A self-awareness model of the causes and effects of alcohol consumption.

A model of alcohol consumption is proposed that is based on the premise that alcohol serves to decrease an individual's level of self-awareness. According to this analysis alcohol interferes with encoding processes fundamental to a state of self-awareness, thereby decreasing the individual's sensitivity to both the selfrelevance of cues regarding appropriate forms of behavior and the self-evaluative nature of feedback about past behaviors. Insofar as the latter form of information can provide a source of self-criticism and negative affect, alcohol as an inhibitor of self-aware processing is proposed to provide a source of psychological relief. Evidence is considered that bears on each of the model's major propositions. It is concluded that the self-awareness-based model provides a useful framework within which to conceive a broad base of alcohol's cognitive, affective, and social behavioral effects in addition to providing insight into potential sources of the motive to drink.