TY - JOUR PY - 1994// TI - Responsibility Attributions for Drunken Behavior: The Role of Expectancy Violation JO - Journal of applied social psychology A1 - Leigh, B. C. A1 - Aramburu, B. SP - 115 EP - 135 VL - 24 IS - 2 N2 - Research on attributions about drunken aggression has suggested that intoxication serves to excuse the aggressor while increasing blame to the victim. In this study, we examined subjects' responses to a scenario depicting a violent interaction in which intoxication of aggressor and victim, victim's behavior, and aggressor's previous violent background 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 increased attributions of causality, blame, and responsibility for both aggressor and victim. The results are discussed in terms of both attribution theory and societal factors influencing the acceptability of excuses involving alcohol.
LA - SN - 0021-9029 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.1994.tb00561.x ID - ref1 ER -