Personal expectancies and group influences affect alcoholic beverage selection: the interaction of personal and situational variables.

Eighty-five college student drinkers participated in a study designed to investigate competing expectancies in predicting drinking in each of three situations. Participants were assigned to either a solitary, social-information (others aware of drink selected), or social-no-information (others present but unaware of beverage selection) condition, and asked to watch a TV show which they would later be asked to rate. As part of the procedure, they were told that the beverage of their choice (selected from a list provided by the experimenter) would be made available to them. Results indicate that when no information is available to others concerning beverage selection, the expectancy that alcohol enhances social and physical pleasure is the sole predictor of beverage selection. When others are likely to know what one has selected, fear of negative evaluation is the sole predictor of selection. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of evaluating multiple reinforcers and expectancies in attempting to predict drinking behavior.