RESPONSIBILITY ATTRIBUTIONS FOR DRUNKEN BEHAVIOR - THE ROLE OF EXPECTANCY VIOLATION

Research on attributions about drunken aggression has suggested that i ntoxication serves to excuse the aggressor while increasing blame to t he victim. In this study, we examined subjects' responses to a scenari o depicting a violent interaction in which intoxication of aggressor a nd victim, victim's behavior, and aggressor's previous violent backgro und were varied. We predicted that to the extent that the violent act violated the expectations of the observer, alcohol intoxication would serve to decrease dispositional and responsibility attributions to the aggressor. Instead, the findings showed that alcohol use led to incre ased attributions of causality, blame, and responsibility for both agg ressor and victim. The results are discussed in terms of both attribut ion theory and societal factors influencing the acceptability of excus es involving alcohol.