Frustration as an Important Determinant of Alcohol-Related Aggression

Abstract

An experimental study was performed to investigate the relationship between alcohol, frustration, and aggression. The hypothesis tested stated an increase in aggression as a result of alcohol only under frustrative conditions. Two alcohol doses and a placebo dose were tested in a modified “shock-machine” procedure. Human males were frustrated by a bogus partner when thwarted in winning a sum of money, and aggression was measured by intensity and duration of electric shocks given to the bogus partner. Subjects were supervising their partners on a visual scan test demanding concentration and were required to deliver shocks for incorrect responses. The results show no effects of alcohol under nonfrustrative conditions but increased aggression for the intensity measure for the high-alcohol-dose group under frustrative conditions compared to the placebo group and the low-alcohol-dose group. The hypothesis was supported and results were discussed in terms of a shift in attentional processes under alcohol to only salient features of a situation thereby taking on increased subjective significance.