Abstract
The effect of self-discrepancy magnitude and salience on alcohol consumption was examined in an ad lib drinking study in order to evaluate the utility of the self-inflation component of the myopia model for better understanding drinking practices. Participants were 33 males and 27 females recruited on a university campus. It was predicted that participants with relatively large real self/ideal self discrepancies on dimensions important to their self-concept would consume the greatest amount of alcohol in a wine tasting test. Moreover, this effect was expected to be enhanced when self-discrepancies were made salient. The results of hierarchical regression analyses showed a main effect of gender and a significant interaction between self-discrepancy magnitude and salience condition. However, the interaction was such that wine consumption tended to decrease as discrepancy magnitude increased in the condition in which self-discrepancies were made salient, with the opposite relationship in the control condition. Three possible reasons for the unexpected findings are discussed: (a) The salience manipulation did not perform as expected; (b) the sample had little to gain from self-inflation; and (c) typically, self-inflation does not significantly motivate alcohol consumption. Copyright (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 283-288 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Addictive Behaviors |
Volume | 25 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 2000 |
Keywords
- Alcohol
- Mood
- Self-discrepancy
- Self-inflation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Medicine (miscellaneous)
- Clinical Psychology
- Toxicology
- Psychiatry and Mental health