Boistrous bars boost boozy benders - July 21, 2008
Loud music makes people drink more booze. This slightly unsurprising result has been plastered over the press this weekend. It also confirms laborious fieldwork carried out by by Nature staff at the Driver and the Lincoln.
The study was done by French researchers surreptitiously slipping into bars “remaining nonchalant to avoid detection” (Montreal Gazette) and watching 40 blokes sipping beer. As the music got louder – from 72 decibels to 88 decibels – the sipping became more frenetic. At 72 decibels a beer took on average 14.5 minutes, whereas when the music was cranked up (to 11?) that time dropped to just 11.2 minutes
Now I can’t find the paper on the journal’s home page. But reports say that it is coming out in October. So I took a look at the author, Nicolas Gueguen’s website. I wish I spoke more French, because the titles of his papers, at least the ones in English, are intriguing.
There’s The effect of a man’s touch on woman’s compliance to a request in a courtship context published last year in Social Influence, and this one I love: Server's suggestion and tactile contact: An evaluation in a restaurant, published in the International Journal of Hospitality Management.
Comments
That's an in-press article; you can view the abstract at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1530-0277.2008.00764.x
Posted by: Jon Houck | July 22, 2008 06:41 PM