Alcohol unleashes homo economicus by inhibiting cooperation.

Human behavior lies somewhere between purely self-interested homo economicus and socially-motivated homo reciprocans. The factors that cause people to choose self-interest over costly cooperation can provide insights into human nature and are essential when designing institutions and policies that a...

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Autores principales:	Paul J Zak, Kylene Hayes, Elizabeth Paulson, Edward Stringham
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/96cccab560b74698a50ac2a00f6739ca
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:96cccab560b74698a50ac2a00f6739ca2021-12-02T20:10:17ZAlcohol unleashes homo economicus by inhibiting cooperation.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0253296https://doaj.org/article/96cccab560b74698a50ac2a00f6739ca2021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253296https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Human behavior lies somewhere between purely self-interested homo economicus and socially-motivated homo reciprocans. The factors that cause people to choose self-interest over costly cooperation can provide insights into human nature and are essential when designing institutions and policies that are meant to influence behavior. Alcohol consumption can shed light on the inflection point between selfish and selfless because it is commonly consumed and has global effects on the brain. The present study administered alcohol or placebo (N = 128), titrated to sex and weight, to examine its effect on cooperation in a standard task in experimental economics, the public goods game (PGG). Alcohol, compared to placebo, doubled the number of free-riders who contributed nothing to the public good and reduced average PGG contributions by 32% (p = .005). This generated 64% higher average profits in the PGG for those who consumed alcohol. The degree of intoxication, measured by blood alcohol concentration, linearly reduced PGG contributions (r = -0.18, p = .05). The reduction in cooperation was traced to a deterioration in mood and an increase in physiologic stress as measured by adrenocorticotropic hormone. Our findings indicate that moderate alcohol consumption inhibits the motivation to cooperate and that homo economicus is stressed and unhappy.Paul J ZakKylene HayesElizabeth PaulsonEdward StringhamPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 6, p e0253296 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Paul J Zak Kylene Hayes Elizabeth Paulson Edward Stringham Alcohol unleashes homo economicus by inhibiting cooperation.
description	Human behavior lies somewhere between purely self-interested homo economicus and socially-motivated homo reciprocans. The factors that cause people to choose self-interest over costly cooperation can provide insights into human nature and are essential when designing institutions and policies that are meant to influence behavior. Alcohol consumption can shed light on the inflection point between selfish and selfless because it is commonly consumed and has global effects on the brain. The present study administered alcohol or placebo (N = 128), titrated to sex and weight, to examine its effect on cooperation in a standard task in experimental economics, the public goods game (PGG). Alcohol, compared to placebo, doubled the number of free-riders who contributed nothing to the public good and reduced average PGG contributions by 32% (p = .005). This generated 64% higher average profits in the PGG for those who consumed alcohol. The degree of intoxication, measured by blood alcohol concentration, linearly reduced PGG contributions (r = -0.18, p = .05). The reduction in cooperation was traced to a deterioration in mood and an increase in physiologic stress as measured by adrenocorticotropic hormone. Our findings indicate that moderate alcohol consumption inhibits the motivation to cooperate and that homo economicus is stressed and unhappy.
format	article
author	Paul J Zak Kylene Hayes Elizabeth Paulson Edward Stringham
author_facet	Paul J Zak Kylene Hayes Elizabeth Paulson Edward Stringham
author_sort	Paul J Zak
title	Alcohol unleashes homo economicus by inhibiting cooperation.
title_short	Alcohol unleashes homo economicus by inhibiting cooperation.
title_full	Alcohol unleashes homo economicus by inhibiting cooperation.
title_fullStr	Alcohol unleashes homo economicus by inhibiting cooperation.
title_full_unstemmed	Alcohol unleashes homo economicus by inhibiting cooperation.
title_sort	alcohol unleashes homo economicus by inhibiting cooperation.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/96cccab560b74698a50ac2a00f6739ca
work_keys_str_mv	AT pauljzak alcoholunleasheshomoeconomicusbyinhibitingcooperation AT kylenehayes alcoholunleasheshomoeconomicusbyinhibitingcooperation AT elizabethpaulson alcoholunleasheshomoeconomicusbyinhibitingcooperation AT edwardstringham alcoholunleasheshomoeconomicusbyinhibitingcooperation
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Alcohol unleashes homo economicus by inhibiting cooperation.

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