BL-04 ID: 113585739

Dear Roger,
Researchers at Macquarie University conducted a study on the closing time effect at a
beachside pub in Australia. Contrary to similar studies, they used the same participants
throughout the study to avoid variance and inaccurate results. Researchers asked bar patrons if
they would like to be in an experiment on social perception. If they agreed to stay at the bar until
12, they signed written consent and wore glow sticks for researchers to locate participants and
for participants to identify others in study to rate them based on attractiveness. The 81
participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire at three time intervals: 9 pm, 10:30 pm, and
midnight. At 9 pm, the questionnaire asked their age, gender, relationship status, reason for being
there, drug use earlier that day, and the Rosenberg self esteem scale. At 10:30 pm and midnight,
participants rated attractiveness of other participants and bartenders based on a scale from 1 to 5,
5 being the highest. Along with the questionnaire, researchers measured participants BAC with
the use of the AlcoScan AL2500 at each time interval.
The participants in the study were 51% male and 59% single, a total of 69% said that
their main reason for being at the pub was to meet friends with fewer than 5% mentioning
meeting someone of the opposite sex. The median BAC of participants at 9 pm was 0.047, at
10:30 pm was 0.070, and at midnight was 0.087. As you can see, BAC increased over time, but
what researches found surprising was that single males had higher BAC than those in
relationships but single females had lower BAC than those in relationships. As the night went on
and participants rated attractiveness of each other, the results showed that opposite sex
attractiveness increased over time, while same sex attractiveness remained constant. This is
called the closing time effect, the phenomenon that individuals begin to recognize the opposite
gender as being more attractive as the night goes on. Researchers found that the consumption of
alcohol was partly responsible for closing time effect, but there is something beyond that. Only
single participants exhibited closing time effect, which supports the reactance theory; theory that
states participants react to the threat posed by closing time, which limits their freedom to choose
their companion for the night. However, those in serious relationships were found to have the
same closing time effect to those that were single. This leads to another theory, mere exposure
theory, stimuli seen previously are judged more positively than new stimuli. Since the study was
conducted with the same participants, merely seeing the same people throughout the evening
should make them more attractive. Lastly, another reason for closing time effect is the
commodity theory, meaning as opposite sex people paired up and left the pub, there were fewer
opposite sex people making them more attractive. The closing time effect can be explained by
the mere exposure theory along with reasoning that whatever is scarce is valuable. So Roger,
bars can be used, but also try meeting people through your favorite hobbies.
Sincerely,
Laura Gooding