Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-2025
Keywords
alcohol, intoxication, emotion, groups, social, context
Abstract
Background While alcohol's ability to impact affective states and lubricate social interactions is well documented, less research has considered this in crowd contexts.Method Using a Social Emotion Paradigm, intoxicated (.8 g/kg) or sober (placebo) participants (N = 47, 49% female, Mage = 21.47) were presented with virtually modeled groups of characters displaying various affective states (happy, neutral, sad). Participants' emotional responses to the stimuli were assessed via self-report (Study 1) and, one week later, objective measures of facial muscle movement (facial electromyography; Study 2).Results 'Study 1': Self-reported emotions largely mirrored the emotive displays, pointing to emotional contagion. No significant effect of intoxication was apparent. 'Study 2': Compared to those in the sober conditions, significantly more smiling occurred among intoxicated participants when viewing sad crowds.Conclusion Discrepancies between objective and subjective measures of emotion were evident and intoxication may be associated with socially inappropriate affective responses to sad crowds. These findings have implications for understanding alcohol behaviors in the nighttime economy.
Citation
Rebecca L Monk, Adam W Qureshi, Byron L Zamboanga, Anna Tovmasyan, Olivia McLaughlin, Megan Bradford-Priest, Amber Butler, Derek Heim, Drink and be merry? The impact of intoxication and affective social cues on social drinkers’ emotional responses, Alcohol and Alcoholism, Volume 60, Issue 5, September 2025, agaf046, https://doi.org/10.1093/alcalc/agaf046
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Comments
Web of Science
Oxford Academic