Three experiments were conducted to examine the effects of alcohol consumption on the self-aware state. Based on a model proposed by Hull (1981). it was predicted that alcohol would reduce self-awareness, In Experiment I. subjects consumed either alcohol or tonic and then gave short speeches about themselves. All subjects expected to consume alcohoL The speeches were coded for frequency of selffocused statements using the Exner (1 Li73) coding scheme. In support of predictions. alcohol reduced the relative frequency of self-focused statements. Experiment 2 replicated this finding and demonstrated that it did not depend on subjects' expectancies regarding the beverage they consumed. Experiment :1 investigated a potential mechanism for these effects. Alcohol was proposed to reduce selfawareness by interfering with the encoding of self-relevant infom1ation. Using an incidental-memory paradigm, it was found that high-plivate-self-conscious subjects recalled more self-relevant words than did low-self-conscious subjects under placebo conditions. thus replicating the findings of Hull and Levy (1979). In support of predictions. alcohol eliminated differences between high-and low-selfconscious individuals by reducing self-relevant-word recall among high-self-conscious subjects. Discussion centers on the implicCl'ions of these findings for potential methods of overcoming the maladaptive behavior"l consequences of alcohol consumption. According to a recent model of some of the causes and effects of alcohol consumption (Hull, 1981). alcohol interferes with cognitive processes fundamental to a state of selfawareness. By inhibiting self-relevant encoding processes, the model proposes alcohol 10 have the opposite behavioral effects of manipulations that increase self-awareness. Insofar as self-awareness is associated with neg

We extended the scope of recent studies in which self-awareness and perspective taking have been used as predictors of social competence or adjustment: We analyzed their influence on the satisfaction experienced in monogamous, heterosexual relationships. Members of 131 couples answered questions concerning themselves and their relationships. We predicted that individual differences in private self-consciousness would be positively related to relationship satisfaction because of the greater self-disclosure resulting from that heightened self-attention. Second, we predicted that individual differences in perspective taking would foster relationship satisfaction, independent of any influence of self-disclosure. Both expectations were confirmed. Scores on the private self-consciousness scale were predictive of reported self-disclosure, and self-disclosure was predictive of satisfaction in the relationship. Furthermore, once the influence of self-disclosure was removed, no effect of self-consciousness on satisfaction remained. In contrast, after disclosure was controlled, perspective-taking scores were significantly related to satisfaction and were in fact unrelated to disclosure at all. These findings indicate that two personality characteristics having to do with habitual attention to behavioral tendencies, to emotions, and to motivations significantly enhance the quality of close heterosexual relationships in different ways. Results are discussed in terms of current theory in the related fields.

An experiment was conducted to test the proposition that alcohol is consumed as a function of the quality of past performances and the individual's level of private self-consciousness. One hundred and twenty male subjects were randomly given success or failure feedback on an intellectual task. They then participated in a separate "wine-tasting" experiment in which they were allowed to regulate alcohol consumption. As predicted, high self-conscious subjects who had received failure feedback drank significantly more wine than did high self-conscious subjects who received success feedback. Consumption by low self-conscious subjects fell between these extremes and did not vary as a function of success and failure. Additional data indicated that these results were mediated by differential sensitivity to the positive or negative implications of success/failure by high and low self-conscious subjects. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for theoretical accounts of the psychological antecedents of alcohol consumption.

We conducted two studies to test the applicability of a recently proposed self-awareness model of alcohol consumption to patterns of alcohol use outside of the laboratory. In both studies, we predicted that alcohol use would be a joint function of private self-consciousness and personal success or failure. High self-conscious individuals were predicted to drink following personal failure and avoid drinking following personal success in an attempt to control their sensitivity to the self-relevant implications of such events. Consumption by low self-conscious individuals was predicted to be relatively independent of self-relevant events. These predictions were supported in a longitudinal study of relapse following alcoholic detoxification. They were then replicated in a study of adolescent alcohol use and shown to be relatively independent of other significant environmental and behavioral predictors of consumption. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for theories of self-awareness and alcohol use.

Three studies explored the relative importance of various manipulations of the social environment on appreciation of humor in college males. The experimental situations included hostility-arousal, individual versus group administration, and a laughing versus non-laughing confederate (CE). Overt laughter was more responsive to manipulation than was rating of jokes; however, both responses were clearly influenced. Group administration and laughter by the CE resulted in social facilitation of responsiveness to humor, while hostility-arousal and CE's embarrassment at sex jokes markedly decreased Ss' assessed behavior.