Opinions on alcohol vary, people of different genders, ages, races, etc, all argue their thoughts, however most of their opinions come from their culture, or from their experiences.
When you aren’t drinking, but the people around you are, you tend to notice things about the people around you that you wouldn’t normally see. That’s because people sometimes change when they are under the influence.
Some people claim to not drink because it makes them “someone that they are not”, however, alcohol does not actually change a person, but rather makes them lose control on their inhibitions, and strips away their masks, and magnifies their inner, or truer, personality, which is why it affects each person differently. This truer personality isn’t so much as who the person is, but is pretending not to be, but more how they are programmed to be, over who they chose to be. However what people do, is already inside them, and not being intoxicated “changing” them.
This said, it is still arguable on whether what a person says when they are drunk should be taken with a pinch of salt or not. Some people believe that, due to the lack of inhibitions, a person is more honest about their hidden thoughts or desires when they are drunk, or “in vino veritas”, a Latin phrase which means “In wine there is truth”. Whereas other people believe that someone who is intoxicated should not be taken too seriously, as their lack of inhibitions is stopping them from knowing what they are saying, and how it could be different to what they mean to say.
The way a person will react to alcohol depends on their genetics, neurological system, constitution, and other factors, including their mood before getting drunk. This is because when a high amount of alcohol enters the blood stream, it reacts with the neurons in the brain, causing an increase in the production of dopamine, which causes the feelings of “happiness” or “pleasure” of being drunk, or the “high” that some people drink to feel. However, when the amount of alcohol exceeds the amount that generates the “high”, or, when the alcohol is being abused, some people find their levels of aggression heightened, or their personality changing.
Studies have shown that most commonly, there are four types of drunk people. The largest group is the group that experience only slight personality changes, despite how much they may drink. They find that their intellect or conscientiousness were less affected than the rest of the sample that were studies, and because of this, this group of people experience the least amount of alcohol related consequences.
A second group consisted of only 14% of the group studies. This group of people saw a small decrease in their conscientiousness and intellect, and an increase in extraversion than others. The study describes this group as being “sweet and responsible drinkers”, who tend to experience fewer alcohol related problems when compared to those most affected.
The third group that was found consisted of people who were particularly introverted when they were sober, however, became more confident and extraverted when intoxicated. This group had the second most inconsistency between their drunk and sober selves, however, they were still found to continue making healthy decisions when drunk.
The final group that was found are described as “The Mr Hyde’s” of the sample of people that was studied. This group of people had the most negative sober to drunk conversion, as they had a rapid decrease in conscientiousness and intellect, and were found to act less responsible, and more hostile. This group of people were also found to be statistically more likely to experience harmful consequences from their drinking.
However the sample was limited during this study, due to being from the same college and culture, making the findings hard to generalise, the study does seem to have some truth to it, as many people see groups of people acting in different ways, and as if they are completely different people, when they are drunk.
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