ONE TRAIT HAS HUGE IMPACT ON WHETHER ALCOHOL MAKES YOU AGGRESSIVE

THE Ohio State University ^ | Brad Bushman

[Pharmboy]

...and men were more aggressive than women. No foolin'.

[Pharmboy]

So: it’s not baseline aggression, but care about the future. Hmmm....ok.

[goseminoles]

This was a study??? Duh!

[1rudeboy]

A 1:5 screwdriver? You want to see aggressive?

[bigbob]

also correlated: those who use the expression: “Hold mah beer!”

[Pharmboy]

Yep...you were reading my mind.

[hummingbird]

I’m going to have a few beers for breakfast.

SEE YOU MOFOS LATER!!

[Maceman]

Larry Miller: The Five Levels of Drinking

[pallis]

A mean drunk is a mean sober person. Choose your drinking partners well.

[savagesusie]

Basically, it is character—not alcohol—that makes a person do ‘evil’ ‘aggressive’ acts. This idea that you are not in control of moral actions is ridiculous—unless you pass out. As long as you are conscious, you know good from bad, although you may give in to evil easier when drunk—you still know it is evil.

Moral people are great drunks. Immoral people are awful drunks.

[toast]

“The participants were led to believe they were dealing with a real jerk who got more and more nasty as the experiment continued,” Bushman said. “We tried to mimic what happens in real life, in that the aggression escalated as time went on.”

Nope. No jerk on the other side of the wall. Just a giggling researcher.
This would have been a fun study to conduct. I wish they recorded it.

[GonzoGOP]

Bill Cosby summed this up perfectly back in the 60's. In an imagined conversation with a stoner. Cosby: "So why do you take drugs?"
Stoner: "To enhance my personality."
Cosby: "But what if your a jerk?"

[Reeses]

the ability to consider the future consequences of current actions.

Humans have two brains: the reptilian old brain stem, and the neo (new) cortex that evolved atop it. The neocortex is the brain that can consider future consequences for present actions and can tell the old brain "No!". The reptilian brain is where feelings of pleasure occur and lives only in the present. The ratio of old brain to new brain size might be a factor in how animal or human someone behaves.

[pabianice]

I vividly remember a study of some years ago. It determined that career violent thugs felt little pain from serious injury. This was especially true of career criminal offenders. Of course they don’t care about getting into fights or hurting others.

[cricket]

“I only act to satisfy immediate concerns, figuring the future will take care of itself.”

Seems this statement - and others similar - could as easily be construed as a measurement for narcissism or 'basic selfishness' aka those 'living in present' or the 'ME' thinkers who basically take care of Number One/self w/o considering future impact (others).

Those who 'live in future' may well, simply be, those who think of others (i.e. 'future'); when making decisions.

(And of course; if they did not include Capricorns; who live in present and are firmly rooted in past; or any 'Irish' drinkers; then the whole thing could be skewed!)

Do think they need to reconsider the 'neutral premises' they laid out per 'traits' or personal inclinations as to how individuals view and respond; to their 'own' world.. Personally think the 'me' and 'thee' evaluations are as relevant if not more so; than 'present/future'.

But it may all depend; on whether one lives in present - or somewhere else - per conclusions.

[patton]

Ooops.

[MortMan]

But people without that trait don’t get any more aggressive when drunk than they would when they’re sober.

That trait is the ability to consider the future consequences of current actions.

“People who focus on the here and now, without thinking about the impact on the future, are more aggressive than others when they are sober, but the effect is magnified greatly when they’re drunk,” said Brad Bushman, lead author of the study and professor of communication and psychology at Ohio State University.

Is it just me, or did the above three paragraphs switch from trait-exclusive to trait-inclusive to trait-exclusive in the space of three sentences?

The author has mastered obfuscated writing.

[Sherman Logan]

Not entirely sure this is true.

I’ve known some people who were wonderful when sober but got really mean when drunk.

I think alcohol just affects people differently. Some get mean, some get happy and friendly.

Personally, I’m a real happy drunk. But I don’t think it necessarily means I’m a better human being than someone who gets sad or angry when drinking.

[BrandtMichaels]

what?!?! No monkey brains?

[Paradox]

Basically, it is character—not alcohol—that makes a person do ‘evil’ ‘aggressive’ acts.

I have experimented with alchohol. And basicly, through all the levels of intoxication, up through unconsciousness, I was able to control my behavior, because I WANTED to. It was important enough to me NOT to do something. Now for sure, alchohol makes you less inhibited, but it stands to reason that basically, it amplifies the type of person you already are by disinhibition.

When I get drunk, I actually become a nicer, funnier person.

One of my favorite things to sneer at is when I hear (usually a woman), say something to the effect that they behaved wrongly because they were drunk. Well, maybe, but the fact is, you are a slut at heart...