Forty-eight undergraduate male social drinkers were randomly assigned to one of two expectancy set conditions in which they were led to believe that the beverage they were administered contained alcohol or no alcohol. For half of the subjects in each expectancy condition, the beverage was an alcoholic malt liquor; the others drank a nonalcoholic malt beverage. After their drinks, changes in penile tumescence in response to normal and deviant tape recordings and to self-generated fantasy were measured physiologically by a mercuryin-rubber strain gauge. The cognitive set (expectancy) significantly increased penile tumescence in response to the various erotic recordings. Alcohol did not significantly influence levels of sexual arousal. Subjects who believed they had consumed an alcoholic beverage evidenced significantly more arousal to the forcible rape recording and to the sadistic stimuli than subjects who believed that they had consumed a nonalcoholic beverage, regardless of the actual contents of the beverage. The cognitive set, as well as the alcohol, significantly influenced several adjunctive measures of arousal, including heart rate, skin temperature, and subjective reports of sexual arousal. Self-report measures of sexual arousal were positively correlated with penile tumescence.An association between alcohol and serious criminal offense is often assumed (Fink, 1938;McGeorge, 1963). In particular, recent investigators suggest a direct relation between alcohol ingestion and aggressive sexual offenses such as forcible rape (Amir, 1971; Gebhard, Gagnon, Pomeroy, & Christenson, 196S;Rada, 1975). Gebhard et al. (1965) interviewed 1,356 white males who had been convicted of one or more sexual offenses. They reported that heterosexual contact accompanied by force or threat with females over age 16 was in sig-The authors express appreciation to Everett Smith, William Hawkins, Shirley Justice, and Betty Catoe for their conscientious assistance in conducting the study. The theoretical contributions of G. Terence Wilson are also gratefully acknowledged. The authors also thank the Hecht Distributing Company, Norfolk, Virginia, for providing the experimental beverages.Requests for reprints should be sent to

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Thirty-three non-psychotic, non-suicidal women (mean age 35.1 years) who scored between 15 and31 on the Beck Depression Inventory and whose depression was situationally related were assigned to either six week cognitive, assertive or insight-oriented group therapy. Subjects were administered a standardized interview, the Beck Depression Inventory, Rathus Assertiveness Schedule, Personality Data Form, and four tape recorded scenes requiring an assertive response before and after the groups and at a two month follow-up. Results showed all groups improved significantly in depression (p < .001), rationality (p < .001), and assertiveness (p < .001). Assertive and insight groups improved significantly more in rationality regarding acceptance than the cognitive group (p < .05). Atfollow-up, none of the assertive group, 18% of the cognitive group and 45% of the insight group had sought further treatment. Additionally, the assertive group was significantly more rational regarding frustrating events and self worth (p < .05). The assertive and insight groups made significantly more gains and were more assertive than the cognitive group (p