Alcohol and Aggression: A Test of the Attention-Allocation Model
Psychological Science 18 (7), 649–655.



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.


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