Holding a drink 'makes you look stupid'
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Next time you wake up the morning after, there's no need to wonder if you made an idiot of yourself the night before. You did.
Apparently, just standing holding a drink changes, for the worse, colleagues' and bosses' assumptions about your brain power. Researchers have called this "imbibing idiot bias".
Although most people think they look more intelligent when ordering or holding a glass of wine, the opposite is true, according to new research from the universities of Michigan and Pennsylvania, based on five studies involving over 1,300 people.
"The results suggest holding wine can selectively reduce perceived intelligence,'' say the researchers, whose findings are to appear in the Journal of Consumer Psychology. "They also suggest that imbibing idiot bias may be costly in professional settings involving alcohol."
In one of the studies, men and women rated the intelligence of people holding a glass of beer, wine or water. Results show that the alcohol-holders were rated as significantly less intelligent.
In another, people were asked to rate a speaker's arguments when he or she was holding a beer or a soft drink. Their arguments were viewed as less persuasive, and the speaker was seen as significantly less intelligent when drinking beer.
In a third study, 300 senior managers rated people being interviewed for a job over dinner. Interviewees could order wine or a soft drink. The managers rated the job candidates as significantly less hireable when they ordered wine.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments