The Effects of Anger on Alcohol Demand and Subjective Alcohol Craving

Background Anger and anger‐related traits have been related to alcohol use in both cross‐sectional and prospective studies. However, only a small number of studies have experimentally manipulated anger to examine whether the manipulation of anger influences alcohol craving or the relative reinforcing value of alcohol. Methods Participants (N = 231) recruited through Amazon’s MTurk were randomly assigned to a provocation condition or a neutral condition prior to completing both the Alcohol Purchase Task and a self‐report measure of alcohol craving. Linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the effects of the anger induction, trait hostility, frequency of alcohol use in the past month, and relevant demographic characteristics (gender, age, income) on alcohol craving and indices of alcohol demand. Results Participants assigned to the provocation condition had greater PMax (B = 0.17, p = 0.012) and breakpoint (B = 0.18, p = 0.006) values, less elastic demand (B = −0.15, p = 0.020), and lower drinking intensity (B = −0.14, p = 0.025) than participants assigned to the neutral condition. Trait hostility was positively related to OMax (B = 0.22, p = 0.001), intensity of demand (B = 0.27, p