Preference for alcohol consumption as a function of amount and delay of alternative reward.

Sixty male normal drinkers were placed in a choice situation with two behavioral alternatives; one produced access to alcohol consumption, and one produced access to opportunities to win money on a probabilistic dice throw task. Any alcohol chosen was available during the session, and constraints on access to it were held constant. Two independent variables involving constraints on access to money were manipulated in a 2?×?3 factorial design: (a) amount of money available, which was determined by the probability of a "win" on the dice throw task (either .17 or .83), and (b) delay in receipt of any money won (either no delay, a 2-week delay, or an 8-week delay). The main dependent measures were the proportion of responses allocated to gain access to alcohol, response-outcome expectancies, and mood state. Subjects' preferences for alcohol varied positively with delay but were not significantly influenced by the money-amount manipulation. Subjects' choice behavior was not related to mood states or expectations. The results partially replicate those of an earlier experiment and lend credence to a formulation of the determinants of drinking behavior based on behavioral theories of choice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)