“I'm Okay. You're Drunk!” Self-Other Differences in the Perceived Effects of Alcohol in Real-Life Incidents of Aggression

A general-population telephone survey of 1,753 Ontario adults was used to identify self-other differences in the perceptions of alcohol use, intoxication, and contributing effects of alcohol in incidents of physical aggression among the 152 respondents who had experienced such an incident in the past year. Respondents reported that opponents were significantly more intoxicated and that alcohol was more likely to have contributed to the opponent's aggression than to the respondent's. Self-other differences in the perceived role of alcohol remained significant when controlling for gender, usual drinking pattern of the respondent, whether only the opponent was physically aggressive, and whether the opponent was more intoxicated. These results suggest that people perceive themselves to be less affected by alcohol than their opponents are in incidents of aggression. This self-other difference is likely to influence both the escalation of aggression and the extent to which persons apportion responsibility to themselves and to others.