July 15: At the end of a night containing a few more drinks than might be strictly necessary, most people would agree that they have been transformed. Now psychologists have established that we turn into one of four character types when drunk.

The Ernest Hemingway is barely affected by excessive alcohol; the Mary Poppins is friendly and compassionate; the Nutty Professor is transformed from a quiet type to a confident extrovert. Worst of all is the menacing and hostile Mr Hyde.

It may or may not come as a surprise that researchers found most people who fall into the last category were women.

Psychologists at the University of Missouri-Columbia asked more than 360 men and women to complete a personality test: once when they were sober and once when they were under the influence of alcohol. The results showed that the largest group of drunks were the Hemingways, who changed very little. Hemingways were almost exactly as reliable, organised and prompt intoxicated as when they were sober, and they had very little trouble with their intellects, imaginations and abstract ideas. Four in ten of us are Hemingway drunks and the group is made up of as many men as women.

"Two previous studies have found that, on average, [intellect and conscientiousness] reportedly decrease the most with intoxication, so the moderate decreases demonstrated by this group make its members stand out as being 'less affected' than drinkers in some of the other groups - much like the author Ernest Hemingway, who claimed that he could 'drink hells any amount of whiskey without getting drunk'," researchers said.

 YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE