Alcohol-related cues promote automatic racial bias

Previous research has shown that alcohol consumption can increase the expression of race bias by impairing control-related processes. The current study tested whether simple exposure to alcohol-related images can also increase bias, but via a different mechanism. Participants viewed magazine ads for either alcoholic or nonalcoholic beverages prior to completing Payne's (2001) Weapons Identification Task (WIT). As predicted, participants primed with alcohol ads exhibited greater race bias in the WIT than participants primed with neutral beverages. Process dissociation analyses indicated that these effects were due to automatic (relative to controlled) processes having a larger influence on behavior among alcohol-primed relative to neutral-primed participants. Structural equation modeling further showed that the alcohol-priming effect was mediated by increases in the influence of automatic associations on behavior. These data suggest an additional pathway by which alcohol can potentially harm inter-racial interactions, even when no beverage is consumed.

► We study the effects of simple exposure to alcohol-related images on race bias.
► Participants were primed with alcohol beverage or nonalcohol beverage images.
► Those primed with alcohol images exhibited greater race bias.
► Changes in automatic processes mediated the effect of priming on bias expression.
► Alcohol can harm inter-racial interactions even when no beverage is consumed.