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Effects of alcohol on social anxiety and physiological arousal: Cognitive versus pharmacological processes

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Abstract

Thirty-two male social drinkers were randomly assigned to one of two expectancy conditions in which they were led to believe that the beverage they consumed contained either vodka and tonic or tonic only. For half of the subjects in each expectancy condition, the beverage actually contained vodka; the others drank only tonic. After their drinks, subjects' heart rates were monitored during a brief social interaction with a female confederate. Self-report and questionnaire measures of social anxiety were taken before and after the interaction. Subjects who believed that they had consumed alcohol showed significantly less increase in heart rate than those who believed that they consumed tonic only, regardless of the actual content of their drinks. There was no effect of alcohol per se. The theoretical implications of these results are briefly discussed.

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Reference Notes

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This research was supported by NIAAA Grant No. 00259-05 to Peter E. Nathan. We are particularly indebted to David M. Lawson, Harry Hermans, Elizabeth Kirshling, Wayne Kashinsky, and the rest of the nursing and research staff of the Rutgers Alcohol Behavior Research Laboratory for their assistance. Emmeline Klama, Abby Goldstein, and Jane Krampf provided invaluable help as undergraduate assistants. Preparation of this manuscript was facilitated by the first author's fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, California.

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Wilson, G.T., Abrams, D. Effects of alcohol on social anxiety and physiological arousal: Cognitive versus pharmacological processes. Cogn Ther Res 1, 195–210 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01186793

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