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Sometimes we mind-wander to give our brains a break, but unintentional zoning
out — while driving, for example — can cause later regret (Seli et al., 2016). Alcohol also
focuses attention on an immediate arousing situation (say, provocation) and distracts
it from normal inhibitions and future consequences (Giancola et al., 2010; Steele &
Josephs, 1990).
Reduced self-awareness may help explain why people who want to suppress their
awareness of failures or shortcomings often drink more than do those who feel good about
themselves. Losing a business deal, a game, or a romantic partner sometimes elicits binge
drinking.

Expectancy Effects Expectations influence behavior. Adolescents — presuming that
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Not for redistribution.
alcohol will lift their spirits — sometimes drink when they’re upset and alone (Bresin et al.,
2018). But solitary drinking boosts their chance of developing a substance use disorder (Creswell
et al., 2014; Fairbairn & Sayette, 2014).
Copyright © Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers.
Simply believing we’re consuming alcohol can cause us to act out alcohol’s presumed
influence (Christiansen et al., 2016; Moss & Albery, 2009). In a classic experiment, research-
ers gave Rutgers University men (who had volunteered for a study on “alcohol and sexual
stimulation”) either an alcoholic or a nonalcoholic drink (Abrams & Wilson, 1983). (Both had
strong tastes that masked any alcohol.) After watching an erotic movie clip, the men who
thought they had consumed alcohol were more likely to report having strong sexual fantasies
and feeling guilt free. Being able to attribute their sexual responses to alcohol released their
inhibitions — whether or not they had actually consumed any alcohol. The point to remember:
Alcohol’s effect lies partly in that powerful sex organ, the mind.

Barbiturates
Like alcohol, the barbiturate drugs, which are tranquilizers, depress nervous system activ-
ity. Barbiturates such as Nembutal, Seconal, and Amytal are sometimes prescribed to induce
sleep or reduce anxiety. In larger doses, they can impair memory and judgment. If combined
with alcohol — say, a sleeping pill after an evening of heavy drinking — the total depressive
effect on body functions can be lethal.

Opioids

The opioids — opium and its derivatives — also depress neural functioning. Opioids include
heroin and its medically prescribed synthetic substitute, methadone. They also include
pain-relief narcotics such as codeine, OxyContin, Vicodin, and morphine (and morphine’s
dangerously powerful synthetic counterpart, fentanyl). As blissful pleasure replaces pain
and anxiety, the user’s pupils constrict and breathing slows; lethargy sets in. People
who become addicted to this short-term pleasure may pay a long-term price: a gnawing
craving for another fix, a need for progressively larger doses (as tolerance develops), and
the extreme discomfort of withdrawal. When repeatedly flooded with a synthetic opi-
oid, the brain eventually stops producing endorphins, its own natural opioids. If the arti-
ficial opioid is then withdrawn, the brain will lack the normal level of these painkilling
neurotransmitters.
barbiturates drugs that depress An alarming number of Americans have become unable or unwilling to tolerate this
central nervous system activity, state and have paid an ultimate price — death by overdose. Between 2013 and 2016, the
reducing anxiety but impairing U.S. rate of opioid overdose deaths increased almost 10 times to 43,036 (NIDA, 2018; NSC,
memory and judgment.
2019). “For the first time in U.S. history, a person is more likely to die from an accidental
opioids opium and its opioid overdose than from a motor vehicle crash,” reported the National Safety Council in
derivatives; they depress neural
activity, temporarily lessening 2019. The Covid pandemic increased stress, uncertainty, and social isolation that may have
pain and anxiety. contributed to even more U.S. and Canadian opioid-related deaths in 2020 (Katz et al.,
2020; Schmunk, 2020).

44 Unit 1 Biological Bases of Behavior

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