United States: There’s an old saying from Latin, “In vino veritas,” which actually means “In wine, there is truth.” This particular study suggests that when people drink alcohol, they might reveal their true feelings or secrets. The idea comes from a Roman scientist named Pliny the Elder, but similar sayings were also used in ancient Greece long before his time.
Alcohol and Honesty: Experts Weigh In
As the studies concluded by Live Science, It cannot be denied that alcohol tends to affect people in various ways known or unknown to them but does alcohol really make people more honest? To this, experts said yes and no when asked by Live Science.
Alcohol “makes us more likely to do what we’re told and say whatever’s on our minds,” said Aaron White, the leader of Epidemiology and Biometry Branch of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. ‘In some cases, that could be the truth,’ he continued and at some point it could also be the truth that one considers while being drunk.”
The Impact of Alcohol on Behavior
This is the reason there is a high probability that one will say what they have in mind once they take alcohol. But they may also report something which seems quite realistic when one is intoxicated but when sober, it is simply dismissed. For instance, a drunk friend may boast that they are going to relocate to another city or even changer employers the next morning, you never hear it from them again.
An extensive search of the internet for research on the effects of alcohol on the truthfulness of people directly did not come up with any results, however research into the effects of alcohol on personality, emotion and cognition offer support to this idea.
For instance, the survey in the journal of Clinical Psychological Science conducted in 2017 showed that the participants personality evolved following their getting sufficient vodka lemonades to make their blood alcohol concentration, or BAC, reach 0. 09% blood alcohol concentration — slightly more than the federal legal blood alcohol concentration for driving in the U. S. and England.
The Bottom Line
Onlookers comment that the most significant difference that could be noticed in participants’ behavior after the intake of alcohol was that they were significantly more outgoing. Even though this research was not specifically designed to determine if alcohol was indeed a ‘truth serum,’ it only stands to reason that an individual who is more relaxed in a particular social interaction will therefore be forthcoming.
Alcohol may make people open and feeling less self-conscious and willing to announce what they are thinking say White but the thing is that alcohol alters people’s feelings hence making those thoughts more volatile.
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