The link between alcohol and aggression is well known. What’s not so clear is just why drunks get belligerent. What is it about the brain-on-alcohol that makes fighting seem like a good idea “and do all intoxicated people get more aggressive” or “does it depend on the circumstances”? University of Kentucky psychologist Peter Giancola and his student Michelle Corman decided to explore these questions in the laboratory.

One theory about alcohol and aggression is that drinking impairs the part of the brain involved in allocating our limited mental resources — specifically attention and working memory. When we can only focus on a fraction of what’s going on around us, the theory holds, drunks narrow their social vision, concentrating myopically on provocative cues and ignoring things that might have a calming or inhibiting effect.

The Effect Of Alcohol On Aggression