"So I can't blame the booze?": Dispositional aggressivity negates the moderating effects of expectancies on alcohol-related aggression.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of alcohol expectancies on intoxicated aggression in men and women while controlling for dispositional aggressivity. Subjects were 328 (163 men and 165 women) healthy social drinkers between 21 and 35 years of age. Alcohol expectancies were measured using items from a variety of validated self-report inventories. Following the consumption of either an alcohol or a placebo beverage, subjects were tested on a modified version of the Taylor Aggression Paradigm, in which mild electric shocks were received from and administered to a fictitious opponent during a competitive task. Aggressive behavior was operationalized as the shock intensities administered to the fictitious opponent under conditions of low and high provocation. On their own, alcohol expectancies played a limited role in impacting aggressive behavior. Specifically, alcohol expectancies were significantly related to aggression for men who received the placebo beverage under low provocation and for men who received alcohol under high provocation. A significant main effect of alcohol expectancies was also detected. However, all of these effects were rendered nonsignificant when controlling for dispositional aggressivity. It is important to note that the main effect for beverage group remained significant after controlling for dispositional aggressivity. Taken as a whole, this pattern of findings suggests that intoxicated aggression is primarily the result of alcohol's pharmacological properties in conjunction with an aggressive personality.