The Transitive Property of Drinking

Recent research on subjects who attend house parties and situations were alcohol is present has yielded an interesting theory. This theory states that when a subject comes into contact with peers who are significantly more intoxicated than themselves, they seem to absorb and internalize the behavior exhibited by these peers. Example, a female subject walks into a party. Her friends, who are on the dance floor' immediately begin screaming when the subject approaches them. The subject who has just arrived, immediately begins mimmicking this behavior, thus the Transitive Property. This theory is in no way gender restricted, but has been observed more commonly amongst females.

In order for the Transitive Property to occur, three criteria must be met:
1. The subject must have consumed at least one alcoholic beverage over the course of the night, but has not exceeded the threshold of intoxication (.08 BAC).
2. The subject's friends must have consumed significantly more alcohol than the subject and must exceed the threshold for intoxication.
3. The venue of observation must be deemed a "good time" or "happening place" by both the subject and the subject's friends.

The Transitive Property mainfests itself in many different ways, but the overall effect is a seeminly heightened state of inebriation on the subject. This may include loss of inhabitions such as: loss over volume control of the voice, excessive dancing, inablitity to control one's verbal and body language. Other side effects include those commonly associated with alcohol consumption: slurred speech, inability to control one's actions, inability to control one's body or to stand up, or blurring of one's vision.

All of these side effects are related to the subject's "feeling" more intoxicated, without actually "being" more intoxicated. It is very important not to confuse this theory with what is known as the "Placebo Effect." In the Placebo Effect, the subject consumes a drug and begins to exhibit the percived behaviors associated with that drug. For example, a party where non-alcoholic beer is served and the subjects all act drunk even though no one is actually impaired. The Transitive Property explicitly implies that no more of the drug is consumed, yet the subject begins to feel and act more effected by that drug, seemingly through osmosis.

From Alcohol Studies in the Modern World
by Dr. Suss Oren