“It appears that some of the short-term effects of ingesting small amounts of alcohol are as strongly related to the drinker's expectations about the effects of the drug as they are to its chemical action on the body. For example, alcohol is commonly thought to stimulate aggression and increase sexual responsiveness. Research has shown, however, that these reactions may not be caused by alcohol itself but by the drinker's beliefs about alcohol's effects. In experiments demonstrating these points, participants are told that they are consuming a quantity of alcohol when they are actually given an alcohol-free beverage with its taste disguised. They subsequently become more aggressive (Lang et al., 1975) and report increased sexual arousal (Wilson & Lawson, 1976). People who actually drink alcohol also report increased sexual arousal, even though alcohol makes them less aroused physiologically (Farkas & Wilson, 1976). Once again, cognitions have a demonstratably powerful effect on behaviour.”

"Abnormal Psychology" by Davison & Neale, p299

To curb street violence, increased education on what the effects of alcohol really are is required, and so is changing the nature of the environment in which alcohol is drunk (and especially where binge-drinking occurs). Both of these things require a change of the basic, common drinking habits of those who frequent pubs.

The reason that I point out things like this on my pages is that such basic education can increase the responsibility that people take for their own behaviour. So much behaviour is a case of people trying to think of reasons and excuses why they can behave badly, and more freely... if they realized that they had more control over themselves than they thought (including self-initiated freedom), they would be better people all-round. It also annoys me no-end when the excuse for being late for work, for being destructive, sexually aggressive, irresponsible, is "I was drunk!". This especially occurs in my own workplace!

“Clive Wearing [...] lives in a snapshot of time, constantly believing that he has just awoken from years of unconsciousness. For example, when his wife, Deborah, enters his hospital room for the third time in a single morning, he embraces her as if they had been parted for years, saying, 'I'm conscious for the first time' and 'It's the the first time I've seen anybody at all'.”
"Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behaviour" by Richard Gross, p288</p>

Deborah Wearing, Clive's wife, says that "even if I just leave the room, he doesn't know if he's seen me just 10 minutes ago or 10 years ago". He is capable of showing all the emotions of any person, including his strong emotions for his wife, who he constantly misses. The brain damage that he suffered has caused all this, what are the implications for those that study the soul? Clive Wearing shows us that there is no 'soul' which is responsible for our emotions; or, if there is a soul, it is completely overridden by physical biochemistry. If damage to the brain effects Clive's emotions and experience of life in such a profound way, it is clear that no 'soul' plays a part in determining those emotions: life is purely biological.

Emotions are Biological: There is no Soul