Students Paid to Get Drunk in College Professor’s Lab for Research Purposes
- Posted on July 22, 2011 at 4:48pm by
Madeleine Morgenstern
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How do you study the effects of alcohol? You get students drunk and watch what they do.
Arizona State University Professor William Corbin pays students to get drunk in his laboratory so he can study the effects of alcohol and work to treat alcohol disorders.
That‘s the idea behind Arizona State University professor Will Corbin’s Behavioral Alcohol Research for Clinical Development laboratory, where research assistants are the bartenders and intoxicated students could hold the answers to treating alcohol disorders.
“The biggest thing I get is: ‘You’ve gotta be kidding me, you have a bar, and you give people alcohol as part of your research?’” Corbin told the Arizona Republic.
According to the Republic, Corbin’s “bar lab” features low lighting, padded chairs, Top 40 music and bottles along the walls with vodka, whiskey and tequila labels. Prescreened applicants between the ages of 21 and 30 are served the same mixture of 7UP, lime juice, cranberry juice and vodka in amounts according to their body weight.
Three drinks later, once they blow a 0.08 percent blood alcohol level on a Breathalyzer — legally drunk in Arizona — the work begins: Researchers might test students’ memories, response times, willingness to take risks or, as the Republic reported, the way they play slot machine games (place larger bets and lose money faster, researchers found).
Participants are paid $60 for a night’s work, which lasts from about 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. When they’re finished, assistants give them food and let them watch TV while they sober up, and send them home in cabs.
The National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism provides much of Corbin’s funding. He and his research team are also examining the extent to which genes contribute to alcohol dependency risk, or whether certain environmental factors such as stress or poverty could increase the effects of those genes.
“What‘s exciting about where we are now is we’re starting to put those pieces together,” Corbin said.
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Comments (41)
Gypsy123
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 6:07amThey do this at the local community college to teach students in the police department. But it is not the students who get drunk but volunteers
Report Post »Cold War Vet
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 2:14amOn a lighter note, I’m rather fond of Johnnie Walker Black Label scotch!
Report Post »Make mine a double!
jb.kibs
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 11:07ami’m fond of a lot of bourbons. Makers, Bulleit, Beam, Echo Springs … they are all good :P
Report Post »there is only one bourbon i will not drink, Jack Daniels. That stuff is haunted, the water they use… there is something wrong with it. if any whiskey will make you crazy, everytime you drink it, it’s Jack Daniels…
sweetnsalty
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 12:53amI wonder if they checked how many drinks it takes before the fat ugly chick looks like a winner?
Report Post »Lawlcat001
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 8:28amhow many bottles*
Report Post »jb.kibs
Posted on July 23, 2011 at 11:13ami’m sure that is a part of it… it’s probably what started the whole thing.
let me just add this. does anyone REALLY need a study done to know that alcohol affects your judgement? makes you more outgoing, things look better, your hearing is worse, motor skills impared, etc… anyone who has drank alcohol knows this… what a waste of money… whoever is funding this, is a complete moron that has way too much money to launder…
Report Post »RetiredSarge1991
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 10:22pmThe study could have been done at any Frat House any night and money could have been saved.
Report Post »BBomber66
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 10:04pmWe invited the GHP to conduct field sobriety and breathalyzer test at a company picnic with a safety theme. I remember being amazed at the time, but now don’t remember the data. I guess that’s a shame on me.
We weren’t looking at the behavior, just how quickly a person reached the 0.08 limit to show that it was faster than most people thought. The testee was 177 lbs. It takes one hour to process one ounce of alcohol at that weight, approximately. I don‘t remember how the rest is computed That’s all I remember. No, I wasn’t drinking.
Report Post »miles from nowhere
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 9:52pmIs this some kind of low class college with drinking problems?
Report Post »FlamingFartSyndrome
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 7:13pmI think i just found my calling.
Report Post »Smokey_Bojangles
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 7:13pmI Want a Scholarship from there!!!!!!!
Report Post »Locked
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 7:07pmSounds like it’s privately funded, and isn’t a part of any class. Truth be told, I think a lot of people would like participating in this research. Sure, it’s a silly use of money in my opinion, but as long as it isn’t our money, have at it.
Much ado about nothing here.
Report Post »prayeveryday
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 6:54pmPerfect example of the left minded intellectual and moral mentality of colleges today
Report Post »standwithIsraelstandwithGod
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 6:25pmNo wonder today’s youth are such idiots-their mentally defunct parents are paying for these kind of classes.
Report Post »SoiledDove
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 6:30pmIf this was a class, you would have a point.
Report Post »101
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 7:11pm“The National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism provides much of Corbin’s funding”
The National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism ( is a government agency ) part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Tax dollars are getting wasted
Report Post »teddrunk
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 6:03pm3 drinks? LOL…try THE party school….UW…Madison
Report Post »dad4lifesl
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 5:52pmOnly 3 drinks… lightweights…LOL!
Report Post »cookcountypatriot
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 5:37pmdid they all walk out of the class rubbing thier lil butts..lol
TeaPartyNation_
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 5:35pmUnder the failed policies of the lunatic-left d-cRAT socialists, the ONLY non-government jobs available in America are the McJobs at fast food dispensaries. Given its total lack of rigorous standards, Arizona State University is leading the nation in producing the most coveted d-cRAT socialist job applicants, the FBAs (Future Burger-flippers of America). In addition to this rigorous FBA “education” ASU also ranks at the top of the “party school list.” Students at ASU are 99.9% of the time so high on pot they haven‘t a clue which planet they’re on.
Given such a demanding campus life at ASU, how can anybody be surprised that some faculty clown is “forced” to use taxpayer money to pay these students to get drunk? Let‘s all hope that this distraction doesn’t affect the quality of the FBA’s comimng out of ASU – I certainly would hate to have my next big mac improperly cooked.
Report Post »Mr. Oshawott
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 5:33pmAh, nothing like making a salary from being used as a guinea pig by drinking yourself into a stupor. No wonder why I have this negative mindset towards college nowadays – many, if not most, of the college students there are getting more unruly each and every day. Trustworthy allies are exceedingly rare there, at least at the college (or shall I say “indoctrination camp”) that I’ve went to for three years.
Report Post »SoiledDove
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 5:53pmI have a negative mindset toward colleges because they keep producing students who have not mastered even the most basic academic skills. Grammar would be one example.
Report Post »biohazard23
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 5:25pmJeez…. You mean I could have gotten PAID for drinking in college??? I went to the wrong school…….
And yes, @Bitter Clinger, that does sound like a girl’s drink. But it’s not so girly when you adjust the vodka vs cranberry ratio. Just sayin. :)
Report Post »TumbleBumble
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 5:21pmISLESFORDIAN ~
Exactly. :)
Report Post »Old Truckers
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 5:06pmThis is why all you well meaning parents send your kids to college, pay the big bucks, scrimp and save, to give your kids a higher education.
Report Post »HOWTHESAUSAGEGETSMADE
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 5:21pmYou’ve got the “high” part correct.
Report Post »junior1971
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 5:02pmPerhaps they should study crack, herione, acid, etc,etc,etc, frekin morons!
Report Post »SoiledDove
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 5:02pmOK, I give up. To anyone who is outraged by this story: How exactly did you think the effects of alcohol are studied?
Report Post »YellowFin
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 6:02pmThe effects of alcohol consumption has been known for centuries. It seems silly to do another “study”.
Maybe some people are slow learners.
Report Post »loriann12
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 6:18pmAt least they used kids over 21, and volunteers.
Report Post »Hula Calhoun
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 7:00pmWhat did they need the bar, the top 40 music and the soft lights for? Wouldn’t the kids drink without it?
Report Post »ilovethiscountry
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 5:01pmSomebody needs to find out what people do when they are at .08. It is a controlled environment.
Report Post »bitter clinger
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 5:01pmThat sounds like a girls drink.Why not burbon or beer?
Report Post »Fly Old Glory 24/7 365
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 4:58pmAbsolutly nothing surprises me anymore. We live in a crazy world and sometimes I just wish the world would stop and let me off….
Report Post »The_Almighty_Creestof
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 5:06pmThis is where we need to cut the USA budget…cause you know damn well that this is coming from grant money from the government given direct to the professors or deterred to this BS TNIAAA.
Report Post »TumbleBumble
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 4:55pm“the way they play slot machine games (place larger bets and lose money faster, researchers found).”
LOL! I learned that as a kid, watching my step-dad. Nice work, professor!
Report Post »Islesfordian
Posted on July 22, 2011 at 5:10pmNothing like getting grant money to confirm the obvious.
Report Post »