Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

Number of drinks
consumed in two hours 
Alcohol
in blood 
(percentage) 
Typical effects 
Judgment, thought, and restraint 
weakened; tension released, giving 
carefree sensation 
Tensions and inhibitions of everyday life 
lessened; cheerfulness
Voluntary motor action affected, making 
hand and arm movements, walk, and 
speech clumsy 
Severe impairment—staggering, loud, 
incoherent, emotionally unstable, 100 
times greater traffic risk; exuberance and 
aggressive inclinations magnified
Deeper areas of brain affected, with 
stimulus-response and understanding 
confused; stuporous; blurred vision 
Incapable of voluntary action; sleepy, 
difficult to arouse; equivalent of surgical 
anesthesia
Comatose; centers controlling breathing 
and heartbeat anesthetized; death 
increasingly probable 
FIGURE 6 
The eff ects of alcohol. The quantities represent only rough benchmarks; the eff ects 
vary signifi cantly depending on an individual’s weight, height, recent food intake, genetic 
factors, and even psychological state.
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 Module 
16 
Drug Use: The Highs and Lows of Consciousness 
167
In some cases of alcoholism, people must drink constantly in order to feel well 
enough to function in their daily lives. In other cases, though, people drink inconsis-
tently but occasionally go on binges in which they consume large quantities of alcohol. 
It is not clear why certain people become alcoholics and develop a tolerance for 
alcohol, whereas others do not. There may be a genetic cause, although the question 
of whether there is a specifi c inherited gene that produces alcoholism is controversial. 
What is clear is that the chances of becoming an alcoholic are considerably higher if 
alcoholics are present in earlier generations of a person’s family. However, not all 
alcoholics have close relatives who are alcoholics. In these cases, environmental 
stressors are suspected of playing a larger role (Nurnberger & Bierut, 2007; Whitfi eld 
et al., 2004; Zimmermann, Blomeyer, & Laucht, 2007).