THE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL INTAKE AND INDUCED FRUSTRATION UPON ART VANDALISM

Abstract

This study was designed to examine the interactive effects between alcohol-intake and frustration effects upon art vandalism. 100 subjects, 50 men and 50 women, were randomly assigned to five experimental conditions (Control, Alcohol, Alcohol+Frustration, Frustration and Placebo) with 10 men and 10 women in each group. Subjects were provided with the opportunity to scrawl on a picture of Adam and Eve (the AET test). AET was evaluated also on levels of “destruction”, “aggression” and “sexuality”. The results indicated that alcohol alone did not increase the degree of vandalism, but that there was a significant increase in scores of scrawlinggraffiti under the influence of alcohol+frustration. Female subjects performed graffiti-scrawling to a significantly greater extent than did male subjects in all five groups.