Williams J G
Department of Psychology, Clemson University, SC 29634.
Addict Behav. 1991;16(5):355-62. doi: 10.1016/0306-4603(91)90029-h.
The research on blood alcohol level (BAL) discrimination training indicates that normal social drinkers can be taught to estimate successfully their level of intoxication. These studies show, however, that prior to training, skills for estimating intoxication are poor. The current study was undertaken to demonstrate that a sample of individuals in an actual drinking setting would have difficulty in estimating their blood alcohol level. It was expected that greater experience with alcohol would be associated with poorer abilities to discriminate legal intoxication. Subjects were 99 volunteers selected from the patrons of two bars. Participants completed a brief questionnaire assessing their typical alcohol use, the number of drinks consumed on this particular occasion, and whether they believed that they were currently over the legal limit for intoxication. A breathalyzer was used to determine actual level of intoxication. Results generally supported the hypotheses. Situational factors, including experimenter and drinking location, affected accuracy of estimations. Actual BAL also had a significant effect on accuracy. Errors in estimation were most often in the direction of overestimating intoxication. There was also a sex of subject effect, with males being heavier drinkers and estimating intoxication more poorly than females. Results are discussed in terms of situation and expectancy effects.
关于血液酒精浓度（BAL）辨别训练的研究表明，可以教会正常的社交饮酒者成功估算自己的醉酒程度。然而，这些研究表明，在训练之前，估算醉酒程度的能力很差。当前的研究旨在证明，处于实际饮酒环境中的一组个体在估算自己的血液酒精浓度时会有困难。预计饮酒经验越丰富，辨别法定醉酒状态的能力就越差。研究对象是从两家酒吧的顾客中挑选出的99名志愿者。参与者完成了一份简短的问卷，评估他们的典型饮酒情况、此次特定场合饮用的饮料数量，以及他们是否认为自己目前超过了法定醉酒限度。使用呼气酒精测试仪来确定实际的醉酒程度。结果总体上支持了这些假设。情境因素，包括实验者和饮酒地点，影响了估算的准确性。实际的血液酒精浓度对准确性也有显著影响。估算错误最常见的方向是高估醉酒程度。还存在受试者性别效应，男性饮酒量更大，且比女性更难以准确估算醉酒程度。将根据情境和预期效应来讨论研究结果。
