Expectancy as a Unifying Construct in Alcohol-Related Cognition

Explanations of goal-directed behavior increasingly have highlighted the role of anticipatory processes, especially anticipation of reward. Because many researchers in both neurobiological and psychological domains often use the term “expectancy” to refer to these processes, we review the expectancy construct as a device for unifying explanation at these different levels of analysis. Appreciation of this role is essential for advancing expectancy assessment. To this end, we show how expectancies can be assessed using implicit (indirect) tasks. These studies have indicated that the content and organization of implicitly measured expectancies differ as a function of an individual\u27s exposure to alcohol information, customary drinking level, and context, and that expectancies can..