EFFECTS OF SUPPRESSING THE URGE TO DRINK ON THE ACCESSIBILITY OF ALCOHOL OUTCOME EXPECTANCIES

Previous work has shown that attempts to deliberately suppress a given thought is associated with heightened accessibility of thought-relate d information both during and following suppression (Wegner, 1994, Psy chological Review, 101, 34-52). This study examined whether attempts t o suppress the urge for alcohol would similarly be associated with hei ghtened accessibility of alcohol-related information. Heavy social dri nkers were exposed to the sight and smell of their usual alcoholic bev erage either under instructions to suppress their urge to drink alcoho l or without such instructions. Following this task, participants were asked to make timed judgments about the applicability of a series of alcohol outcome expectancies. Results supported the view that suppress ion increases the accessibility of information in memory. Those in the Suppression condition were faster to endorse alcohol outcome expectan cies following exposure to alcohol cues than those in the Control cond ition. Findings are discussed in terms of cognitive strategies for reg ulating alcohol use and patterns of restrained drinking. Copyright (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd