Perception of physical attractiveness when consuming and not consuming alcohol: a meta‐analysis

Bowdring, Molly A.; Sayette, Michael A.

doi:10.1111/add.14227

Cited by 13 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 76 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Pharmacological effects and the impact of expectancies are dose-dependent; in the case of small quantities, expectancies have a greater role than in the case of large doses, where the chemical effect of the substance might dominate (Alfonso-Loeches and Guerri 2011;Brust 2010;Cederbaum 2012;Guerri and Pascual 2010;Moonat et al 2010;Zahr et al 2011). These two effects are influenced by individual differences: body composition, drinking habits, gender and genetic heritage modulate the pharmacological mechanism (Morean and Corbin 2010), whereas individual expectations, experiences, beliefs and attitudes have an impact on the expectation mechanism (Bowdring and Sayette 2018, Dömötör et al 2015, Szemerszky et al 2013.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Alcohol and Placebo: The Role of Expectations and Social Influence

Bodnár

Nagy

Cziboly

et al. 2020

Int J Ment Health Addiction

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The placebo effect is frequently present in our lives when an expectation, associated with any psychoactive material, leads to subjective and physiological changes. The present work studies the role of expectancies associated with ethanol/alcohol in changes to the subjective state. In experimental situations, we examine how these expectations—with or without social influences—affect participants when consuming alcoholic, pseudo-alcoholic, or non-alcoholic cocktails. Psychological and physical changes can, to a significant extent, arise from an expectation-driven placebo effect. We suggest that expectations of inebriation formed by socialization and experiences can explain most of the behavioural changes following alcohol consumption. These effects seem to be stronger if the alcohol consumption happens in a social context and weaker if it is individually. Regarding the information effect, we suppose that the expectations will positively affect the drunkenness, i.e. toward the placebo “direction”: those who believe they are consuming a non-alcoholic cocktail will be less inebriated than those who know their drink contains alcohol. In this study, we successfully demonstrate the expectation-induced classical placebo effect in the misinformed participants who were, in fact, consuming non-alcoholic drinks. The “social” alcohol consumption further enhances the true or believed effects of the alcohol, and thus the participants reported their subjective feelings in lines with their manipulated expectations. As regards the effect of the alcohol, therefore, many other factors contribute in addition to the alcohol itself, the most important of which seem to be group effect, suggestions and expectations.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Alcohol and Placebo: The Role of Expectations and Social Influence

Bodnár

Nagy

Cziboly

et al. 2020

Int J Ment Health Addiction

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…People commonly and strongly endorse social expectancies and social motives for drinking (i.e., drinking to enhance social experiences; Brown et al, 1980; Cooper, 1994; Cooper et al, 2016; King et al, 2023; Kuntsche et al, 2005; Patrick et al, 2011; Votaw & Witkiewitz, 2021) and, consistent with these expectancies and motives, a large and growing literature demonstrates alcohol’s acute social rewards. In both tightly controlled laboratory experimental studies and ecological momentary assessment studies capturing experiences in daily life, alcohol has been shown to increase social bonding, talkativeness, sociability, friendliness, agreeableness, and the perceived physical attractiveness of others (Aan het Rot et al, 2008; Babor et al, 1983; Bowdring & Sayette, 2018a; Fairbairn & Sayette, 2014; Knight & Godfrey, 1993; Lindfors & Lindman, 1987; Lindman, 1982; Sayette et al, 2012; Stitzer et al, 1981) and to enhance aspects of social cognition known to foster connections (e.g., affective empathy and common ground; Dolder et al, 2017; Garrison et al, 2023). Humans have a fundamental need to belong and form social connections (Baumeister & Leary, 1995), and alcohol’s social rewards appear to aid in fulfilling these powerful basic needs (Creswell, 2021; Sayette et al, 2012).…”

Section: Open Practices Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of alcohol consumption on implicit racial bias.

Creswell,

Brown,

Pedersen

2024

Psychology of Addictive Behaviors

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective: Researchers and theorists studying intergroup relations have been interested in the impact of alcohol on interracial responding. Theories predict that alcohol will exacerbate expressions of racial bias by increasing reliance on stereotypes and/or by decreasing controlled processing and self-monitoring. Prior studies testing these theories have often examined alcohol's effects on implicit (i.e., indirect) measures of racial bias with inconsistent results. However, previous research in this area has suffered from several methodological limitations, including small sample sizes and doses of alcohol that may have been too low to induce substantial intoxication. Method: Here, in more than triple the number of alcohol participants than the largest prior study, we tested whether an intoxicating dose of alcohol (target breath alcohol concentration of .08%) exacerbated implicit racial bias. Young adults who identified as races other than Black or African American (N = 207) were randomly assigned to consume an alcoholic or placebo beverage and completed the race-based Implicit Association Test (race IAT) testing implicit preference for White (vs. Black) individuals [or, conversely, bias against Black (vs. White) individuals]. Results: All participants demonstrated an implicit racial bias (i.e., linking traditionally Black names with negative/unpleasant words), with no difference in this implicit racial bias across beverage conditions. Specifically, there were no differences between alcohol participants' race IAT D scores (M = 0.55, SD = 0.39), and placebo participants' race IAT D scores (M = 0.59, SD = 0.35), b = 0.05, 95%CI [−0.07, 0.18], p = .422. Conclusions: These findings challenge theories and prior studies suggesting that alcohol increases implicit racial bias. Public Health Significance StatementAlcohol often has robust social facilitative effects, but it is unclear the extent to which these effects are seen in intergroup contexts as they relate to stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. Prior studies have examined alcohol's effects on implicit (i.e., indirect) measures of racial bias with inconsistent results. In the largest study to date by several fold, we used an intoxicating dose of alcohol and found no effect of alcohol consumption on implicit racial bias.

show abstract

“…Notably, these social expectations and motives longitudinally predict alcohol use and alcohol problems (Patrick et al, 2011; Smith et al, 1995). Beyond this survey work, experimental lab work demonstrates that alcohol has robust social facilitative effects, increasing social bonding, sociability, and the perceived attractiveness of others (Bowdring & Sayette, 2018; Sayette et al, 2012). Alcohol's potent ability to foster relationships with others is a critical reason that individuals choose to drink with important implications for understanding AUD risk (Creswell, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Associations of state and trait empathy with daily alcohol use

Kumar

Ringwald

Wright

et al. 2023

Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: A growing literature documents associations between lower trait empathy and heavier alcohol use and more alcohol problems in adolescent and young adult samples. Prior work linking empathy and alcohol use/problems in these populations has thus far focused on trait rather than state empathy, and researchers often do not differentiate between cognitive and affective empathy. Further, no prior studies have examined associations between daily fluctuations in state empathy and alcohol use. The goal of the current study is to advance knowledge about the associations between state (vs. trait) and cognitive (vs. affective) empathy and alcohol use.Methods: Adult alcohol drinkers (n = 492; M age = 22.89, SD = 5.53; 53.70% female) participated in ecological momentary assessment studies for 7 to 10 days (day n = 4683). Multilevel hurdle models were used to investigate associations between day-level state empathy and daily alcohol use at the within-person level, and associations between individual differences in trait empathy and alcohol use across days at the between-person level.Results: Higher day-level state affective empathy was not associated with the likelihood of drinking on a particular day, but it was significantly associated with a greater number of drinks consumed on alcohol-consuming days, with the latter associations remaining after controlling for day-level positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA).No associations were found for day-level state cognitive empathy, or trait affective or cognitive empathy.Conclusions: On drinking days, when individuals reported more affective empathy than is typical for them, they were more likely to consume a greater number of alcoholic drinks, results that remained when controlling for levels of PA and NA. Daily shifts in affective empathy may be important to consider in efforts to understand alcohol use.

show abstract

Perception of physical attractiveness when consuming and not consuming alcohol: a meta‐analysis

Abstract: Experimental and quasi-experimental studies suggest that consuming alcohol may have a small effect of increasing perceived attractiveness of people of the opposite sex.

Cited by 13 publications

References 76 publications

Alcohol and Placebo: The Role of Expectations and Social Influence

Alcohol and Placebo: The Role of Expectations and Social Influence

The impact of alcohol consumption on implicit racial bias.

Associations of state and trait empathy with daily alcohol use

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About