Alcohol, self-focus and complex reaction-time performance.

Abstract

The effects of alcohol, expectancy and state-trait varieties of public self-focus on complex reaction-time performance were evaluated. The procedure crossed a 2 (expectancy) X 2 (dose) modified balanced-placebo design with two levels of public self-awareness (normal versus high). A median split procedure performed on public and private self-consciousness scale scores served to evaluate trait effects. Results indicated that subject's task performance was best understood as an interaction between his subjective experience of intoxication-sobriety, his beliefs concerning what he had drunk and the salience of situational standards toward effortful performance. Public self-consciousness proved to mediate the behavioral expression of conventional expectancies concerning drunken comportment. Interactions between alcohol, expectancy and self-focus are discussed in terms of an interactive model of drunken comportment.