Terminology

The term is often humorously applied when an individual is observed making advances towards, later regretting sexual contact with, a partner that is deemed unattractive, unacceptably scandalous, or repulsive when the prospect of sex is considered while sober. The "beer goggles" are considered to have distorted the "wearer's" vision, making unattractive people appear beautiful, or at least passably attractive. Beer goggles are also known as "Stellavision", "beer glasses" or "cider visor".

Scientific Studies of "The Beer Goggle Effect"

On daily dose of ethanol, male fruit flies court male as well as female flies. This observed inter-male courtship requires dopamine transmission between neurons in the brain and is encouraged by repeated alcohol exposure. A mathematical formula has been devised to model this phenomenon in humans, although this research has been criticised as having "no scientific merit" .

In Popular Culture

    * The term is alluded to in Selma's Choice, a 1993 episode of The Simpsons animated television series. On a trip to a Duff beer-endorsed amusement park Bart Simpson found actual "beer goggles" on sale at a souvenir shop; donning them he saw his aunt Selma Bouvier turned into a pouty, alluring beauty.
    * There have been a number of songs written about this, chiefly Smash Mouth's "Beer Goggles", Lagwagon's "Beer Goggles", Neal McCoy's "Billy's Got His Beer Goggles On" and "She Had No Teeth" by The Rob Beadle Triangle Band. Most instructive is the beer goggles scene in Broken Lizard's 2006 movie Beerfest, where Barry (Jay Chandrasekhar) hits on and later beds Cherry (Mo'Nique); he is so drunk he not only thinks she's great looking, he thinks he is too.
    * On the BBC panel show QI, Stephen Fry was told what beer goggles were by fellow pundit Alan Davies. Phill Jupitus chimed in and suggested that the posh Fry instead develops Madeira pince-nez or a Sherry Monocle when inebriated.
    * In Season 7, The Mythbusters conducted test to see if alcohol would make people look more attractive, concluding that it was plausible, but that the effect varied from person to person.

Vision-distorting device

Some police departments have literal beer goggles, which distort vision to an approximation of drunkenness . These are used in education programs to teach people, often teenagers, about the dangers of drunk driving.

Information from: Wikipedia, http://www.wikipedia.org