It's Official: Alcohol Makes You Think You're Prettier

If you haven't been looking your best lately, a new study has found a quick fix: have a drink! It comes as no surprise that a few glasses of alcohol can tremendously boost your confidence level (sometimes in a not so helpful way), but what is surprising is that even believing that you've had a drink can also make you feel more attractive.

The Huffington Post reported the study, which was led by psychologist Laurent Begue and conducted at the Pierre-Mendes France University in Grenoble. The study was carried out both in a local bar and then in a laboratory in order to get the most conclusive results.

[Paz de la Huerta likes feeling pretty...Photo via]

In the first phase of the study, 19 people in a bar were asked to rate their attractiveness on a scale of 1-7, and their alcohol levels were then measured. The results were pretty straightforward: the drunker the person was, the higher they rated themselves.

In the second phase of the study, 94 men were invited to test out a new cocktail. They thought they were doing a taste test for a research firm, which was actually just a set-up for the purposes of this experiment.

The men were told that half of them would be given an alcoholic version of the drink and the other half would be served a non-alcoholic version, and no one knew who had gotten which.

[Someone wanted to feel REALLY pretty. Photo via]

After they finished their drinks, the men were asked to write and deliver a message that was then filmed and would possibly be used in advertisements for the new brand. Each volunteer then watched his own film and rated his performance for attractiveness, brightness, originality, and humor.

Their alcohol levels were also measured, and they ranged from no alcohol to twice the legal limit. But the findings were interesting: people who believed they had drunk alcohol rated themselves highly, whether or not that had actually had any alcohol in their drinking, and people who thought they did not have alcohol, whether or not they actually did, gave themselves lower scores.

Lead psychologist Laurent Begue explained the study, saying,

"Our study shows that the mere fact of believing that you have drunk alcohol makes you feel more attractive. The alcohol dose has no effect in itself."

I'm not sure we all can be fooled into thinking we're drunk as easily as these French guys were, but this study certainly confirms that beer goggles really do exist.