexual partners in
environments conducive to sexual encounters. He aims to repeat the
experiment after showing students a video of people flirting in a bar, to
provide some appropriate social cues.

Munafò also intends to study how the effect varies with the amount of
alcohol consumed - although ethical constraints rule out exploring doses at
which our ability to focus on a face breaks down. "We can look at smaller
doses and we can look at slightly higher doses," he says.

As well as changing perceptions of attractiveness, alcohol also encourages
us to engage in behaviour we would otherwise avoid. In a study by Robert
Leeman of Yale University students reported they were more likely to engage
in risky sexual acts after drinking - which could be due to alcohol lowering
our inhibitions through a direct effect on the brain or by providing a
convenient excuse for such behaviour.

*Drugs and Alcohol - Learn more in our comprehensive special
report<http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/drugs-alcohol>
*.

Source: NewScientist
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19926694.500-beer-goggles-are-real--its-official.html?DCMP=NLC-nletter&nsref=mg19926694.500

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek
 

<<mg19926694.500-1_250.jpg>>

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