Effects of alcohol intoxication on social inferences.

The theory of "alcohol myopia" (C. M. Steele & R. A. Josephs, 1990) suggests that an intoxicated person is disproportionately influenced by immediate, superficial aspects of experience and that effortful, controlled cognitive processing is impaired. The present research examined the effects of alcohol intoxication on social inferences, which refer to perceived reasons, causes, and explanations of events. When asked to focus on the dispositions of others, intoxicated participants tended to exaggerate the extent to which dispositions were influencing behaviors. When asked to focus on the situational conditions in which a behavior took place, intoxicated participants tended to exaggerate the importance of situational influences. The results are consistent with both recent models of social inference and the theory of alcohol myopia.

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes