The influence of gender, expectancy, and partner beverage selection on (meta)perceptions in a "blind" dating...

There is little question that alcohol plays a role in social situations. Most of the research in this area has used a paradigm designed to understand the effects of consuming alcohol on anxiety and social behavior. Most of the previous studies have looked only at situational factors-with limited focus on personality variables, using confederates to control the social reaction that participants received, with drinking generally occurring in a solitary situation. In the present study we were interested in understanding the interpersonal nature of reactions to alcohol consumption. The focus of this study was on the stimulus value of alcohol rather than anticipated or pharmacological effects of alcohol consumption. In large groups, individuals completed cognitive-personality measures assessing typical alcohol consumption, alcohol expectancies, and social anxiety. In the second part of the study, participants were paired with a member of the opposite sex with whom they had no previous contact: perceptions of their partner and metaperceptions were assessed after 4 and 15 minutes (before and after choosing a beverage--beer, soft drinks, etc.). Results indicate that positive alcohol expectancies interact with partner alcohol selection in predicting changes in metaperceptions of friendliness and relaxation. With friendliness, this result was most pronounced in men. These results are discussed in terms of the role alcohol expectancies may play in filtering alcohol relevant environmental information, and the influence of positive alcohol expectancies in mixed-sex drinking situations.