Alcohol Myopia Revisited

Abstract

The alcohol myopia model (AMM; Steele & Josephs, 1990) is reviewed in light of its unique ability to account for a variety of alcohol and nonalcohol-related disinhibited behaviors, particularly aggression. The AMM posits that alcohol has a narrowing, or a “myopic,” effect on one’s ability to attend to competing instigatory and inhibitory cues. Disinhibited behavior is presumed to occur when attention is directed toward salient provocative or instigatory cues rather than inhibitory cues. AMM research is reviewed with regard to stress and anxiety, risky sexual behavior, drinking and driving, suicide, disinhibited eating, smoking, and alcohol-related aggression. The AMM is also expanded by proposing five key mechanisms (i.e., negative affect, angry affect, hostile cognitive rumination, self-awareness, and empathy) that are likely to explain how the model is specifically involved in the alcohol-aggression relation. Finally, a number of public health interventions, extrapolated from the AMM, are proposed to stimulate future research directed at reducing the prevalence of alcohol-related violence.