The Accessibility of Motivational Tendencies Toward Alcohol: Approach, Avoidance, and Disinhibited Drinking Brian D. Ostafin, Tibor P. Palfai, and Carrie E. Wechsler Boston University Problematic drinking has been proposed to result from an overactivation of approach motivation toward the beneficial effects of alcohol and an underactivation of avoidance motivation away from aversive consequences of heavy alcohol use. The authors of the present study used a sequential priming task (R. H. Fazio, J. R. Jackson, B. C. Dunton, & C. J. Williams, 1995) to examine the extent to which alcohol cues automatically activate approach and avoidance motivational tendencies in college drinkers. Hierarchical regression analyses indicate that number of binge episodes and alcohol problems are correlated with weak associations between alcohol cues and avoidance motivation but not with strong associations between alcohol cues and approach motivation. Implications for understanding the self- regulation of alcohol use in college drinkers are discussed. Alcohol consumption is common among college stu- dents, with nearly 80% reporting that they drink (Wechsler, Dowdall, Maenner, Gledhill-Hoyt, & Lee, 1998). Another 44% report that they have had a heavy drinking episode (five or more drinks for men and four or more for women) within the past 2 weeks (Wechsler, Lee, Kuo, & Lee, 2000). This pattern of binge drinking is associated with risky behaviors, such as having multiple sex partners (Wechsler, Dowdall, Davenport, & Castillo, 1995), and negative con- sequences, such as fighting (Engs, Diebold, & Hanson, 1994). Although an individual’s binge drinking may fluc- tuate throughout college (Weingardt et al., 1998), heavy drinking during this time predicts current and future alcohol problems and alcohol use disorders (O’Neill, Parra, & Sher, 2001). Understanding the mechanisms that lead to problem- atic drinking during college is essential for developing assessment tools and intervention strategies. A motivational perspective of alcohol use is that problematic drinking pat- terns may be understood in terms of the interplay between approach and avoidance motivational systems (Cox & Blount, 1998; Cox & Klinger, 1988; Goldman, Del Boca, & Darkes, 1999). Substantial evidence indicates that two broad motiva- tional systems have developed to support adaptive behav- ior—an approach motivation system underlying approach toward rewarding stimuli and associated with the experi- ence of positive affect and an avoidance motivation system underlying avoidance of aversive stimuli and associated with the experience of negative affect (Lang, 1995; Pank- sepp, 1998; Schneirla, 1959; Sutton & Davidson, 1997). Because many of life’s incentives hold the potential for both reward and punishment, both systems can be simulta- neously activated. In this situation of motivational conflict, actual behavior toward or away from the incentive would be determined by which motivational system is more strongly activated (Miller, 1944). Dysfunctional activation of one or both of these systems can lead to a cluster of behavioral syndromes of impulsivity, such as psychopathy, attention- deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and alcohol dependence (Gorenstein & Newman, 1980; Sher & Trull, 1994; Smith & Newman, 1990). This disinhibited approach behavior may occur because of excessive approach motivation, insuffi- cient avoidance motivation, or a combination of both (New- man & Wallace, 1993). Because heavy alcohol use is asso- ciated with both reward and punishment (Breiner, Stritzke, & Lang, 1999; Goldman et al., 1999), both motivational systems have been implicated in disinhibited alcohol use. One set of models describes heavy alcohol use as being mediated by strong approach motivation. Recurrent drink- ing creates associations between alcohol-related cues and reward (e.g., improved mood, increased sociability). These cues thus become conditioned stimuli that activate approach behavior toward alcohol (Baker, Morse, & Sherman, 1987; Robinson & Berridge, 1993; Stewart, de Wit, & Eikelboom, 1984). A number of studies have demonstrated that external and internal cues of alcohol lead to increased desire for more alcohol (de Wit & Chutuape, 1993), the activation of approach behavior toward both alcohol and other rewards (Fillmore & Rush, 2001; Kambouropoulos & Staiger, 2001), and physiological responses consistent with the ac- tivation of appetitive motivation (Carter & Tiffany, 1999). A second set of models describes heavy alcohol use as being mediated by weak avoidance motivation. An inability to form strong associations between alcohol-related cues and punishment experience (e.g., hangover, interpersonal con- flict) results in a greater probability of heavy alcohol use even when that consumption is likely to produce negative consequences (Finn, Kessler, & Hussong, 1994). Finn et al. (1994) found that participants with a high risk for alcohol dependence (due to a positive family history of alcoholism) were less able to form associations between a conditioned stimulus and a shock than were participants with a low risk Brian D. Ostafin, Tibor P. Palfai, and Carrie E. Wechsler, Department of Psychology, Boston University. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Brian D. Ostafin, Department of Psychology, Boston University, 648 Beacon Street, 4th Floor, Boston, Massachusetts 02215. E-mail: bdo@bu.edu Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology Copyright 2003 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 2003, Vol. 11, No. 4, 294 –301 1064-1297/03/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/1064-1297.11.4.294 294