Is this why people get drunk?

[MidNightBlue]

is this why people get drunk? mass accepted stupidity? so guys can have an excuse for acting like an idiot in front of a girl? they can mask their idiocy by their drunkeness and then blame it on the drinking?

"When performing a difficult task, women might say they were in a tough situation that handicapped their performance, such as having a bad day. Men even go so far as to actively handicap themselves before performing the difficult task, by getting drunk for example."

Answer: TRUE

People often affect their performance before performing a difficult task through so-called self-handicapping.
Why? It avoids embarrassment of failure while giving your maximum. To save face, we mention that we cannot actually give our best because of external circumstances. This comes in two ways: You can either say you slept badly (the situation was tough), or drink away your sorrows the night prior to your important task (actively handcaping yourself).
Both men and women are equally likely to report a handicap. However, men are more likely to handicap themselves actively.

Taken from: Higgins, R.L. & Harris, R.N. (1988). "Strategic" alcohol use: drinking to self-handicap. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 6. 191-202.

[LostInWonderland]

Social psychology is one of my favorite things in the world.
_________________
"You left me for a TREE!?"
"I'm environmentally friendly, get over it."

"A watcher scoffs at gravity."

[GrinfilledCelt]

There is a name for people like that: "Loser". The major flaw in such an excuse is that being drunk is not an external circumstance. People do that to themselves with no help from anyone else. Try explaining to a judge that the reason that you were drunk driving is that you were drunk and therefore are not responsible and see how hard she laughs before she suspends your driver's license.
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Songs for the flash frozen.

[MidNightBlue]

Somewhat off topic, but I've noticed that I tend to make more typos on this forum than on other forums and I think it has to do with the forum color. The blue-ness has something to with it I think. Kind of an off the wall theory ... but ... I really do think the color has something to do with it. Which isn't to say I have anything against the color but just something to think about. An experiment should be done. Yeah.

[LostInWonderland]

If you go to your profile you can change the colors.
_________________
"You left me for a TREE!?"
"I'm environmentally friendly, get over it."

"A watcher scoffs at gravity."

[MidNightBlue]

Oh I like the blue and I don't mind the typos but I do want someone to do an experiment and tell me definitively if the color really is the culprit. I'm too lazy to do my own experimenting.

[LostInWonderland]

Well, unless other people on here are also affected in that way, and we could find other blue things that they would have to write on that had the same effects, I think it's just you.
_________________
"You left me for a TREE!?"
"I'm environmentally friendly, get over it."

"A watcher scoffs at gravity."

[MidNightBlue]

Bummer ... I guess I can't blame the color then ...

ooooh but according to that little excerpt I should get drunk and then blame my typos on that, hehehe

[LostInWonderland]

There's any number of handicapping techniques you could use. You could blame it on other situational factors like too much confusing backround noise or being tired or something.
_________________
"You left me for a TREE!?"
"I'm environmentally friendly, get over it."

"A watcher scoffs at gravity."

[MidNightBlue]

that's true there is a good deal of background noise ... and i would have gotten more sleep if i wasn't woken up by the text message

isn't this just playing the blame game, not taking responsibility for my own actions?

i remember m. scott peck wrote about that in his book The Road Less Traveled, ever read that? it's really good

[LostInWonderland]

It's the fundamental attribution error. Everything that you do wrong is because of situational factors, while good things are personal. It's the opposite for other people. Except people that you hold in high esteem, of course.

Like I said, love social psych. Love.

And I have never read that book.
_________________
"You left me for a TREE!?"
"I'm environmentally friendly, get over it."

"A watcher scoffs at gravity."

[MidNightBlue]

he's a psychiatrist and talks about psychology ... you may enjoy it

hmm, i think about it as just the "ego theory" everyone is ego centric and will do anything to protect it's own ego

the ego is never wrong, it's always something else that's wrong ...

reminds me of another book "the power of now" by eckhart tolle

he's good too

[LostInWonderland]

Intriguing. I might have to look that up.

It is pretty much ego preservation. Almost everything in social psych relates to that. People have to maintain their image of themselves. That plays into cognitive dissonance too.
_________________
"You left me for a TREE!?"
"I'm environmentally friendly, get over it."

"A watcher scoffs at gravity."

[MidNightBlue]

yeah ... i had to write a paper on cognitive dissonance once ... i turned it in late ... i must have been in dissonance over it

i think if someone made a pill to cure procrastination that person will be very rich indeed

[LostInWonderland]

It wouldn't be very effective, people would forget to take it when they needed to.
_________________
"You left me for a TREE!?"
"I'm environmentally friendly, get over it."

"A watcher scoffs at gravity."