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Liquor is often believed to be a “truth inducer.” However, does it actually cause individuals to be truthful?(Image credit: Thomas Barwick via Getty Images)ShareShare by:
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The ancient Latin saying “In vino veritas” — which translates to “In wine, there is truth” — is just one of many expressions that reinforce the notion that booze is a type of truth serum. The saying is credited to Pliny the Elder, a Roman scholar, chronicler, and fighter, although comparable maxims can be found even earlier, going back to old Greece.
However, does liquor genuinely make individuals more truthful? According to experts who spoke with Live Science, the answer is complex, encompassing both affirmation and negation.
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So there’s clearly a greater chance that someone will vocalize their inner thoughts after having some drinks. Yet, there’s also the possibility that they might express sentiments that appear genuine while inebriated, but which they wouldn’t regard seriously when sober. As an illustration, an intoxicated acquaintance might make audacious promises to relocate to another city or leave their employment, only to retract these commitments the following day.
Although a thorough online exploration yielded no specific results regarding investigations into how liquor impacts truthfulness, studies on alcohol’s consequences for personality, feelings, and mental processes lend support to this notion.
For instance, a 2017 study featured in the journal Clinical Psychological Science investigated how the personalities of participants shifted after they consumed a quantity of vodka lemonades sufficient to elevate their blood alcohol level to 0.09%, slightly exceeding the legal driving threshold in both the U.S. and England. Observers noted that the most notable alteration in participants’ personalities post-consumption was a marked increase in extroversion. While the study did not delve into whether alcohol acts as a truth serum, it’s logical that someone experiencing greater comfort in a social context would also be more inclined to be straightforward.
Liquor’s capacity to assist individuals in emerging from their inhibitions might enable them to verbalize their thoughts, but White points out that its influence on feelings can render those thoughts more capricious.
“We generally observe that ingesting alcohol tends to amplify our feelings,” Michael Sayette, a psychology professor at the University of Pittsburgh, conveyed to Live Science through electronic mail. “We might find ourselves grinning more broadly and communicating more loudly during enjoyable interactions, but perhaps, as Claude Steele, the researcher and professor emeritus at Stanford University, suggested, we might also be more prone to weep into our beverage during less favorable circumstances.”
These intensified emotions might propel individuals to express what’s on their minds while sober, but they could also induce a turbulent condition in which they articulate something they don’t genuinely feel or might later profoundly lament. This mirrors the way drinking increases the propensity for some individuals to turn aggressive or engage in gambling, actions that may briefly pass through their minds when sober, but which they would typically possess the restraint to avoid.
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“Given that alcohol can alter our perceptions and emotions, it’s hardly shocking that conduct can also be impacted,” Sayette expressed. “Booze can cause our behaviors to escalate to extremes.”
These impacts arise from alcohol’s capacity to trigger disinhibition, signifying an elevated likelihood for an individual to yield to their urges. This transpires as alcohol diminishes signals within the prefrontal cortex, a cerebral region accountable for overseeing behavior and restraining impulses, White clarified.
Furthermore, alcohol also impedes the amygdala, a structure nestled deep within the brain celebrated for generating sensations of apprehension and unease. When an individual is sober, the amygdala typically broadcasts cautionary signals that might deter them from uttering or performing acts that could result in a social blunder, but those alerts diminish after consuming some alcohol.
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So does “veritas in vino” truly exist?
Without doubt, individuals may be more inclined to reveal secrets after a couple of glasses of wine, but they are also apt to utter something devoid of genuine intent, only to feel remorse the subsequent day. The consequences of alcohol on the psyche are simply too nuanced to exert a straightforward influence on honesty.
“Alcohol lacks the properties of a truth serum,” White affirmed. “That’s certainly the case.”
TOPICSLife’s Little Mysteries
Marilyn PerkinsContent Manager
Marilyn Perkins functions as the content manager for Live Science. Based in Los Angeles, California, she works as both a science scribe and artist. She completed her master’s studies in science writing at Johns Hopkins and earned her bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from Pomona College. Her compositions have appeared in venues like New Scientist, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health magazine, and Penn Today. Furthermore, she received the 2024 National Association of Science Writers Excellence in Institutional Writing Award, short-form division.
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