The effects of alcohol and persuasive social pressure on human physical aggression

Abstract

Intoxicated and nonintoxicated subjects were given the opportunity to administer electric shocks to a nonprovocative opponent within the context of a competitive reaction time task. Social pressure was used to persuade subjects to administer a highly noxious electric shock to the passive opponent. The social pressure manipulation significantly increased the intoxicated subjects' use of the highly noxious shock. Non‐intoxicated subjects did not evidence an appreciable increase in the use of the intense shock option.

A message in a bottle: Extrapharmacological effects of alcohol on aggression

“…Two important situational factors increasing intoxicated aggression were held constant: provocation (Lipsey et al, 1997;Ito, Miller & Pollock, 1994) and social pressure to vengeance (Taylor & Sears, 1988;Tedeschi & Felson, 1994). We studied participants' aggressive reaction by measuring the quantity of aversive substance (salt and hot sauce) they put in the food that the person who had provoked them earlier would eat later, (Lieberman et al, 1999).…”

“…Third, the likelihood of an aggressive response was maximized due to situational features such as the confederate's highly provocative behavior and strengthened by the encouragement of retaliation expressed by the witness of the provocation (Borden & Taylor, 1973;Taylor & Sears, 1988). According to studies reviewed by Hull and Van Treuren (1986), when the cues to behave in a certain way are very explicit, sober and intoxicated individuals tend to act similarly (see also Steele and Southwick, 1985).…”

Alcohol Consumption-Related Antigay Aggression: Theoretical Considerations for Individual- and Societal-Level Interventions

“…For example, alcohol facilitates physical aggression to a greater extent among individuals who report higher levels of dispositional aggressivity (Bailey & Taylor, 1991; Heyman, Jouriles, & O’Leary, 1995), irritability (Giancola, 2002), trait anger (Parrott & Zeichner, 2002), permissive beliefs about aggression (Leonard & Senchak, 1993), high quantity drinking (Parrott & Giancola, 2006), sensation seeking (Cheong & Nagoshi, 1999), as well as lower levels of anger control (Parrott & Giancola, 2004), dispositional empathy (Giancola, 2003), and executive cognitive functioning (Giancola, 2004). Likewise, key situational risk factors for intoxicated physical aggression have been identified, including provocation (Taylor, Schmutte, Leonard, & Cranston, 1979), threat (Leonard, 1989; Taylor, Gammon, & Capasso, 1976), frustration (Gustafson, 1985), social pressure to behave aggressively (Taylor & Sears, 1988), malicious intent (Zeichner & Pihl, 1980), and cues of victim suffering (Schmutte & Taylor, 1980). Collectively, these individual and situational risk factors constitute an empirical foundation upon which preventative and treatment interventions may develop.…”

Aggressive Personality: The Use of a New Self-Report Measure Built from Justification Mechanisms

“…Taylor and colleagues have found that individuals who receive alcohol are more aggressive than those who receive a placebo or a nonalcoholic beverage (Bailey & Taylor, 1991;Chermack & Taylor, 1995;Gantner & Taylor, 1992;Laplace, Chermack, & Taylor, 1994;Shuntich & Taylor, 1972;Taylor & Gammon, 1975Taylor, Gammon, & Capasso, 1976;Taylor, Schmutte, Leonard, & Cranston, 1979;Taylor & Sears, 1988). Others have also found that subjects receiving alcohol behave in a more aggressive manner as evidenced by administering higher levels of shock and for longer time durations compared to those receiving nonalcoholic or placebo beverages (Giancola & Zeichner, 1997Gustafson, 1985;Pihl & Zacchia, 1986;Zeichner, Allen, Giancola, & Lating, 1994;Zeichner, Giancola, & Allen, 1995;Zeichner & Pihl, 1979Zeichner, Pihl, Niaura, & Zacchia, 1982).…”

“…Despite these pharmacological effects, alcohol does not increase aggression in all situations or in all persons. For instance, situational factors such as social pressure (Taylor & Sears, 1988), provocation (Giancola et al, 2002), expectancy belief that alcohol causes aggression (Brown, Goldman, Inn, & Anderson, 1980;Crawford, 1984aCrawford, , 1984b, and drinking setting (Tremblay, Graham, & Wells, 2008) have all been shown to moderate the alcohol-aggression link. Moreover, theorists have similarly emphasized the moderating role of individual differences, particularly personality traits, in the alcohol-aggression relation (Chermack & Giancola, 1997).…”