Studies show strong association between
anger & drinking but to date, there is no
laboratory support for this hypothesis
30 participants were randomly assigned,
aged 21-30 on one of two conditions.
› 1. Provocation group
› 2. Non-Provocation group
Purpose
› The purpose of the present study was to
examine the effect of “female specific”
anger provocation on alcohol consumption
by young adult women.
Anger management is considered a key
component of alcohol treatment
There is evidence that the association
between anger and drinking is stronger
for women than men
Women are more likely than men to
report the use of alcohol to relieve
several emotional states, including anger
Related Studies
› Only one prior lab study that specifically tests
the effects of anger on alcohol consumption
Participants
› 30 women from southeastern USA city
› Avg. age: 22.5 years
› 2 participants excluded
One detected the deception
The other because she qualified for alcohol
dependence diagnosis through self-report
Materials
› Self assessment of drinking in the past 90
days with an average of 21 drinking days
› Used the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist
– Revised to assess emotion
Uses 130 adjectives to assess hostility, anxiety,
depression, and positive affect
› Used 7 point feeling thermometer given
during initial info gathering and after
experimental manipulation
Following the taste task, participants also
took a 120 Alcohol Expectancy
questionnaire, which is a widely used
and empirically validated measure of
alcohol expectancies
Recruitment › Advertisements in local businesses, the
newspaper, and flyers around campus were used to recruit the participants.
› A chance at a $250 prize was given to the participants for volunteering to be in the study.
› The participants were all over 21 years of age, in good health, and not pregnant.
› Participants had to be drug free for 24 hours before the study, abstain from tobacco for 30 minutes before, and had to have no alcohol in their system either.
Initial Data Collection
› When the participants arrived at the study, a
confederate arrived pretending to be a
second subject in the study
› The participant and confederate were
seated in a room across from each other
with the experimenter behind a one-way
window.
› All entering participants had answered the
MAACL-R and feeling thermometer and had
a BAC of zero before the experiment had
started.
Anger Provocation Manipulation
› Provocation (15 participants) vs. Non
Provocation (15 participants)
› Must solve anagrams within a given time frame of 8 minutes
› Participants motivated by an attractive award (in this case the chance to win $250)
› Anger was induced through frustration
Non Provocation
› Participants given simple solvable anagrams
› Confederate take entire 8 minutes to finish
› No loud timer
› No deliberate distractions
› Participants solved most or all of their
anagrams
Drinking Behavior
› Participant received 4 chilled beverages: 2
labeled “beer” & 2 labeled “ginger ale”
› Asked to rate each beverage based on a list
of adjectives
› After rating, they were told they could “finish
any or all of the beverages you would like”
› After 20 minutes, experimenter returned and
collected what was left in cups
Debriefing
› All were surprised they were drinking non-
alcoholic beer
› Research coordinator explained the purpose
and goals of the study to each participant
› Participants agreed to keep logistics of study
confidential
› Research coordinator made sure
participants were free of anger and
emotional distress before leaving
› All participants were then entered to win the
chance at $250
Provocation
› Participants unknowingly received
unsolvable anagrams
› Confederate in room finished quickly within
first 4 minutes and with ease
› Confederate made tapping sounds and
other distracting noises
› Confederate made comments about their
own fast progress
› Loud kitchen timer ticked next to participant
› Participants showed visible anger and
emotional distress after 8 minutes
Verification of Anger Provocation › methods of measurement - i.e. feelings
thermometer & subscales of MAACL-R were subjected to sample t-tests to ensure anger (and only anger was provoked)
› t-test helps compare whether two groups have different average scores
› note: no other significant difference in other subscales was detected
Provocation Group Non-Provocation
Hostility scores m=3.14 sd=2.88 m=0.36 sd=0.63
Anger scores m=3.07 sd=1.98 m=1.50 sd=0.76
next analyzed amounts of each beverage consumed to "equate groups on all forms of negative baseline effect" -> ensured effects
of anger manipulation were truly being tested
› univariate analysis of covariance (similar to
ANOVA) used to control for the influence of
outlying variable by including them in the model
› helps researchers see the effect of the
independent variable after effect of covariate
condition = fixed factor
dependent var. = amt. of placebo beer consumed
covariates = emotional scales
provocation group consumed significantly more placebo beer, but not more ginger ale
significant positive correlation between assertiveness and placebo beer consumed by provocation group when associations between expectancies & grouping were compared (bivariate correlations conducted) › consumed more beer if she believed it would make
her more assertive
› not seen in non-provocation group
Provocation Group Non-Provocation
Placebo beer m=170.0mL sd=81.34 m=120.07mL sd=78.38
Ginger ale m=181.79mL sd=112.36 m=199.5mL sd=151.71
Strengths
› Anger increase without anxiety increase
› “Beer” consumption increase
› Little other research on this topic (Marlatt et
al. 1975)
› Expectations
Limitations
› Non-alcoholic
› Expectancies
› Limited demographic
› Numerous variables
Future decisions
› Mechanism that connects anger to drinking,
still unclear
› Larger, more diverse sample
› Anger specific to women?
› Expectations gender specific?
› Actual alcohol relationship with anger