Laboratory studies have reliably shown that heightened sensitivity to the rewarding effects of alcohol is associated with heavier drinking patterns. More recently, there has been research to suggest that heightened sensitivity to the disinhibiting effects of alcohol might also contribute to drinking habits. Most research on the acute effects of alcohol has focused on drinking magnitudes averaged across participants with little attention paid to how individual differences influence alcohol abuse potential. In large part, this is due to limited sample sizes in previous laboratory studies.