ALCOHOL AND SOCIAL INFLUENCES - YIELDING AMONG MALE SOCIAL DRINKERS TO SOCIAL PRESSURE

Thirty men participated as paid volunteers in an experiment exploring whether alcohol intoxication makes a person more or less likely to yield to social pressure. Subjects were randomly assigned to either a Control, a Placebo, or an Alcohol group. The alcohol dose was 0.8 ml of 100% alcohol/kg body weight. Subjects first estimated the length of a line, then received feedback from either a male or a female reference group (social pressure), and finally made a second estimation. This procedure was repeated 30 times. The analysis indicated that the only effect of intoxication was to become more resistant in terms of number of yieldings to social pressure, provided the feedback came from a male reference group. Locus of control in terms of internality significantly predicted number of yieldings for the Alcohol group, although the analysis indicated no significant differences between groups as to mean locus of control scores.