A strong alcoholic drink does not influence self-assessments of the big five personality traits

Abstract

cAlohol affects how people think, feel, and behave, and how they perceive the physical and social world around them. But does alcohol also influence how people perceive themselves? Past work points to a number of possibilities, suggesting intoxication could lead to positive biases, to negative biases, or have no effects on self-assessments at all. Here we tested whether alcoholic intoxication affects self-assessments of personality within the Big Five personality framework. We hypothesized that intoxicated participants would see themselves more positively than non-intoxicated individuals would. We conducted a preregistered laboratory experiment on participants divided into three groups: alcohol intoxication (n = 106), placebo (n = 114), and control conditions (n = 109). Contrary to predictions, we found no differences in self-assessments of personality across conditions. Findings point to the possibility that self-assessments of personality may be too stable to be affected by the momentary changes in thoughts and feelings caused by alcoholic intoxication.