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people often claim the different types
of alcohol affect them in different ways
red wine for example makes them sleepy
after a couple shots of tequila they're
ready to party if you know a little bit
about chemistry you might be kind of
skeptical about this and for good reason
the active ingredient in red wine and
tequila is the same it's ethanol which
should mean that the drinks do
essentially the same thing to your body
and your brain but when it comes to what
we feel and how we behave it's not
always just about the chemistry
psychology is more complicated than that
and some researchers think there might
actually be some truth to the idea that
different drinks have different effects
it's not because of the drinks though
it's because of our experiences or
expectations while we're drinking them
the cultural association between certain
drinks and different behavioral or
emotional responses is more than
anecdotal it's backed up by data like in
a 20-17 paper published in the journal
BMJ open the study pulled data from the
global drug survey an international
survey that asked people among other
things about their emotions while
drinking various types of alcohol the
researchers included responses from
almost 30,000 people from 21 countries
all between the ages of 18 and 34 who
said they drank beer spirits red wine
and white wine in the past year people
were most likely to report feeling
relaxed or tired while drinking red wine
and hard liquor was most likely to
elicit feelings like aggression and
restlessness and more than 40% of the
respondents said liquor made them feel
sexy so there was definitely a
difference although as the researchers
noted all this shows is that people
associate different kinds of alcohol
with different emotions it doesn't mean
that those alcohols are causing those
emotions and there are all kinds of
possible reasons for the relationship
one might be where the drinks were
consumed the survey showed that people
were more likely to drink alcohol types
that made them feel energized when they
were out and were most likely to drink
things that made them feel tired and
relaxed when they were at home if you
usually drink red wine when you're
relaxing at home then of course it's
gonna seem like a relaxing sort of drink
there's also a lot of research that
shows the way that we feel after
drinking depends on the environment
we're in while we're drinking or on our
expectation of what alcohol does for
example take a 1985 study published in
the Journal of
studies on alcohol where researchers
gave 98 men one of two things some drank
enough vodka tonics to get their blood
alcohol levels 2.10
a little higher than the legal limit for
driving in the u.s. arrests had a
placebo tonic water mixed with a tiny
bit of vodka so it had the taste and
smell the subjects in each group were
either left alone or with a bunch of
other people and the setting really
mattered when they were with other
people participants who drank the real
stuff tended to report feeling more
drunk than they did when they were alone
even the people who drank placebo
reported more physical reactions to it
when they were in a group drinking
alcohol alone still led to higher
measures of intoxication than drinking
placebo in a group so the chemical
prompt was stronger than the social one
but the environment is a powerful thing
and so our expectations associating
different types of alcohol with
different emotions it's kind of a
self-fulfilling prophecy because our
expectations shape our reactions to most
things we're constantly filtering what
we're seeing feeling or hearing through
our preconceived notions ever eaten
something you thought tasted good until
you found out what was in it the same
thing can happen with alcohol where your
reaction shifts based on what you expect
to feel in that 1985 vodka study people
who had more expectations around alcohol
measured by questions like alcohol
enables me to have a better time at
parties and alcohol makes me feel better
physically were more likely to report
pronounced effects of alcohol and that
was true whether they were drinking the
real vodka tonics or not at least for a
little while and expectations around
alcohol start early long before they
start drinking even kids in elementary
school have ideas about what the effects
of alcohol are gonna be ads movies and
older friends all reinforce the
stereotypes behind different drinks your
expectations are already set when you
crack open a bottle so you're more
likely to feel the way you think you're
gonna feel that said if you feel like
different types of drinks make you feel
different things it might not be
entirely in your head there is a
possible physiological explanation for
it although it has more to do with the
alcohol content than the type of drink
because again ethanol is ethanol we know
that people tend to experience the
euphoric effects of alcohol as their
blood alcohol content is arising and
feel tired or depressed
as their blood-alcohol content is going
down and the general once your BAC gets
above about point zero five or point
zero six the depressant effects of
alcohol start to kick in
hard liquor has a high alcohol level and
people often drink it quickly as shots
and that can cause blood alcohol levels
to rise quickly making you feel more
upbeat meanwhile beer or wine have lower
amounts of alcohol so you're drinking
them more slowly over time and you might
not get that euphoric rise but they can
also keep your BAC within the sweet spot
before the bad mood hits still even if
this is part of what's happening it's
about the alcohol content not the type
of drink and it doesn't need to be
anything going on chemically to change
how you feel when you're drinking
it's your environment and your
expectations that really matter so it's
not just a myth if you're taking shots
in a bar to get hyped up for a night on
the town you're probably more likely to
feel ready to party thanks for watching
this episode of scishow psyche alcohol
can affect the brain and body in all
kinds of ways but it can be hard to tell
when that becomes a problem if you'd
like to learn more about when too much
is too much you can watch our episode
about alcoholism
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