Alcohol and aggression: a test of the attention-allocation model.
This article presents the first systematic test of the attention-allocation model for alcohol-related aggression. According to this model, alcohol has a "myopic" effect on attentional capacity that presumably facilitates aggression by focusing attention on more salient provocative, rather than less salient inhibitory, cues in hostile situations. Aggression was assessed using a laboratory task in which mild electric shocks were received from, and administered to, a fictitious opponent. Study 1 demonstrated that a moderate-load cognitive distractor suppressed aggression in intoxicated subjects (to levels even lower than those exhibited by a placebo control group). Study 2 assessed how varying the magnitude of a distracting cognitive load affected aggression in the alcohol and placebo conditions. Results indicated that the moderate-load distraction used in Study 1 (i.e., holding four elements in sequential order in working memory) suppressed aggression best. Cognitive loads of larger and smaller magnitudes were not successful in attenuating aggression.
Giancola
Peter R
PR
University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0044, USA. peter@email.uky.edu
Corman
Michelle D
MD
D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology*; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention; D003071:Cognition; D003463:Cues; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011930:Reaction Time; D012919:Social Behavior; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis