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A meta-analysis was conducted on research investigating the effects of alcohol consumption and expectancy within the balanced-placebo design. Preliminary results indicated that both alcohol and expectancy have significant, although heterogeneous effects on behavior. Subsequent analyses were conducted to determine the factors responsible for the heterogeneity of effects. At the highest level of analysis, alcohol expectancy had strong effects on relatively deviant social behaviors and minimal effects on nonsocial behaviors. Alcohol consumption showed the opposite pattern of effects. The principal effects associated with alcohol expectancy involved increased alcohol consumption and increased sexual arousal in response to erotic stimuli. On the other hand, alcohol consumption led to significant impairment of information processing and motor performance, induced a specific set of physical sensations, resulted in general improvements of mood, and tended to increase aggression. Finally, across all studies it was observed that alcohol consumption and expectancy interacted no more frequently than would be expected by chance. These results have implications for both the theories and methods of contemporary alcohol research.
Hull et al. (Thu,) studied this question.
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