Loud music can be a nudge

From Psyblog:

Sure enough when the music went up the beers went down, faster. On average bar-goers took 14.5 minutes to finish a 250ml (8 oz) glass of draught beer when the music was at its normal level. But this came down to just 11.5 minutes when the music was turned up. As a result, on average, during their time in the bar each participant ordered one more drink in the loud music condition than in the normal music condition.

That’s from an experimental study of bars in France. (The music levels were randomly manipulated.) When the music volume goes up, men drink more than women, and rural topers quaff more than urban ones. (Maybe toper is too harsh.) Why do people drink more when the music is loud? Because they can’t talk to each other as easily.

Tags: bars