Summary: An eye-tracking study finds that intoxicated young men spend less time looking at women’s faces and more time focusing on sexualized body regions compared with sober men.
Source: University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
Drink, Gaze and Perception: How Alcohol Shapes Visual Attention
Popular culture has long suggested that men change how they look at women after drinking. Researchers in the University of Nebraska–Lincoln psychology department have now tested that idea using eye-tracking technology to measure how alcohol affects where college-age men direct their gaze when viewing images of women.
The study, published by research teams at the university, showed that intoxicated men spent significantly less time looking at women’s faces and more time looking at sexualized body areas than did sober participants. The findings also revealed that alcohol amplified objectifying behavior toward women whom participants perceived as unfriendly or lacking competence.
“Intoxicated men in the study were less likely to objectify women they perceived as warm and competent, and those rated as averagely attractive,” said Abbey Riemer, a doctoral student in psychology and the lead author of the study. “Warmth and competence appear to humanize women in observers’ minds, creating a buffer against objectification.”
Although the sample was modest — 49 college-age men — the authors note the results can inform efforts to prevent sexually aggressive behavior, especially in contexts where alcohol is commonly present. Party culture and alcohol use are frequently cited as factors in incidents of sexual harassment and assault on college campuses, and understanding how intoxication alters visual attention may help shape prevention strategies.
Alcohol Myopia and Objectification
The study tested the theory of “alcohol myopia,” which proposes that intoxication narrows the range of information people process and makes them more responsive to immediate, salient cues. The researchers combined this framework with theories of sexual objectification to examine whether alcohol causes men to focus more on sexualized body parts rather than faces.
Participants were men aged 21 to 27, most of whom were white. Upon arrival at the lab, participants were randomly assigned to an alcoholic beverage condition — consuming a drink that produced a legally intoxicated blood alcohol level — or to a placebo condition in which the drink smelled and tasted of alcohol but contained only a trivial amount of liquor. After drinking, participants viewed a series of 80 photographs of college-age women dressed for a night out, while eye-tracking equipment measured dwell time on faces, chests and waists.
The photographs had been previously rated by over 300 men and women for perceived attractiveness, warmth and competence; each image was categorized as high, average or low on those traits. The researchers emphasized that their measures were based on participants’ perceptions of the images, not on any verified qualities or behaviors of the women pictured. “We need to be clear — this is all happening in men’s minds,” Riemer noted.
Focus on Appearance Increases Objectifying Gaze
When participants were explicitly asked to focus on the women’s appearance rather than personality, they were likelier to employ an “objectifying gaze”: shorter visual dwell time on the face and longer dwell time on sexualized body parts. Alcohol use increased that tendency, particularly toward images perceived as low in warmth or competence. In other words, intoxicated men were more likely to shift their gaze away from faces and toward sexualized body regions when the women in the photos did not appear friendly or intelligent.
Importantly, the results do not suggest that alcohol made participants find more women attractive overall. Instead, alcohol affected where attention was allocated: decreasing face-directed attention and increasing attention to bodily regions under certain perception conditions.
Implications and Future Directions
The study provides objective evidence that alcohol can increase visual objectification, supporting earlier self-report research by Gervais and DiLillo showing men said they looked more at women as sexual objects after drinking. The new eye-tracking data refine that view by showing the effect is context-dependent: alcohol amplifies objectifying gaze particularly when observers perceive a target as low in warmth or competence.
Co-authors Sarah Gervais and David DiLillo, along with Michael Dodd and graduate students Michelle Haikalis and Molly Franz, suggest the findings can inform interventions and policy aimed at reducing alcohol-related objectification and associated sexual aggression. By understanding the perceptual dynamics that contribute to harmful behaviors, clinicians, educators, and campus policymakers may develop targeted strategies to mitigate risk in social settings where alcohol is present.
Funding: The study received support from the Office of Research and Economic Development at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
Authors and source: Abigail R. Riemer, Michelle Haikalis, Molly R. Franz, Michael D. Dodd, David DiLillo, and Sarah J. Gervais; University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
Abstract (Condensed)
The study, “Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beer Holder,” examined how alcohol, perceived attractiveness, warmth, and competence affect men’s objectifying gaze. Male undergraduates (n = 49) received alcoholic or placebo beverages, then viewed images of women previously rated on attractiveness, warmth and competence while eye-tracking recorded gaze patterns. Focusing on appearance increased objectifying gazes, and alcohol further increased objectification. Higher perceived attractiveness raised objectifying gaze, while greater perceived warmth and competence reduced it. Alcohol intensified objectification of women perceived as low in warmth and competence. Findings highlight perceptual mechanisms that can inform interventions to reduce alcohol-involved objectification and related sexual aggression.
Original research: “Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beer Holder: An Initial Investigation of the Effects of Alcohol, Attractiveness, Warmth, and Competence on the Objectifying Gaze in Men,” Sex Roles. Published online December 20, 2017. DOI: 10.1007/s11199-017-0876-2.