title: Automatic effects of alcohol and aggressive cues on aggressive thoughts and behaviors.
abstract: Numerous studies have shown that alcohol increases aggression. In this article it is proposed that the link between alcohol and aggression is so strong that mere exposure to alcohol-related cues will automatically activate aggressive thoughts and behaviors. Two experiments tested this automaticity theory of alcohol-related aggression. In Experiment 1, participants exposed to alcohol- or weapon-related primes made faster lexical decisions about aggression-related words than did participants exposed to neutral primes. In Experiment 2, participants exposed to alcohol- or aggression-related subliminal primes were more aggressive toward the experimenter than were participants exposed to neutral subliminal primes. In both experiments, the effects of alcohol-related cues were as strong as the effect of aggression-related cues on aggressive thoughts and behaviors. People do not need to drink a drop of alcohol to become aggressive; exposure to alcohol cues is enough to automatically increase aggression.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Inter-Universitaire de Psychologie, University of Grenoble, Grenoble, France. baptiste.subra@gmail.com
authors.forename: Baptiste
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Subra
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Muller
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bègue
authors.forename: Brad J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Bushman
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Delmas
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000374:Aggression / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003463:Cues; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011930:Reaction Time; D012919:Social Behavior; D013360:Subliminal Stimulation; D013850:Thinking; D054041:Weapons; D055815:Young Adult