Graduation Year
2010
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
M.A.
Degree Granting Department
Psychology
Major Professor
Mark S. Goldman, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Jon Rottenberg, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Kristen Salomon, Ph.D.
Keywords
drinking, college, cognition, priming, cue reactivity
Abstract
Expectancy theory provides a useful framework within which to examine the link between cognitive representations of anticipated alcohol related outcomes and affective processes that ought to shape behavior at the level of implicit, or automatic, processing. The role of affect in alcohol expectancies is an important one as it reflects the approach-avoid contingency associated with reward learning presumed to underlie addictive processes. This study examined the relationship between affect and expectancy operation by using suboptimally presented alcohol related cues to prime affectively congruent evaluations of otherwise unrelated targets. Hypotheses predicted that drinkers who reported higher positive and arousing expectancies for alcohol outcomes would make affective evaluations (but not semantic categorizations) more accurately when target stimuli were preceded with an alcohol picture or word prime. Analysis of drinking and expectancy variables revealed positive relationships between drinking frequency and social/physical pleasure expectancies, as well as tension reduction expectancies. No relationships were found between drinking quantity and expectancies. Evaluation response accuracy was not related to alcohol expectancies. Discussion centers on potential reasons for lack of findings, including experimenter error and design limitations.
Scholar Commons Citation
Ray, John M., "Implicit Affect and Alcohol Outcome Expectancies" (2010). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/3533
