To someone who is drinking alcohol, other people do not become more attractive, rather the drinker's standards are lowered, research shows. This goes against the popular “beer goggles” phenomenon that states that alcohol makes the “wearer” see other people as transformed to appear more desirable. Alcohol is instead thought to decrease the mental selection process that people normally go through when deciding on a mate. When sober, a person might have a set of criteria that they prefer potential mates to meet. When a person is under the influence of alcohol, the part of the brain that is wired to find a mate is still active, but his or her judgment is impaired.
More about perceived attractiveness:
- People who have been drinking alcohol tend to feel more attractive than they do when they are sober.
- Access to birth control and an increase in binge drinking are thought to have made women less selective while wearing “beer goggles” than they were before the 1970s.
- Alcohol might also contribute to a change in attractiveness standards because drinkers are less likely to notice facial asymmetry. Symmetry is generally one of the main factors in what is considered attractive in most people, perhaps because it is subconsciously associated with good genes.