Social influence increases the value and consumption of alcohol in the laboratory

Jones, A ORCID: 0000-0001-5951-889X and Rose, A (2025) Social influence increases the value and consumption of alcohol in the laboratory. Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research.

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Abstract

Background Previous research has demonstrated the perceived value of alcohol is transient in hypothetical social and environmental contexts. This study sought to further expand on this by examining whether the social influence of a confederate and the physical environment could be manipulated to influence the value of alcohol and ad libitum alcohol consumption, and thus provide support for the role of value as a mechanism underlying alcohol use. Method A total of 140 (90 female, Mean age = 25.81, SD = 14.20, Mean AUDIT = 11.51, SD = 5.38) participants completed a between-subjects 2 (environment: bar labortaory vs. standard unadorned) × 2 (social influence: positive appraisal vs. negative appraisal) design in which they completed a brief assessment of alcohol demand, a concurrent choice task, and a visual analogue scale measuring alcohol value, following a limited drinking session with a confederate in one of two laboratory settings, and then completed an ad libitum bogus taste test. Results Social influence had a significant effect on intensity index of demand (F (1,133) = 4.74, p = 0.031, ηp2 = 0.03) and on ad libitum consumption (F (1,135) = 7.60, p = 0.007, ηp2 = 0.05) with positive appraisal having greater intensity scores (Mean = 4.34, SD = 2.80) compared with the negative appraisal (Mean = 3.39, SD = 2.23) and more alcohol consumed (Mean = 221.07 mL, SD = 121.76 vs. Mean = 164.71 mL, SD = 111.80). The intensity index also mediated the relationship between social influence and ad libitum consumption (B = 10.40, 95% Bootstrapped CIs = 0.34 to 23.59). There were no significant main effects of environment and no interactions between social influence and environment. Conclusion These findings suggest alcohol value is sensitive to social influence. Increased value as a result of positive alcohol appraisals by others had a significant effect on ad libitum consumption and that the intensity index of demand mediated the relationship.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Divisions:	Psychology (from Sep 2019)
Publisher:	Wiley
Date of acceptance:	27 June 2025
Date of first compliant Open Access:	12 August 2025
Date Deposited:	12 Aug 2025 11:30
Last Modified:	12 Aug 2025 11:45
DOI or ID number:	10.1111/acer.70115
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/26923

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