Alcohol in a Social Context: Findings From Event‐Contingent Recording Studies of Everyday Social Interactions

Abstract

Alcohol consumption in a social context may have predominantly positive effects, an observation which is at odds with most alcohol-induced aggression experiments performed in laboratory settings. Drinking in everyday life may be less likely to result in aggression because, unlike in most laboratory experiments, individuals can choose among a variety of behaviors in response to social cues and the alcohol dose consumed is usually lower. Event-contingent recording provides a new approach for the study of alcohol's effects in everyday life and the conditions in which alcohol might result in interpersonal aggression.