Effect of Intoxication on Generosity | Article Analysis

Effect of Intoxication on Generosity | Article Analysis In their 50th  volume, the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology published an article named â€Å"Focused On Fairness: Alcohol Intoxication Increases the Costly Rejection of Inequitable Rewards† in which they explored the effects of alcohol regarding an individuals propensity to accept a deal in with there exists unfair rewards. In the first study, participants were recruited from outside of bars in Pittsburg, PA between 9pm and 3am to play a modified ultimatum game with economical rewards. This type of field experiment was chosen in order to both find a pool of subjects that were unfamiliar with psychological studies and experimental economic games, as well as allow for participants to drink to their preferred level of intoxication, which may differ from what they would have been subjected to in a lab setting. Subjects had their BAC tested and then proceeded to be isolated in cubicles where they would complete the experiment. Subjects were led to believe they were playi ng against another live human, but in actuality they were playing against a computer program. Subjects were given 100 cents to play with in each round, deciding how much to offer their partner and how much to keep for themselves, and then would submit their offers to their partner who would either accept or reject the offer and then proceed to begin a new round with the roles having been switched. The computer program that the participants played with would accept any offer >30 cents and refuse any offer The experiment essentially proved that while intoxication may have no effect on generosity or equitability of offers, it did have an effect on a subject’s propensity to reject unfair offers. Higher BAC reflected an increased likelihood of rejecting an unfair proposal, yet it had no bearing on likelihood of proposing or accepting generous and/or fair offers.