TY - JOUR
T1 - Alcohol consumption increases bias to shoot at Middle Eastern but not White targets
AU - Schofield, Timothy P.
AU - Unkelbach, Christian
AU - Denson, Thomas F.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, © The Author(s) 2015.
PY - 2017/3/1
Y1 - 2017/3/1
N2 - Alcohol has been implicated in intergroup aggression and hostility. The effect of consuming alcohol relative to a placebo on hostile cognitive biases toward a social category typically stereotyped as threatening and hostile (i.e., Middle Eastern men) was tested. Undergraduates (N = 81) consumed either an intoxicating dose of alcohol (BrAC =.05% by vol.) or placebo. Then, they played a shooter game in which they were asked to shoot at targets holding guns, but not at targets holding harmless objects. Half of the targets were White and half were Middle Eastern. As predicted, alcohol consumption, relative to a placebo, increased participants’ bias to shoot Middle Eastern targets, but did not affect the shooter bias against White targets. Findings suggest that alcohol may heighten aggressive biases toward outgroups stereotyped as threatening and hostile.
AB - Alcohol has been implicated in intergroup aggression and hostility. The effect of consuming alcohol relative to a placebo on hostile cognitive biases toward a social category typically stereotyped as threatening and hostile (i.e., Middle Eastern men) was tested. Undergraduates (N = 81) consumed either an intoxicating dose of alcohol (BrAC =.05% by vol.) or placebo. Then, they played a shooter game in which they were asked to shoot at targets holding guns, but not at targets holding harmless objects. Half of the targets were White and half were Middle Eastern. As predicted, alcohol consumption, relative to a placebo, increased participants’ bias to shoot Middle Eastern targets, but did not affect the shooter bias against White targets. Findings suggest that alcohol may heighten aggressive biases toward outgroups stereotyped as threatening and hostile.
KW - alcohol-related behaviour
KW - hostility
KW - intergroup aggression
KW - prejudice
KW - stereotyping
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85012115721&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1368430215603461
DO - 10.1177/1368430215603461
M3 - Article
SN - 1368-4302
VL - 20
SP - 202
EP - 215
JO - Group Processes and Intergroup Relations
JF - Group Processes and Intergroup Relations
IS - 2
ER -