Some Sobering News
According to some new research on the topic conducted by Scott Rick of the University of Michigan and Marice Schweitzer of the University of Pennsylvania, holding an alcoholic beverage is bad for your image. Paul Kix of AOL has the details:
The study conducted five experiments. One had people judge photographs of others holding an alcoholic drink, a non-alcoholic one or nothing. Another experiment tested how persuasive a speech would be if the audience knew the speaker was drinking alcohol or something nonalcoholic. In both cases, alcohol dimmed the perceived intelligence of the people holding the drinks.
The most damning and universally applicable finding, however, came from the experiment that melded alcohol and job-seeking. Let's say a potential employer takes you, the potential employee, to dinner. The study shows that when you order a glass of wine or a beer, the employer views you as less desirable -- even if the employer orders a drink as well.
Worse still, the study found that when that drink you're holding wasn't of your choosing -- i.e. someone, like perhaps your potential boss, ordered it for you -- "the bias still exists," Rick tells AOL News.
Note to self: Do not let Peter see me with a beer at the next Rico Soirée.
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May '10
Re: Some Sobering News
Crazy talk. I’m pretty sure this bourbon (aside from being tasty) makes me look like a taller, fatter, latter-day Frank Sinatra.
I might even take up smoking to complete the effect.
Aug '10
Re: Some Sobering News
All depends who it is, I suppose. I always thought holding a drink made Dean Martin look more intelligent. (maybe it was the cigarette)
Jul '10
Re: Some Sobering News
Why go to a fancy restaurant for an interview if you're going to order a Coke?
May '10
Re: Some Sobering News
Oddly I find the picture of Obama with the beer in hand makes me like him better, rather than the other way around.
Re: Some Sobering News
G.A. Dean: Oddly I find the picture of Obama with the beer in hand makes me like him better, rather than the other way around. · Sep 16 at 3:52pm
Oh, that's probably just because it looks like he's extending the beer out to you! And now we know his reasoning behind the beer summit.
May '10
Re: Some Sobering News
In other words, a politician who gives a great speech while drinking will be perceived as so brilliant that he can play this political game with half his brain waiting on standby.
Jun '10
Re: Some Sobering News
Is this study even close to a real life experience? In real life the observer is presented with a number of clues as to the personality of the person they are observing. In this study the author seems to present a very restricted set of clues: drink on no drink. In Canada lawyers are required to wear "collars" when appearing in court, so when they go out to lunch they are often seen in very formal court garb. Many of them, I am sure, wear the costume because it offers a particular impression to the public, especially the female public. Likewise, medical professionals will wear scrubs and dangle a stethoscope around their necks when outside the hospital so as to provide clues to any interested in being awed by the presence of a near doctor. My point is this; would a person wearing scrubs and dangling a stethoscope around their neck standing at a bar with a drink in hand present a negative or positive image? To jumble the clues even more; would someone wearing a priest’s collar present a negative or positive image if he were photographed enjoying a beer in a local pub?
Re: Some Sobering News
Cas Balicki: Is this study even close to a real life experience?
One application of this that I thought of as soon as I read the summary of the study is facebook. I know that I subconsciously (or perhaps consciously?) judge people who have photos of themselves holding drinks to be dumber than I'd think otherwise. Especially if it's their profile photo! For a profile photo, people choose a picture that includes clues that indicate how they wish others to perceive them. I don't know what you want people to think about you when your main photo displays you putting down an alcoholic beverage.
And as you can tell from my Ricochet avatar, I want people to associate me with books! :)
Jul '10
Re: Some Sobering News
The one thing I can never forgive is a male holding a drink with a little umbrella sticking out of it.
Or a monkey climbing up a straw.
Re: Some Sobering News
Kenneth: The one thing I can never forgive is a male holding a drink with a little umbrella sticking out of it.
Or a monkey climbing up a straw. · Sep 16 at 4:39pm
If the drink comes with an umbrella, is the man in the clear if he takes it out right away and stomps on it?
What about drinks that are pink, or lavender in color? Are those ok so long as they come sans umbrella or monkey?
May '10
Re: Some Sobering News
Diane Ellis, Ed.
G.A. Dean: Oddly I find the picture of Obama with the beer in hand makes me like him better, rather than the other way around. · Sep 16 at 3:52pm
Oh, that's probably just because it looks like he's extending the beer out to you! And now we know his reasoning behind the beer summit. · Sep 16 at 4:06pm
Well, it's almost 5pm out here in CA... If he's buying I'm willing to be his best friend, at least for a hour or so.
I'm sure this depends on context. Seeing your Senator loosen his tie and have a cold one might make you feel better, but your airliner pilots, not so much.
Jun '10
Re: Some Sobering News
Kenneth, I have two words for you: Frank Sinatra. He strikes me as the kind of guy who would order a hit on the bartender who dared to put a drink with an umbrella down in front of him.
Then there's Bogie. Can you just picture him drowning his sorrows in the wee small hours holding a glass with a teeny brolly in it. Paris or no, even Ilsa would have dumped him for that faux pas.
Jul '10
Re: Some Sobering News
Diane Ellis, Ed.
Kenneth: The one thing I can never forgive is a male holding a drink with a little umbrella sticking out of it.
Or a monkey climbing up a straw. · Sep 16 at 4:39pm
If the drink comes with an umbrella, is the man in the clear if he takes it out right away and stomps on it?
What about drinks that are pink, or lavender in color? Are those ok so long as they come sans umbrella or monkey? · Sep 16 at 4:44pm
No, Diane, he is not in the clear. Any drink that comes with an umbrella is, by definition, un-manly.
And there are only two manly drink colors: brown or clear.
Here is the rule for real man-drinks: No mixer. No ice.
And, what the heck...forget the glass, just leave the bottle.
Jun '10
Re: Some Sobering News
By the way faux pas is French for "Who's the jerk that ordered the drink with the umbrella!
Edited on Sep 16, 2010 at 5:02pmJul '10
Re: Some Sobering News
LOL....I get a pop-up ad for a local alcohol rehab when I visit this thread.
Eric Schmidt, get out of my closet!!
Re: Some Sobering News
Kenneth: LOL....I get a pop-up ad for a local alcohol rehab when I visit this thread.
Eric Schmidt, get out of my closet!! · Sep 16 at 5:45pm
Kenneth, it's time to begin your healing today.
Jun '10
Re: Some Sobering News
Have you admitted that you have a problem? If you haven't there's still time for at least one more drink before you do.
Re: Some Sobering News
Cas Balicki: Have you admitted that you have a problem? If you haven't there's still time for at least one more drink before you do. · Sep 16 at 6:37pm
Ok, ok. It just occurred to me that perhaps we should be more sensitive toward the actual recovering alcoholics in the Ricochet community. I'm sorry for my part in making light of the recovery process by teasing Kenneth about the ad. :(
But all should continue to feel free to tease men who drink pink beverages with monkeys crawling up the side of the glass.
May '10
Re: Some Sobering News
No worries. Judging from the dismal colour and pasty head, calling the thing Obama's holding a "beer" is a mere formality. If you can count the calories on two lines of an abacus, you might as well pick up the boot-crushed umbrella and slip it into your own pint glass.
Jul '10
Re: Some Sobering News
Diane Ellis, Ed.
Cas Balicki: Have you admitted that you have a problem? If you haven't there's still time for at least one more drink before you do. · Sep 16 at 6:37pm
Ok, ok. It just occurred to me that perhaps we should be more sensitive toward the actual recovering alcoholics in the Ricochet community. I'm sorry for my part in making light of the recovery process by teasing Kenneth about the ad. :(
But all should continue to feel free to tease men who drink pink beverages with monkeys crawling up the side of the glass. · Sep 16 at 6:44pm
Diane, this is why I love you: you haven't a cynical bone in your body.
But trust me, recovering alcoholics wouldn't be recovering if they couldn't laugh at themselves.
Heartily.