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Alcoholism runs in families and is influenced by both genetic and personality factors. Important questions remain, however, as to just how neurological functioning is affected by these predispositions. As a result, the present study assessed the effects of both familiality and personality factors on electroencephalographic (EEG) responses. College students were prescreened for family history (FH) of and personality predisposition (PAP) toward alcoholism, and 60 subjects were assigned to four extreme groups representing the crossover of the familial and personality dimensions. Each participant was exposed to nonverbal positive and negative emotional stimuli. Electroencephalography was recorded at frontal, parietal, and temporal sites in both hemispheres throughout and analyzed to assess response in the fast and slow alpha and beta ranges. Results showed that those with either a positive family history of alcoholism alone or predisposing personality characteristics alone were less aroused than those without predispositions. However, those high on both dimensions had lower arousal than subjects in other cells. Findings were interpreted as supporting the theoretical inverted U-shaped relationship of arousal input to arousal output.