The Psychology of Boozing

"In a series of studies in the 1970s and ’80s, psychologists at the University of Washington put more than 300 students into a study room outfitted like a bar with mirrors, music and a stretch of polished pine. The researchers served alcoholic drinks, most often icy vodka tonics, to some of the students and nonalcoholic ones, usually icy tonic water, to others. The drinks looked and tasted the same, and the students typically drank five in an hour or two. The studies found that people who thought they were drinking alcohol behaved exactly as aggressively, or as affectionately, or as merrily as they expected to when drunk."

When People Drink Themselves Silly, And Why
by Benedict Carey
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/health/04mind.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1257681782-nVIgS52jOUa7lz1jkeU74w