Drinking More Won't Make You Any Nicer

Drinking alcohol lowers inhibitions and promotes violence, but does a low level of drinking relax people, thus making them less aggressive? Is violence more likely to occur at a certain level of drinking? To answer these questions, investigators used a laboratory paradigm.

The 187 healthy subjects without problem drinking (173 whites; 95 men) were randomized to no alcohol (knowingly sober participants), placebo with alcohol odor, or increasing alcohol doses (≤1 g/kg for men). Alcohol doses in women were adjusted to produce blood alcohol concentrations similar to those in men. After drinking, participants administered a shock to a fictitious opponent who also shocked them. Researchers measured the degree of aggression by the intensity and dur…