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Alcohol myopia: Its prized and dangerous effects.
Abstract
This article explains how alcohol makes social responses more extreme, enhances important self-evaluations, and relieves anxiety and depression, effects that underlie both the social destructiveness of alcohol and the reinforcing effects that make it an addictive substance. The theories are based on alcohol's impairment of perception and thought--the myopia it causes--rather than on the ability of alcohol's pharmacology to directly cause specific reactions or on expectations associated with alcohol's use. Three conclusions are offered (a) Alcohol makes social behaviors more extreme by blocking a form of response conflict. (b) The same process can inflate self-evaluations. (c) Alcohol myopia, in combination with distracting activity, can reliably reduce anxiety and depression in all drinkers by making it difficult to allocate attention to the thoughts that provoke these states. These theories are discussed in terms of their significance for the prevention and treatment of alcohol abuse.
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“AMT detailed that alcohol intoxication focuses cognitive and attentional resources on the most emotionally-salient cues in a given context (Steele & Josephs, 1990).”
From Exploring Gender Differences in the Relationship Between Dispositional Mindfulness and Compulsive Sexual Behavior Among Adults in Residential Substance Use Treatment (2019) · cites this paper as Steele & Josephs, 1990
In the citing paper
“alcohol myopia theory (Steele And Josephs 1990; Giancola et al. 2011), which posits that intoxication restricts attentional focus to salient cues, impairing the processing of more distal, inhibitory cues.”
From Decoding the bidirectional links between alcohol misuse and aggression: toward a unified translational framework (2026) · cites this paper as Steele And Josephs 1990
In the citing paper
“This association may have resulted, in part, from the causal impact of acute alcohol use on sexual decision‐making 107, resulting in condomless sex 105, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114.”
From The relationship between different dimensions of alcohol use and the burden of disease—an update (2017) · cites this paper as [107]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Steele, C. M., & Josephs, R. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Michigan (US)
- ORCID
- Josephs, Robert A.
- Venue
- American Psychologist
- Published
- 1990
- Volume
- 45
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 921-933
- ISSN
- 0003-066X (ISSN-L)
- 1935-990X
- OpenAlex
- W2091301704
- Cited by
- 2,070
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2026: 46 · 2025: 67 · 2024: 51 · 2023: 86 · 2022: 73 · 2021: 84 · 2020: 122 · 2019: 84 · 2018: 104 · 2017: 95 · 2016: 83 · 2015: 93 · 2014: 94 · 2013: 94 · 2012: 70
- FWCI
- 12.70
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Psychologist (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (7r01aa005712-05)
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (AA 05712-01)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Alcohol Consumption and Health Effects
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Keywords
- alcohol myopia, alcohol intoxication, cognitive impairment, response conflict, self-assessment, anxiety, depression, alcohol reinforcement, alcoholism prevention, alcoholism treatment, distraction, social behavior
- MeSH terms
- Alcohol Drinking, Alcoholic Intoxication, Alcoholism, Humans, Social Behavior, Social Environment
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