We all know people whose personlalities and tendencies change considerably when intoxicated with alcohol. Whilst there is a clear indication that this is due to people's inhibitions being suppressed when drunk there has been quite alot of research into specifics of behaviour change when drunk.
The classic is people who have had copius jager bombs starting fights with people who spill drinks on them or bump into them on the dance floor. Research into this has discovered that alcohol exacerbated our 'intentionality bias' - our natural tendecy to assume that others intended their actions. Therefore when that guy spills his drink on you- he meant to do it to really annoy you. Begue et al explained that in sober daily life it takes cognitive effort and control to overcome this intentionality bias and to consider alternative explanations. For example - when your peer at work deletes an important email one has to control the instinct to think he intended to do so. His hand may have slipped when pressing delete- he may have not read the title properly or been busy thinking of other things. Alcohol's well know disinhibitory effect clearly undermines this and allows the intentionality bias to dominate.
So next time you pop out for a few cheeky pint makes sure to take post-it notes in your wallet/purse saying HE/SHE DIDN'T MEAN IT! This does obviously imply that you are able to read and have not lost your wallet and purse.
Information taken from BPS Research digest.
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