People underestimate the amount of alcohol in a video they just watched

BackgroundAlcohol is frequently depicted in media, and there is evidence that exposure to these depictions is associated with alcohol use. What is less clear, however, is how cognizant people are of the amount of alcohol they are exposed to. This study investigated whether people underestimate the amount of alcohol in a short video they just saw and whether this underestimation differs across age, gender, level of education, and alcohol use.MethodsA sample of 75 participants watched a 10-min video of tourism advertisements that included 12 scenes of alcohol. Immediately after watching, they were asked to estimate how frequently alcohol occurred in the video and to complete questions regarding their own alcohol consumption.ResultsParticipants significantly underestimated the number of alcohol events in the video, estimating on average 7.34 out of 12 alcohol events. Demographics (age, gender, education, alcohol use) did not predict greater underestimation.ConclusionThe present study suggests that people underestimate the amount of alcohol they see in media. Given that alcohol may be seen as normal and unmemorable, there may be concerns with the accuracy of using self-reports to measure alcohol exposure in the media.