Drinking your troubles away: II. An attention-allocation model of alcohol's effect on psychological stress.

Two experiments examined an attention-allocation model of alcohol's effect on psychological stress (Steele, Southwick, and Pagano, 1986). On the basis of this model, it was hypothesized that alcohol's impairment of information processing, coupled with the demands of distracting activity, would reduce anxiety over an upcoming stressful event by making it harder to allocate attention to thoughts about the event. The distracting activity in this experiment, without intoxication, was not expected to reduce anxiety. The present experiments tested this reasoning by crossing whether or not Ss had received alcohol (dose of 1 ml/kg) with whether they rated art slides or did nothing during the period prior to an expected stressful speech. Being intoxicated and rating slides reduced Ss' anxiety over the speech significantly more than any other condition in both experiments; being intoxicated and doing nothing significantly increased Ss' anxiety compared with the other conditions, but only when the data from both experiments were combined. Activity alone had no anxiety-reducing effect. Results are discussed as (a) supporting the role of cognitive impairment and attention allocation in mediating alcohol's anxiety-reducing effects, (b) clarifying conditions under which alcohol can increase anxiety, and (c) demonstrating the importance of activity in mediating the variability of alcohol's tension-reducing effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Drinking your troubles away: The role of activity in mediating alcohol's reduction of psychological stress.

Two experiments with 133 undergraduates tested the hypothesis that alcohol's reduction of psychological stress depends to an important degree on whether the drinker is also engaged in distracting activity. In Study 1, the factor of whether Ss had received alcohol (1 mg/kg) was crossed, in a 2?×?2 design, with the factor of whether they rated pleasant art slides or did nothing during a period that immediately followed their having received negative feedback on an IQ test (taken earlier). As predicted, a significant interaction effect showed that mood improvement during this recovery period was greatest in the alcohol/slides condition—the only condition in which absolute mood improvement reached significance. Study 2 replicated this effect, ruling out several alternative explanations of the alcohol–activity effect. The implication that alcohol's reduction of psychological stress stems largely from its impairment of cognitive processes that, in conjunction with distracting activity, blocks out stress-inducing thoughts is discussed. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dissonance arousal: Physiological evidence.

Two studies examined whether cognitive dissonance is accompanied by physiological arousal. In Exp I, a standard induced-compliance paradigm was replicated and found to produce the expected pattern of attitude change in 30 male undergraduates. In Exp II, physiological recordings were obtained from 30 additional male undergraduates within the same paradigm. Ss who wrote counterattitudinal essays under high-choice conditions displayed significantly more nonspecific skin conductance responses than other Ss, but they did not change their attitudes. Results support dissonance as an arousal process. Results also indicate that the Ss misattributed their arousal to the physiological recording device. Findings are discussed in terms of dissonance theory, misattribution phenomena, and social psychophysiological research methods. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dissonance processes as self-affirmation.

Tested the hypothesis that an experience that simply affirms a valued aspect of the self can eliminate dissonance and its accompanying cognitive changes. Three experiments were conducted using the conventional forced-compliance procedure. In Study 1, some of the 76 college student Ss were allowed to affirm an important, self-relevant value (by completing a self-relevant value scale) immediately after having written unrelated dissonant essays and prior to recording their attitudes on the postmeasure. Other Ss underwent an identical procedure but were selected so that the value affirmed by the scale was not part of their self-concept. The value scale eliminated dissonance-reducing attitude change among Ss for whom it was self-relevant but not among Ss for whom it was not self-relevant. This occurred even though the value scale could not resolve or reduce the objective importance of the dissonance-provoking inconsistency. Study 2, conducted with 24 Ss with a strong economic and political value orientation, showed that the self-affirmation effect was strong enough to prevent the reinstatement of dissonance. Study 3, testing generalizability with 24 Ss, replicated the effect by using a different attitude issue, a different value for affirmation, and a different measure of dissonance reduction. Results imply that a need for psychological consistency is not part of dissonance motivation and that salient, self-affirming cognitions may help objectify reactions to self-threatening information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dissonance, awareness, and motivation.

The problems were whether dissonance can be aroused between 2 cognitions without awareness of 1 of them and whether change in consummatory strength of a motive can be an avenue of dissonance reduction. 40 high school Ss were hypnotized to a depth adequate for assuring amnesia for suggestions. ? ate sauce that was very thirst arousing (HT), and ?, sauce that aroused little thirst (LT). Placed under hypnosis again, the 20 experimental Ss were told that, on awaking, they would feel water bloated, while the control Ss were told they would feel fatigued. Ss were awakened and offered water. HT experimental Ss drank less water than LT experimental Ss, the reverse of the control group effect (interaction p     

Drinking to regulate positive and negative emotions: A motivational model of alcohol use.

The present study proposed and tested a motivational model of alcohol use in which people are hypothesized to use alcohol to regulate both positive and negative emotions. Two central premises underpin this model: (a) that enhancement and coping motives for alcohol use are proximal determinants of alcohol use and abuse through which the influence of expectancies, emotions, and other individual differences are mediated and (b) that enhancement and coping motives represent phenomenologically distinct behaviors having both unique antecedents and consequences. This model was tested in 2 random samples (1 of adults, 1 of adolescents) using a combination of moderated regression and path analysis corrected for measurement error. Results revealed strong support for the hypothesized model in both samples and indicate the importance of distinguishing psychological motives for alcohol use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Drinking to cope and alcohol use and abuse in unipolar depression: A 10-year model.

This study examined drinking to cope with distress and drinking behavior in a baseline sample of 412 unipolar depressed patients assessed 4 times over a 10-year period. Baseline drinking to cope operated prospectively as a risk factor for more alcohol consumption at 1-, 4, and 10-year follow-ups and for more drinking problems at 1- and 4-year follow-ups. Findings elucidate a key mechanism in this process by showing that drinking to cope strengthened the link between depressive symptoms and drinking behavior. Individuals who had a stronger propensity to drink to cope at baseline showed a stronger connection between depressive symptoms and both alcohol consumption and drinking problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive Dissonance in Groups: The Consequences of Disagreement.

As L. Festinger (1957) argued, the social group is a source of cognitive dissonance as well as a vehicle for reducing it. That is, disagreement from others in a group generates dissonance, and subsequent movement toward group consensus reduces this negative tension. The authors conducted 3 studies to demonstrate group-induced dissonance. In the first, students in a group with others who ostensibly disagreed with them experienced greater dissonance discomfort than those in a group with others who agreed. Study 2 demonstrated that standard moderators of dissonance in past research-lack of choice and opportunity to self-affirm, similarly reduced dissonance discomfort generated by group disagreement. In Study 3, the dissonance induced by group disagreement was reduced through a variety of interpersonal strategies to achieve consensus, including persuading others, changing one's own position, and joining an attitudinally congenial group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Daily interpersonal experiences, context, and alcohol consumption: Crying in your beer and toasting good times.

The authors explored a multidimensional view of drinking, whereby social and solitary drinking represent distinct behaviors associated with positive and negative experiences, respectively. Using daily diary methodology and multilevel analytic strategy, the authors examined, over 30 days, the within-person association of negative and positive experiences and alcohol consumption in different contexts and focused on interpersonal experiences. On days with more negative interpersonal experiences, participants engaged in more solitary drinking (i.e., drinking at home and alone), whereas on days with more positive interpersonal experiences they drank more in social contexts. The authors also demonstrated that individuals high on neuroticism drank more in solitary contexts on days with more negative interpersonal experiences, relative to those with lower neuroticism. These findings lend support to models linking daily drinking motivation and context-dependent drinking behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dissonance and humor: Evidence for the undifferentiated nature of dissonance arousal.

33 undergraduates were committed to performing a counterattitudinal behavior under conditions of high or low choice. Thereafter, the order of presentation of two potential sources of arousal was manipulated. Some Ss first watched and rated a cartoon and then completed a posttreatment attitude measure. Other Ss first completed the attitude measure and then viewed the cartoon. It was thought that the presentation of the attitude measure first would lead Ss to attribute any arousal they might be experiencing to their counterattitudinal behavior and hence to change their attitudes. Analogously, presentation of the cartoon first was predicted to foster an interpretation of any arousal as a humorous reaction to the cartoon. The attitude and humor ratings of high-choice Ss were more affected by the order manipulation than the ratings of low-choice Ss. It is suggested that the arousal created by an induced compliance manipulation may be a general and undifferentiated state that can be attributed to any plausible source. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Wishing away history.

Responds to the comment by M. F. Hoyt (see record 2001-18061-014) on the article by P. Gilford and P. Cushman (see record 2000-05933-002). It is argued that Hoyt did not grasp the synchronistic connection between managed care's practices and its implications for current understandings of human being. The authors believe that either Hoyt did not fully understand their concerns or he is unable to apply them to his own theory. It is maintained that Hoyt's comments demonstrate how difficult it is for psychologists to think historically and critically about their practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dissonance and healthy weight eating disorder prevention programs: A randomized efficacy trial.

In this trial, adolescent girls with body dissatisfaction (N = 481, M age = 17 years) were randomized to an eating disorder prevention program involving dissonance-inducing activities that reduce thin-ideal internalization, a prevention program promoting healthy weight management, an expressive writing control condition, or an assessment-only control condition. Dissonance participants showed significantly greater reductions in eating disorder risk factors and bulimic symptoms than healthy weight, expressive writing, and assessment-only participants, and healthy weight participants showed significantly greater reductions in risk factors and symptoms than expressive writing and assessment-only participants from pretest to posttest. Although these effects faded over 6-month and 12-month follow-ups, dissonance and healthy weight participants showed significantly lower binge eating and obesity onset and reduced service utilization through 12-month follow-up, suggesting that both interventions have public health potential. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measuring motivations for intercollegiate athlete alcohol use: A confirmatory factor analysis of the Drinking Motives Measure.

This study examined the psychometric properties of the Drinking Motives Measure (DMM) on a sample of 227 collegiate athletes. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the 4-factor structure of the DMM provided a better fit than either 2- or 1-factor models, but the overall fit of the 4-factor model was moderate at best. A revised 3-factor model consistent with prior research (M. L. Cooper, M. Russell, J. B. Skinner, & M. Windle, 1992) provided the best fit. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that the 3 DMM factors included in the revised model accounted for 17%-21% of the unique variance on alcohol consumption variables. Results provide preliminary evidence supporting the internal consistency, construct validity, and convergent validity of the revised 3-factor DMM with collegiate athletes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Drinking and desired self-images: Path models of self-image goals, coping motives, heavy-episodic drinking, and alcohol problems.

Coping motives for drinking initiate alcohol-related problems. Interpersonal goals, which powerfully influence affect, could provide a starting point for this relation. Here we tested effects of self-image goals (which aim to construct and defend desired self-views) and compassionate goals (which aim to support others) on heavy-episodic drinking and alcohol-related problems. Undergraduate drinkers (N=258) completed measures of self-image and compassionate goals in academics and friendships, coping and enhancement drinking motives, heavy-episodic drinking, and alcohol-related problems in a cross-sectional design. As predicted, self-image goals, but not compassionate goals, positively related to alcohol-related problems. Path models showed that self-image goals relate to coping motives, but not enhancement motives; coping motives then relate to heavy-episodic drinking, which in turn relate to alcohol-related problems. Self-image goals remained a significant predictor in the final model, which accounted for 34% of the variance in alcohol-related problems. These findings indicate that self-image goals contribute to alcohol-related problems in college students both independently and through coping motives. Interventions can center on reducing self-image goals and their attendant negative affect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Move your body tone your mood: Book review.

The reviewer states that this book (K. F. Hays [2002]; see record 2002-02783-000) presents information on exercise as a therapy alternative, some information on the benefits of exercise, anecdotes based on stories of other people's exercise (and sometimes therapy) experiences, and many "self-help" exercises. The literature base for the book draws on exercise psychology, health psychology, and therapeutic practice. The book has a heavy personal flavor. The author is clearly giving her own best advice on how to incorporate exercise into the readers' lifestyle in order to achieve the physical benefits as well as some important psychological outcomes. This book would be of interest to counselors who wish to provide exercise advice to clients displaying a variety of psychological challenges. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anticipating one's troubles: The costs and benefits of negative expectations.

Although negative expectations may have the benefit of softening the blow when a negative event occurs, they also have the cost of making people feel worse while they are waiting for that event to happen. Three studies suggest that the cost of negative expectations is greater than the benefit. In 2 laboratory experiments and a field study, people felt worse when they were expecting a negative than a positive event; but once the event occurred, their prior expectations had no measurable influence on how they felt. These results suggest that anticipating one's troubles may be a poor strategy for maximizing positive affect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the motivational nature of cognitive dissonance: Dissonance as psychological discomfort.

Most empirical research investigating the motivational properties of cognitive dissonance has focused on the arousal component of dissonance rather than on the psychological component explicitly delineated by L. Festinger (1957). In 2 induced-compliance experiments involving a total of 112 undergraduates, a self-report measure of affect was used to demonstrate that dissonance was experienced as psychological discomfort and that this psychological discomfort was alleviated on implementation of a dissonance-reduction strategy, attitude change. Exp 1 yielded supporting evidence for both of these propositions. Exp 2 replicated the 1st experiment and ruled out a self-perception-based alternative explanation for the dissonance-reduction findings in Exp 1. Results support Festinger's conceptualization of cognitive dissonance as a fundamentally motivational state. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dissonance reduction in the context of group membership: The role of metaconsistency.

Recent work has established that groups can reduce dissonance by providing consonant cognitions, normative support, or an opportunity to diffuse responsibility for counterattitudinal behavior. Adopting a social identity framework, the current research comprised 2 studies examining metaconsistency, which was proposed to underlie these disparate explanations for the effect of social support. In Study 1 (N = 121), participants performed a counterattitudinal behavior with or without attitude and behavior support. As expected, congruence between the participants’ attitude–behavior consistency and another’s attitude–behavior consistency reduced attitude change. Study 2 (N = 69) replicated the results of Study 1; in addition, metaconsistency influenced participants’ perceptions of their own attitude–behavior consistency. The implications of metaconsistency for other contemporary perspectives of dissonance theory are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)