Automatic alcohol associations: gender differences and the malleability of alcohol associations following exposure to a dating scenario.

Abstract

Little research has examined contextual influences on implicit measures of alcohol-related cognitions. The current study investigated whether contexts involving alcohol or social dating would affect automatic alcohol approach-avoid associations. Undergraduates (n = 112 women, 109 men) completed an Implicit Association Test (IAT) that measured alcohol approach-avoid associations before and after reading a vignette about a date that differed on two dimensions: (1) whether alcohol was present or absent and (2) whether the date ended in attraction or friendship. When the vignette included an alcohol context, alcohol IAT scores increased from baseline (e.g., increased alcohol and approach associations). In a nonalcohol context, alcohol IAT scores increased from baseline when the date was not successful but not when it was successful. These results contribute to social cognitive science by indicating not only that social contexts with alcohol can influence automatic alcohol associations but also that social contexts without alcohol can influence automatic alcohol associations.