I totally get beer goggles or being more extroverted when drunk, lower inhibitions, worse judgement and all that.
But how does it change why we want to do. If I’m sober i actively dislike the dancefloor, I don’t know what to do, and i don’t see the point? If I’m already drunk though, i absolutely love it?
Same thing with cigarettes, i have friends you couldn’t pay to smoke while sober. Or making plans you would never ever make while sober?
In: 3039
I’ll approach this from another angle: what is a preference? I prefer a warm jacket in the cold, but it’s intolerable in the heat. Preferences are contextual. Alcohol in the brain? BIG change in context.
Why *should* your brain’s preferences be the same when sober versus drunk? You’ll do stuff you wouldn’t do normally because the situation isn’t normal; your brain isn’t normal.
Alcohol specifically reduces the function in your frontal cortex, among other things. It’s where you make big choices, think through things, consider options, assess risk. It’s probably where a lot of your conscious experiences take place, too; so in a way it is the “most you” part of the brain. A lot of your brain does stuff without telling you it’s happening, after all.
So it isn’t like alcohol reveals your “real” preferences. The things you do while drunk don’t have to align with what you normally like. The way humans come up with their identity is complicated. Some people think of their drunk self as part of their “real self,” and some people don’t identify with it as much.
Latest Answers