Is there any medical or psychological basis for the idea that alcohol acts as a kind of truth serum?

August 5, 2006 1:20 AM

In vino veritas: is there any medical or psychological basis for the idea that alcohol acts as a kind of truth serum?
posted by hoverboards don't work on water to Science & Nature (11 answers total)

Inasmuch as 'truth serum' exists, yeah. Alcohol's effect on the brain is similar to Sodium Pentothal, just not as strong.
posted by fleacircus at 2:08 AM on August 5, 2006

The common wisdom is that alcohol is a disinhibitor, meaning you are less likely to be guarded about what you say.

However, this is disputed at times in the psych literature. For example, the study reported here (scroll down) reports results [that are] are completely at odds with the conventional belief that alcohol acts as a general disinhibitor.
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:29 AM on August 5, 2006

Best answer: Interestingly, WebMD raises & addresses the same question on its landing page this morning.
posted by NYCinephile at 3:07 AM on August 5, 2006

Response by poster: Interesting coincidence! It was the Mel Gibson thing which made me wonder - I was going to ask this question last week, but I'd already used up my allotment.
posted by hoverboards don't work on water at 3:54 AM on August 5, 2006

It might be worth noting that that WebMD article is really bad.
posted by ed\26h at 5:35 AM on August 5, 2006

Ed: Why do you think so?
posted by NYCinephile at 5:36 AM on August 5, 2006

Basically the article contains only two lines which are even vaguely relevant to the point at issue and are both totally inclusive. The rest is simply waffle and meaningless speculation. For instance, quite why they think a family therapist is a suitable authority for the extremely shallowly addressed quasi-ethics behind the matter or why they are even relevant in the first place is anybody’s guess.

Alcohol can't make you think or feel things

Nothing follows from this claim whether or not is it true – and we’re given precious little reason to accept that it is*.

Alcoholics will tell you that they try to watch what they say when they are drunk, but that's a conundrum because alcohol frees the tongue to say what is in the heart

This begs the question.

You can't pour vodka on a turnip and have it say anti-Semitic remarks

This is hardly a valid analogy.

For 90% of us, alcohol may be truth serum

This is a farcical statement worthy of its own t-shirt.

* = Anecdotal is it may be – I’m drunk now and I’m pretty sure it’s the booze that both made me feel the need to address your post and think it was a good idea to indulge that desire.
posted by ed\26h at 5:59 AM on August 5, 2006

In the context of Mel Gibson, wouldn't it be more likely that the drunk arrestee would spew violent threats at the police officer, rather than go off on a "Jews start wars" rant?

And anyway, how drunk *is* 0.12? Sounds to me like it's very close to semi-sober. And he was driving at 80 mph, rather than swerving around the road.

Also, couldn't the sips of tequila Gibson was allegedly drinking in the car have caused the breathalizer to register an overly high reading?
posted by Gordion Knott at 6:23 AM on August 5, 2006

Legally drunk in Michigan is .08, which is fairly buzzed, and if I recall correctly, about three beers in an hour. .12 is closer to five beers. (For someone of my weight and metabolism, roughly ballparked).
posted by klangklangston at 8:05 AM on August 5, 2006

A good point raised on the second page of the WebMD article, which ed\26h missed, is that everyone has a beast within them. If we all went around speaking out every thought we had, we'd all be saying some pretty far-out stuff. It's not whether you have the thought, but whether you act upon it. This is kinda a derail, though, so to come back to the issue at hand, I would agree that alcohol makes you vocalize thoughts that you're already having, but I would disagree that merely having those thoughts is any kind of indictment of character.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 8:40 AM on August 5, 2006

Well it looks like Mel was drinking beer. Let's say for the purpose of discussion he was drinking for about 3 hours, given the fact that he was arrested just after 2 AM. Let's also say for the purpose of discussion he weighs around 175 lbs, about average for an anti-semite.

That means he probably had around seven beers. I don't know about you guys, but while I certainly feel a bit drunk after seven beers, I'm usually more concerned with finding someone with whom I can "make whoopie," as the kids call it these days, than I am with blurting racial epithets...
posted by jckll at 8:46 PM on August 6, 2006