Drunk with Success

As much as I'd like to believe the findings, a study purporting to show that drunk people have sound reasoning skills seems to have a rather obvious flaw. Groups of college students—some sober, some drunk, and a control group—were asked if they want $15 now or $30 later. Researchers took deferring gratification for the $30 as a sign of sound reasoning. They are surprised to find that so many drunk folks were able to resist the immediate goody. Let's think about this.

You're in college, you're getting drunk, not only drunk, you're gettin' paid to drink. (That's the way these studies are done, I'm fairly certain the $15/$30 offer was on top of a payment initially promised to the students, although I have no proof.) Some dork in a lab coat says you can have another $15 now or $30 later. Why in the world would you need the $15 instantly? You're already getting drunk.

Contrast that with the poor sober bastards, stuck in some icky psych hall, answering stupid questions. You get a choice between $15 now and $30 later you're gonna jump on the $15. Why? So you can take the money and go get drunk.