London - Whether we end up dancing on desks or confiding far too much in our colleagues, the office party has become infamous for behaviour we live to regret.
But scientists claim it isn’t solely the alcohol at work events that puts us at risk of acting inappropriately - it’s the fact we are drinking it at the office and not the pub.
Drinking in environments not traditionally associated with alcohol leaves us far less able to control our behaviour, they claim.
While alcohol does lower our inhibitions, over time the brain learns to compensate for this effect - but only in familiar drinking environments such as a pub or at home with friends. In an environment such as the workplace, where people are normally sober and focused, the brain is not as tolerant and drinkers lose control of more inhibitions.
Dr Suzanne Higgs, who led the study at the school of psychology at the University of Birmingham, said: “When you drink in the pub, we generally have experience of that and have learned to build tolerance. As you don’t normally drink alcohol at work, you haven’t had the chance to build this tolerance.”
The findings, in the Alcohol and Alcoholism journal, also indicated inhibition may also be reduced when drinking with less familiar people - such as colleagues.
This could explain why office parties have featured in countless employment tribunals. Staff at technology firm AOL recently made headlines after company party guests were pictured exposing themselves.
In the study, volunteers were asked to carry out tasks on computers in distinctively different rooms, to test their levels of inhibition. Beforehand they were told to drink a sweet drink - which was either alcoholic or non-alcoholic. Over time, volunteers drinking alcohol developed a tolerance to its disinhibitory effect. But those who were later given alcohol in the room they had associated with non-alcoholic drinks had less inhibitions. - Daily Mail