Framework for reducing alcohol-impaired driving Shults et al. (2001)

Why does alcohol make social behaviors more extreme? Part I Impairment of executive function Planning, initiating, regulating behavior Attention, sequencing, goal planning Abstract reasoning, problem-solving Mediates alcoholaggression Moderates alcoholaggression Alcohol intoxication increases aggression via executive function in 2 ways: Exec functioning mediates alcohol-aggression relationship Exec functioning moderate the relationship, in that intoxication promotes aggression especially among people with low (rather than high) exec. functioning

Why does alcohol make social behaviors more extreme? Part II Alcohol myopia theory Pharmacologically-based Alcohol narrows perceptual field to here-and-now Attention to salient instigating cues, to exclusion of distal considerations (e.g., long-term consequences) Especially under conditions of inhibition conflict Intoxication can  aggression, risky sexual behavior, tipping Predicts both increases and decreases in negative affect/worry, depending on presence of distracting activity

Why does alcohol make social behaviors more extreme? Part III Expectancy theory Learned outcome expectancies: apriori beliefs that alcohol will have certain effects Alcohol intoxication activates expectancies Alcohol-sex expectancies (Dermen & Cooper, 1994): Enhancement: I am less nervous about sex, I am more sexually responsive Sex risk: I am less likely to use a condom, I am less likely to talk with a new partner about STD Disinhibition: I have sex with people whom I wouldn’t have sex with if I were sober Dual-process model (Moss & Albery, 2009) Preconsumption phase: Expectancies => initiating drinking Consumption phase: Alcohol myopia => intoxicated behavior

Alcohol and Aggression In 2008, alcohol was a factor in 19% - 37% of violent crimes Increases risk of injury Typically on evenings and weekends Communities that have more bars and liquor stores per capita experience more assault The offender was drinking at the time of offense in: 86% of homicides 37% of assaults 60% of sexual assaults 57% of men and 27% of women in intimate partner violence 70% of cases of child abuse/neglect AUDs increase risk for violent acts 10x; cf. major mental disorders increase by 3x. Heavy drinkers are at greater risk of being a victim of violence/aggression than light/moderate drinkers Bureau of Justice Statistics, Alcohol and Crime: Data from 2002 to 2008: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/acf/ac_conclusion.cfm

Studying alcohol + aggression Taylor Aggression Paradigm DVs = level and duration of shock/noise “administered” to opponent over trials IV = provocation by “confederate” during game

Fig 1  Aggressive behavior over the three blocks of the Taylor Aggression Paradigm in the provoked group and the non-provoked control group. Values are means ± SEM Noise not shock used – blocks of 10 trials: react quickly to green square by pressing key, slower of the 2 would get blast from winner; winner-loser randomly determined Not provoked = short, gentle noise Provoked, Block 2 = 82 dB, 2-3 sec Provoked, Block 3 = 99 dB, 4 sec Bohnke et al. (2008)

Studying alcohol + aggression Taylor Aggression Paradigm variations: IV = gender IV = alcohol vs. placebo before“game” IV = self-reported typical aggressiveness

Giancola & Parrott (2008) Effects of gender and alcohol consumption, given low vs high baseline levels of self- reported aggression

Pattern of findings from TAP: Intoxication increases aggression High or low provocation Men and women Dose-response relationship (inverted U) Expectancies + pharmacology Specific to alcohol and benzodiazepines Dose-response relationship means that the higher the dose (BAC) the more acts of aggression Expectancy alone doesn’t make people more aggressive Pharmacology alone sometimes makes people more aggressive The combination of expecting the effects of alcohol and the drug effect predict aggression ONLY alcohol and benzos have been shown to increase aggression: NO OTHER DRUG TYPES - mj and opiates DECREASE aggression

Alcohol-induced aggression increases with: trait aggressiveness hostile attribution bias executive functioning biology: high testosterone, low serotonin social pressure in groups People higher in trait aggressiveness increase more than people lower in trait aggressiveness Intoxicated persons respond more to social pressure to increase aggression than do sober persons (Taylor, 1993)