Alcohol is linked to an increased pain tolerance, which may contribute to more aggressive behavior in individuals, according to a recent study. Researchers discovered a correlation between the pain experienced by participants after consuming alcohol and their willingness to inflict pain on others.
The relationship between alcohol and a higher pain threshold may explain the tendency for increased aggression in drinkers, as suggested by new research.
The study participants who reported feeling less pain after drinking were more prone to impose pain on others.
“We’ve all come across the saying ‘I feel your pain,’” remarked Brad Bushman, a co-author of the study and a communication professor at The Ohio State University.
“However, if individuals under the influence of alcohol do not feel their own pain, it could make them less empathetic towards the pain of others, potentially leading to more aggressive actions.”
The findings were published recently in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
This research employed an experimental setup that has been utilized in studies since 1967 and was approved for human use in this and other related studies.
The team conducted two separate laboratory experiments, one involving 543 participants and another with 327, all of whom reported consuming 3-4 alcoholic drinks once a month at a minimum. They were recruited through newspaper ads and received $75 for their participation. The procedures in both experiments were the same.
After consenting to participate, subjects were given 20 minutes to consume either an alcoholic or a placebo drink. To ensure they could not identify which beverage they received, both drinks resembled orange juice. For the placebo drinks, a tiny amount of alcohol was added to the top of the juice, and the rim of the glass was sprayed with alcohol to mimic the taste of an alcoholic beverage.
Post-consumption, participants experienced one-second electrical shocks to two fingers on one hand. The researchers escalated the intensity of the shocks until participants described the sensations as “painful,” thereby establishing their pain threshold.
Following this, participants engaged in an online competitive reaction time task, where the winner had the option to administer a shock to the loser, ranging from 1 (low) to 10 (painful). They also determined the duration of the shocks.
In actuality, there was no real opponent; researchers labeled the participant the “winner” in half of the reaction tasks. This setup aimed to observe whether individuals who consumed alcohol opted for stronger and longer shocks based on their higher pain threshold.
The results revealed that alcohol consumption elevated the threshold at which participants found shocks painful. Furthermore, those with a higher pain tolerance exhibited more aggression when it came to the intensity and duration of shocks delivered.
Participants who consumed the placebo drinks were less aggressive, primarily because their pain threshold was generally lower than that of the alcohol consumers, as stated by Bushman.
“This indicates that they could still perceive their own pain and were therefore reluctant to inflict pain on others,” he clarified.
“There are various reasons why intoxicated individuals might deliberately harm others, but this study highlights pain tolerance as a potential factor.”
Bushman pointed out that participants in the alcohol group had blood alcohol levels averaging between 0.095% and 0.11%, which is slightly above the legal limit in most states of 0.08%.
“The effect of alcohol on pain tolerance may be more pronounced for those who consume more than the amounts tested in this research,” Bushman noted. “This could further enhance their willingness to be aggressive toward others.”
The study also included co-authors C. Nathan DeWall from the University of Kentucky and Peter Giancola, a licensed clinical psychologist in Montreal.
The research received funding from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Center for Research Resources.
