Journal of Substance Abuse, 3, 387-393 (1991) Knowing When You're Drunk: A Cluster Analysis of Cues to Intoxication Janice G. Williams W. Jeffrey Burroughs J. E. Jakelis Clemson University The present study was conducted to determine what cues to intoxication untrained subjects report using and how subjects see relationships among these cues One hundred subjects were asked to list 5 cues that they use to determine th eir level of intoxication These responses were tabulated, and the 18 most frequent responses "ere retained for further an alyses. To assess the relati onships among cues, all possible pairs of cues were rated for similarity. Mean similanty ratings were collapsed across subjects to form a mean similariucs matri x that was subjected to duster analysis, A taxonomy of cues to intoxrcation is discussed The research literature on teaching alcoholics to discriminate blood alcohol level (BAL; e.g., Lansky, Nathan, & Lawson, 1978; Silverstein, Nathan, & Taylor, 1974) is based on an internal-external dimension of cues to intoxication. Internal cues are physical and emotional sensations resulting from drinking; external cues are information about the amount of alcohol consumed . Also using this dimension, researchers have investigated the ability of nonalcoholic subjects to estimate accurately their level of intoxication during drinking episodes in laboratory (e.g., Bois & Vogel-Sprott, 1974; Huber, Karlin, & Nathan, 1976; Maisto & Adesso, 1977) and field settings (e.g., Meier, Brigham, & Handel, 1987; Russ, Harwood, & Geller, 1986). The results of these studies are inconsistent. Field studies of untrained nonalcoholic subjects' ability to make BAL discriminations have found that subjects who make accurate estimations use external cues accurately (Meier et aI., 1987; Russ et aI., 1986), but particularly as BAL increases, subjects makes less accurate estimates of both number of drinks consumed and BAL (Meier et aI., 1987; Russ et aI., 1986). Although laboratory studies of procedures to train nonalcoholic subjects to make BAL discrimination also have reported that subjects are able to learn to make accurate estimations (e.g., Bois and Vogel-Sprott, 1974; Huber et aI., 1976; Maisto & Adesso, 1977), they differ from field studies regarding what cues to intoxication subjects use to make the discrimination. Bois and Vogel-Sp rott (1974) found that subjects could be taught to use internal sensations associated Correspondence and requests for reprints should be sent to jamce G. Williams, Department of Psychology, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634-1511. 387