Addressing limitations of existing self-report measures of alcohol-related thoughts and behaviours, researchers have begun to measure these pictographically. To date, however, these novel measures have been developed somewhat unsystematically and are predicated on a number of potentially problematic assumptions, meaning that researchers have not been able to assess their reliability or validity fully. This report therefore documents the development of a Refined Alcohol Expectancy Task through (1) selection (2) development and (3) testing of stimuli for inclusion of this pictograph-based tasks. It also provides initial validation data.

Key findings:
• This paper outlines the development and initial validation of a pictorial measure of alcohol-related beliefs, namely the Refined Alcohol Expectancy Task (RAET)
• Participants were equally efficient in recognising the alcoholic and non-alcoholic pictures and could identify the emotions in the pictographic representations
• The RAET has adequate psychometric properties and successfully assesses alcohol expectancies
• Expectancy dimensions assessed by the RAET seemed to be independent of drinking habits