Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 18, 2026

A Prediction Error-driven Retrieval Procedure for Destabilizing and Rewriting Maladaptive Reward Memories in Hazardous Drinkers
Published on: January 5, 2018
College students' decisions to intervene in alcohol-related situations
1Department of Speech Communication & Dramatic Arts, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant 48859, USA.
Objective:
In reviewing research on college students' intervention practices in alcohol-related situations, Seibold and Thomas recently advanced a transactional influence reconceptualization of intervention episodes. This study sought to explicate the factors contributing to college students' decision to intervene or not to intervene in alcohol-related situations.
Method:
In order to empirically explore this area, 489 students from three U.S. universities were surveyed about factors affecting their decisions to intervene or not in two types of alcohol-related situations: a drunk-driving situation and an alcohol abuse situation.
Results:
Students' intervention decisions were motivated primarily by concerns for the target and for potential consequences if they did not intervene. In contrast, decisions not to intervene were motivated primarily by an absence of a strong relationship with the target, their own condition at the time, and the potential impact of the intervention attempt on their image. Gender differences moderated many of these findings, however.
Conclusions:
Results are discussed in terms of approaching the study of alcohol interventions from a transactional influence perspective.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Self-Presentation: Self-Monitoring and Self-Handicapping
The Stanford Prison Experiment
Cognitive Dissonance
Bystander Effect
CNS Depressants: Alcohol and Nicotine
Community Based Intervention
Foundations of Community Mental Health Programs
Central to the success of community-based interventions is the...

