Judgment is something Mark Zanna has been studying for decades as a professor in the psychology department at the University of Waterloo. Recently, his research focused on decisions made while drinking.
Everyone knows that the best way to beat a hangover is to avoid it in the first place.
But that still doesn’t stop many of us from reaching for that next glass of wine.
Judgment is something Mark Zanna has been studying for decades as a professor in the psychology department at the University of Waterloo.
His work on what influences the choices people make, from health warnings on cigarette packages to their views about other cultures, earned him the Killam prize in 2011, a $100,000 nod of appreciation for a lifetime of research.
Recently, his research focused on decisions made while drinking. It turns out that, rather than getting fuzzy, people’s judgment becomes more acute with alcohol consumption.
“Being intoxicated doesn’t mean that you’re going to make stupid, risky decisions,” says Zanna. “It means that in the heat of the moment, you’ll be influenced by any cues that are salient.”
But there may be a useful flip side to the shortened, intense, focus researchers describe as alcohol myopia theory. A “You’ll Be Sorry” message scrawled on a napkin near the wine bottle might just be enough to give a partygoer pause for thought and a change of heart.
Another experiment also showed that small reminders can have big — possibly life-saving — results.
Among three groups of Waterloo students, one watched a video about drinking and driving, the second a video about people with HIV, and third the same HIV video while wearing a friendship bracelet.
The third group was told to look at the bracelet and recall the video’s message about practising safe sex. When the groups were evaluated at the end of the semester, the one wearing the bracelet was more likely to have followed the advice of the safe-sex video.
Participants had made the connection between the memento and the message. The intervention had worked.
