Alcohol and Aggression: Theories and Mechanisms

Alcohol-Related Violence: Prevention and Treatment

Volumn , Issue , 2012, Pages 35-59

  Giancola, Peter R ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY   (United States)

Author keywords

Alcohol and aggression, theories and mechanisms; Alcohol and the Jekyll and Hyde effect; Alcohol intoxication and behavioral disinhibition; AMM myopic effect on attention, intoxication impairing cognitive; AMM theoretical framework in alcohol related aggression; Cognitive models of alcohol related aggression; Disinhibition model and aggression, expectancy model as the opposite; Etiology, or underlying mechanisms, of alcohol related violence; Inhibition conflict presence, facilitating alcohol related aggression; Understanding the problem

Indexed keywords

EID: 84886342081     PISSN: None     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book    
DOI: 10.1002/9781118411094.ch3     Document Type: Chapter

References (93)

1. Abbey, A. (2002) Alcohol-related sexual assault: A common problem among college students. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, (Suppl 14), 118-128.
2. Aviles, F., Earleywine, M., Pollock, V. et al. (2005) Alcohol's effect on triggered displaced aggression. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 19, 108-111.
3. Bailey, D.S., Leonard, K.E., Cranston, J.W., and Taylor, S.P. (1983) Effects of alcohol and self-awareness on human physical aggression. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 9, 289-295.
4. Berkowitz, L. (1990) On the formation and regulation of anger and aggression: A cognitive-neoassociationistic analysis. American Psychologist, 45, 494-503.
5. Berkowitz, L. (1993) Aggression: Its Causes, Consequences, and Control. New York : McGraw Hill.
6. Berman, M., Bradley, T., Fanning, J., and McCloskey, M. (2009) Self-focused attention reduces self-injurious behavior in alcohol-intoxicated men. Substance Use and Misuse, 44, 1280-1297.
7. Bjorkqvist, K., Osterman, K., and Kaukiainen, A. (2000) Social intelligence-empathy = aggression? Aggression and Violent Behavior, 5, 191-200.
8. Borders, A. and Giancola, P.R. (2011) Trait and state hostile rumination facilitate alcohol-related aggression. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 72, 545-554.
9. Borders, A., Smucker-Barnwell, S., and Earleywine, M. (2007) Alcohol-aggression expectancies and dispositional rumination moderate the effect of alcohol consumption on alcohol-related aggression and hostility. Aggressive Behavior, 33, 327-338.
10. Boyatzis, R. (1975) The predisposition toward alcohol-related interpersonal aggression in men. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 36, 1196-1207.
11. Bushman, B. (1993) Human aggression while under the influence of alcohol and other drugs: An integrative research review. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2, 148-152.
12. Bushman, B. (1997) Effects of alcohol on human aggression: Validity of proposed explanations. In M. Galanter (ed.), Recent Developments in Alcoholism, Volume 13: Alcohol and Violence (pp. 227-243). New York : Plenum Press.
13. Bushman, B. and Cooper, H. (1990) Effects of alcohol on human aggression: An integrative research review. Psychological Bulletin, 107, 341-354.
14. Bushman, B.J. (2002) Does venting anger feed or extinguish the flame? Catharsis, rumination, distraction, anger, and aggressive responding. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 724-731.
15. Bushman, B.J., Bonacci, A.M., Pedersen, W.C. et al. (2005) Chewing on it can chew you up: Effects of rumination on triggered displaced aggression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 969-983.
16. Carver, C.S. (1975) Physical aggression as a function of objective self-awareness and attitudes toward punishment. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 11, 510-519.
17. Carver, C.S. and Scheier, M.F. (1978) Self-focusing effects of dispositional self-consciousness, mirror presence, and audience presence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 324-322.
18. Carver, C.S. and Scheier, M.F. (1981) Attention and Self-Regulation: A Control-Theory Approach to Human Behavior. New York : Springer-Verlag.
19. Cheong, J. and Nagoshi, C. (1999) Effects of sensation seeking, instruction set, and alcohol/ placebo administration on aggressive behavior. Alcohol, 17, 81-86.
20. Chermack, S. and Taylor, S. (1995) Alcohol and human physical aggression: Pharmacological versus expectancy effects. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 56, 449-456.
21. Collins, J. (1988) Suggested explanatory frameworks to clarify the alcohol use/violence relationship. Contemporary Drug Problems, 15, 107-121.
22. Cowan, N. (1999) An embedded-processes model of working memory. In A. Miyake and P. Shah (eds), Models of Working Memory: Mechanisms of Active Maintenance and Executive Control (pp. 62-101). New York : Cambridge University Press.
23. Cowan, N. (2000) The magical number 4 in short-term memory: A reconsideration of mental storage capacity. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24, 87-185.
24. Denson, T.F., Aviles, F.E., Pollock, V.E. et al. (2008) The effects of alcohol and the salience of aggressive cues on triggered displaced aggression. Aggressive Behavior, 34, 25-33.
25. Dermen, K. and George, W. (1989) Alcohol expectancy and the relation between drinking and physical aggression. Journal of Psychology, 123, 153-161.
26. Duke, A.A., Giancola, P.R., Morris, D.H. et al. (2011) Alcohol dose and aggression: Another reason why drinking more is a bad idea. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 72, 34-43.
27. Duval, S. and Wicklund, R.A. (1972) A Theory of Objective Self-Awareness. New York : Academic Press.
28. Fishbein, D. (2003) Differential susceptibility to comorbid drug abuse and violence. Journal of Drug Issues, 28, 859-891.
29. Gallagher, K.E., Hudepohl, A.D., and Parrott, D.J. (2010) Power of being present: The role of mindfulness on the relation between men's alcohol use and sexual aggression toward intimate partners. Aggressive Behavior, 36, 405-413.
30. George, W. and Norris, J. (1991) Alcohol, disinhibition, sexual arousal, and deviant sexual behavior. Alcohol Health and Research World, 15, 133-138.
31. Giancola, P., Josephs, R., Parrott, D., and Duke, A. (2010) Alcohol myopia revisited: Clarifying aggression and other acts of disinhibition through a distorted lens. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5, 265-278.
32. Giancola, P.R. (2002) Irritability, acute alcohol consumption, and aggressive behavior in men and women. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 68, 263-274.
33. Giancola, P.R. (2003) The moderating effects of dispositional empathy on alcohol-related aggression in men and women. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 112, 275-281.
34. Giancola, P.R. (2004a) Executive functioning and alcohol-related aggression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 113, 541-555.
35. Giancola, P.R. (2004b) Difficult temperament, acute alcohol intoxication, and aggressive behavior. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 74, 135-145.
36. Giancola, P.R. (2006) The influence of subjective intoxication, breath alcohol concentration, and expectancies on the alcohol-aggression relation. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 30, 844-850.
37. Giancola, P.R. and Corman, M.D. (2007) Alcohol and aggression: A test of the attention-allocation model. Psychological Science, 18, 649-655.
38. Giancola, P.R., Duke, A.A., and Ritz, K.Z. (2011) Alcohol, violence, and the alcohol myopia model: Preliminary findings and implications for prevention. Addictive Behaviors, 36, 1019-1022.
39. Giancola, P.R., Godlaski, A.J., and Parrott, D.J. (2005) " So I can't blame the booze? " Dispositional aggressivity negates the moderating effects of expectancies on alcohol-related aggression. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 66, 815-824.
40. Graham, K. (1980) Theories of intoxicated aggression. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 12, 141-158.
41. Greenfeld, L. and Henneberg, M. (2001) Victim and offender self-reports of alcohol involvement in crime. Alcohol Research and Health, 25, 20-31.
42. Hayes, S.C., Strosahl, K., & Wilson, K.G. (1999) Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: An Experiential Approach to Behavior Change. New York : Guilford Press.
43. Heppner, W.L., Kernis, M.H., Lakey, C.E. et al. (2008) Mindfulness as a means of reducing aggressive behavior: Dispositional and situational evidence. Aggressive Behavior, 34, 486-496.
44. Homel, R., Carvolth, R., Hauritz, M. et al. (2004) Making licensed venues safer for patrons: What environmental factors should be the focus of interventions? Drug and Alcohol Review, 23, 19-29.
45. Hull, J. (1981) A self-awareness model of the causes and effects of alcohol consumption. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 90, 586-600.
46. Hull, J. and Bond, C. (1986) Social and behavioral consequences of alcohol consumption and expectancy: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 99, 347-360.
47. Hull, J.G., Levenson, R.W., Young, R.D., and Sher, K.J. (1983). Self-awareness-reducing effects of alcohol consumption. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 461-473.
48. Ito, T., Miller, N., and Pollock, V. (1996) Alcohol and aggression: A meta-analysis of the moderating effects of inhibitory cues, triggering events, and self-focused attention. Psychological Bulletin, 120, 60-82.
49. Josephs, R. and Steele, C. (1990) The two faces of alcohol myopia: Attentional mediation of psychological stress. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 99, 115-126.
50. Kabat-Zinn, J. (2003). Mindfulness-based interventions in context: Past, present, and future. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10, 144-156.
51. Kassel, J. and Shiffman, S. (1997) Attentional mediation of cigarette smoking's effect on anxiety. Health Psychology, 16, 359-368.
52. Kassel, J. and Unrod, M. (2000) Smoking, anxiety, and attention: Support for the role of nicotine in attentionally mediated anxiolysis. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 109, 161-166.
53. Lau, M., Pihl, R., and Peterson, J. (1995) Provocation, acute alcohol intoxication, cognitive performance, and aggression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 104, 150-155.
54. Leonard, K. (1989) The impact of explicit aggressive and implicit nonaggressive cues on aggression in intoxicated and sober males. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 15, 390-400.
55. Leonard, K. and Senchak, M. (1993) Alcohol and premarital aggression among newlywed couples. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, (Suppl 11), 96-108.
56. Leonard, K.E. (2002). Alcohol's role in domestic violence: A contributing cause or an excuse? Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 106 (S412), 9-14.
57. Leonard, K.E., Quigley, B.M., & Collins, R.L. (2002). Physical aggression in the lives of young adults-Prevalence, location, and severity among college and community samples. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 17, 533-550.
58. MacDonald, T., Fong, G., Zanna, M., and Martineau, A. (2000a) Alcohol myopia and condom use: Can alcohol intoxication be associated with more prudent behavior? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 605-619.
59. MacDonald, T., MacDonald, G., Zanna, M., and Fong, G. (2000b) Alcohol, sexual arousal, and intentions to use condoms in young men: Applying alcohol myopia theory to risky sexual behavior. Health Psychology, 19, 290-298.
60. MacDonald, T., Zanna, M., and Fong, G. (1995) Decision making in altered states: Effects of alcohol on attitudes toward drinking and driving. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 973-985.
61. Mann, T. and Ward, A. (2004) To eat or not to eat: Implications of the attentional myopia model for restrained eaters. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 113, 90-98.
62. Miller, P. and Eisenberg, N. (1988) The relation of empathy to aggressive and externalizing/ antisocial behavior. Psychological Bulletin, 102, 324-344.
63. Miller, T.R., Levy, D.T., Cohen, M.A., and Cox, K.L.C. (2006) Costs of alcohol and drug-involved crime. Prevention Science, 7, 333-342.
64. Murdoch, D., Pihl, R., and Ross, D. (1990) Alcohol and crimes of violence: Present issues. International Journal of the Addictions, 25, 1065-1081.
65. Murphy, C., Winters, J., O'Farrell, T. et al. (2005) Alcohol consumption and intimate partner violence by alcoholic men: Comparing violent and nonviolent conflicts. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 19, 35-42.
66. Noel, N.E., Maisto, S.A., Johnson, J.D., and Jackson, L.A. (2009) The effects of alcohol and cue salience on young men's acceptance of sexual aggression. Addictive Behaviors, 34, 386-394.
67. Nyaronga, D., Greenfield, T.K., and McDaniel, P.A. (2009) Drinking context and drinking problems among Black, White, and Hispanic men and women in the 1984, 1995, and 2005 U.S. National Alcohol Surveys. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 70, 16-26.
68. Parrott, D.J. and Giancola, P.R. (2004) A further examination of the relation between trait anger and alcohol-related aggression: The role of anger control. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 28, 855-864.
69. Parrott, D.J. and Zeichner, A. (2002) Effects of alcohol and trait anger on physical aggression. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 63, 196-204.
70. Pernanen, K. (1976) Alcohol and crimes of violence. In B. Kissin and H. Begleiter (eds), T he Biology of Alcoholism: Social Aspects of Alcoholism (Vol. 4, pp. 351-444). New York : Plenum Press.
71. Phillips, J.P. and Giancola, P.R. (2008) Experimentally-induced anxiety attenuates alcohol-related aggression in men. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 16, 43-56.
72. Pihl, R. and Peterson, J. (1995) Drugs and aggression: Correlations, crime and human manipulative studies and some proposed mechanisms. Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, 20, 141-149.
73. Pihl, R., Peterson, J., and Lau, M. (1993) A biosocial model of the alcohol-aggression relationship. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, (Suppl 11), 128-139.
74. Quigley, B., Corbett, A., and Tedeschi, J. (2002) Desired image of power, alcohol expectancies and alcohol related aggression. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 16, 318-324.
75. Quigley, B.M. and Leonard, K.E. (1999) Husband alcohol expectancies, drinking, and marital- conflict styles as predictors of severe marital violence among newlywed couples. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 13, 49-59.
76. Quigley, B.M. and Leonard, K.E. (2006) Alcohol expectancies and intoxicated aggression. Aggression and Violent Behavior: A Review Journal, 11, 484-496.
77. Sayette, M. (1999) Cognitive theory and research. In K. Leonard and H. Blane (eds), Psychological Theories of Drinking and Alcoholism (pp. 247-291). New York : Guilford Press.
78. Scheier, M.F., Fenigstein, A., and Buss, A.H. (1974) Self-awareness and physical aggression. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 10, 264-273.
79. Silvia, P.J. (2002) Self-awareness and emotional intensity. Cognition and Emotion, 16, 195-216.
80. Smucker-Barnwell, S., Borders, A., and Earleywine, M. (2006) Aggression expectancies and dispositional aggression moderate the relationship between alcohol consumption and alcohol related violence. Aggressive Behavior, 32, 517-525.
81. Steele, C. and Josephs, R. (1988) Drinking your troubles away II: An attention-allocation model of alcohol's effect on psychological stress. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 97, 196-205.
82. Steele, C. and Josephs, R. (1990) Alcohol myopia: Its prized and dangerous effects. American Psychologist, 45, 921-933.
83. Steele, C. and Southwick, L. (1985) Alcohol and social behavior I: The psychology of drunken excess. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 18-34.
84. Steele, C.M., Critchlow, B., and Liu, T.J. (1985) Alcohol and social behavior II: The helpful drunkard. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 35-46.
85. Taylor, S. and Leonard, K. (1983) Alcohol and human physical aggression. In R. Geen and E. Donnerstein (eds), Aggression: Theoretical and Empirical Reviews, Vol. 2 (pp. 77-101). New York : Academic Press.
86. Testa, M., Livingston, J., and Collins, L. (2000) The role of women's alcohol consumption in evaluation of vulnerability to sexual aggression. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 8, 185-191.
87. Ward, A. and Mann, T. (2000) Don't mind if I do: Disinhibited eating under cognitive load. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 753-763.
88. Ward, A., Mann, T., Westling, E.H. et al. (2008) Stepping up the pressure: Arousal can be associated with a reduction in male aggression. Aggressive Behavior, 34, 584-592.
89. Welte, J. and Wieczorek, W. (1999) Alcohol, intelligence and violence crime in young males. Journal of Substance Abuse, 10, 309-319.
90. Westling, E., Mann, T., and Ward, A. (2006) Self-control of smoking: When does narrowed attention help? Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 36, 2115-2133.
91. Wicklund, R.A. and Duval, T.S. (1971) Opinion change and performance facilitation as a result of objective self-awareness. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 7, 319-342.
92. Zeichner, A., Pihl, R., Niaura, R., and Zacchia, C. (1982) Attentional processes in alcohol-mediated aggression. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 43, 714-723.
93. Zhang, L., Wieczorek, W., and Welte, J. (1997) The nexus between alcohol and violent crime. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 21 (7), 1264-1271.