Alcohol expectancies and intoxicated aggression

A review of the literature on the effects alcohol–aggression expectancies on intoxicated aggression is presented. Three specific questions about the relationship of alcohol expectancies to intoxicated aggression are examined; 1) do individuals believe alcohol causes people to become aggressive?, 2) is intoxication a mitigating circumstance in blame and responsibility attributions for harmful behavior?, and 3) does possession of an alcohol–aggression expectancy play a causal role in the enactment of intoxicated aggression? It is concluded that people do hold the expectancy that drinking causes aggressive behavior; however, they tend to hold this belief more strongly about other people than they do about themselves. In addition, given the inconclusive evidence that intoxication leads to the mitigation of blame for bad behavior, it is difficult to accept the deviance–disavowal hypothesis as an explanation for intoxicated aggression. Finally, it is concluded that possession of an alcohol expectancy for aggression can play a causal role in intoxicated aggression, but only under specific conditions in which the pharmacological effects of alcohol orient one toward cues in the environment that facilitate an aggressive response.