Monday, May 5, 2025
5/5/2025
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN ALCOHOL-RELATED AGGRESSION - DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The purpose of this revised application is to support an ongoing program of research aimed at determining in whom and in what contexts acute alcohol consumption facilitates aggressive behavior. The overarching aim of this, 2-study, laboratory project is to elucidate the influence of 3 individual difference variables [1) beliefs about aggression, 2) beliefs about alcohol, and 3) dispositional empathy] and 2 contextual variables [1) induced empathy and 2) provocation] on the alcohol-aggression relation in men-and women. STUDY 1 will examine the impact of 3 individual difference variables (i.e., beliefs about aggression, beliefs about alcohol, and dispositional empathy) on intoxicated aggression under varying levels of contextual provocation (low and high). Subjects will be 230 adult male and female social drinkers, randomly assigned to either an Alcohol or a Placebo group. Beliefs about aggression, beliefs about alcohol, and dispositional empathy will be measured using a battery of validated self-report inventories. Aggression will be measured using a modified version of the well-established Taylor Aggression Paradigm (TAP; Taylor, 1967) in which subjects administer and receive mild electric shocks to/from a fictitious opponent (actually a computer program) under the guise of a competitive reaction-time task. Aggression is operationalized as the intensity of shock administered by the subject to the fictitious opponent. STUDY 2 will examine the impact of dispositional (individual difference) and induced (contextual) empathy on the alcohol-aggression relation under varying levels of provocation (low and high). Subjects will be 320 adult male and female social drinkers, randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups" 1) Alcohol/Empathy-Induction, 2) Alcohol/No Empathy-Induction, 3) Placebo/Empathy-Induction, or 4) Placebo/No Empathy- Induction. Empathy will be induced using well-validated empathy-induction techniques. Aggression will be measured using the TAP.
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