Premium
The Effects of Acute Alcohol Intoxication on Person Memory: The Stereotypical Drunk 1
Author(s) -
Cunningham Sheila J.,
Milne Alan B.,
Crawford John R.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.0021-9029.2007.00155.x
Subject(s) - psychology , recall , encoding (memory) , affect (linguistics) , alcohol , impression formation , alcohol intoxication , stereotype (uml) , perception , task (project management) , cognition , social psychology , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , social perception , injury prevention , poison control , psychiatry , communication , medicine , medical emergency , biochemistry , chemistry , management , neuroscience , economics
Research has suggested that acute alcohol intoxication disrupts cognitive functioning by reducing the availability of executive resources for person perception. The present study tested the prediction that this effect would increase stereotype application during impression formation by reducing the encoding of nonstereotypical information. Participants were instructed to complete an impression‐formation task following consumption of low, medium, or high doses of alcohol. This task involved the encoding of both stereotypical and neutral material. A subsequent free‐recall test demonstrated that alcohol significantly decreased participants' encoding of neutral information, but did not affect the memorability of stereotypical information. These findings are discussed in relation to models of both stereotyping and alcohol intoxication.