| Abstract: | Forty-eight male social drinkers participated in a study designed to test the interaction between prevailing mood and alcohol on aggressive behavior in a 2 × 3 factorial design. Half of the subjects underwent a positive mood-induction procedure, while the other half underwent a negative mood-induction procedure. Within each of these conditions, one-third of the subjects received 1.32 ml/kg of 95% ethanol, one-third received placebo drinks, and the rest remained sober. Aggression was measured using a modified version of the Buss aggression machine. Results indicated that subjects receiving alcohol were significantly more aggressive than placebo or sober subjects. The mood-induction procedure, while significantly altering affect, did not affect aggressive responding. These findings are discussed with respect to levels of blood-alcohol and alcohol-aggression theories. |
