Alcohol and Human Behavior

There has been a rapid expansion of behavioral research on alcohol and alcoholism within the past 10 years, and it is recognized that alcohol can change human behavior in many subtle and elusive ways that are modulated by experience and expectancy as well as by the drug itself.

Abstract

There has been a rapid expansion of behavioral research on alcohol and alcoholism within the past 10 years. The relics of a complex mythology have begun to yield to empirical observations, and a clearer impression of some behavioral effects of alcohol has begun to emerge. However, the transition from mythology to an accurate descriptive phenomenology is still incomplete, and the neural mechanisms underlying the effects of alcohol are unknown. We now recognize that alcohol can change human behavior in many subtle and elusive ways that are modulated by experience and expectancy as well as by the drug itself. The nature of the behavioral change is often unpredictable because of the many factors that interact to determine the effect of drinking.