however, and there were no significant effects of actual ingested alcohol between the get-alcohol groups and the no-alcohol groups. On the other hand, the POMS revealed greater tension in the high-racism subjects only based on actual ingestion, not expectancy. The results therefore partially support the hypothesis; when subjects in the high-racism group believed that had drunk alcohol, they did increase their racist or discriminatory behaviors. There also was, however, some effect with actual consumption that Reeves and Nagoshi previously believed could be overridden by the expectancy effect. Because the subjects of this experiment consisted of only white undergraduate males, the external validity could have been greater. Further testing could be conducted with females, other races, and varied social situations or dependent measures for the results to be better generalized to other populations.

The subjects were randomly assigned a man to observe and during the three minutes of blank tape that followed each segment, the subject rated his actions using a scale of categorized behaviors. At the end of the experiment, the subjects completed the POMS, an alcohol use questionnaire, and manipulation check (to control for demand characteristics). The results of the subjects’ rating scales showed that the high-racism subjects who expected alcohol acted with more discrimination than the high-racism subjects who did not expect alcohol. There was no significant difference for the low-racism subjects,

The second IV, alcohol expectancy, had three conditions. Subjects either expected alcohol and received it, expected alcohol and did not receive it, or did not expect alcohol and did not receive it. Eighty-two white male undergraduates from Arizona State University were chosen for this experiment. They were selected based on their general health, ability to physically and legally ingest alcohol, and levels of racism. For the experiment, subjects were randomly assigned to the three groups. The subjects who expected to receive alcohol and indeed did ingest it received a mixed drink of one part 95% ethyl alcohol and seven parts soda. The other two groups received pure soda drinks, and 5 ml of ethanol was added to all drink conditions to control for taste confounds. After those subjects who had received alcohol had their BALs verified, testing began. All subjects watched five 2-minute video clips of interaction between a white man and a black man.

Though it had been previously suggested that alcohol ingestion allows people to engage in inappropriate behavior, there had not been any studies specifically concerning the effect of alcohol on people’s levels of prejudice. Because of this lack of research, Reeves and Nagoshi explored this subject in 1993. The experimenters hypothesized that the subjects with predetermined high prejudice levels would increase their prejudiced actions when they believed that they had ingested alcoholic beverages. To test this hypothesis, Reeves and Nagoshi implemented a between-subjects factorial design with two independent variables. The first IV, the subjects’ level of racism, is a non-manipulative subject variable. Two levels were used; those who scored in the top or bottom 40% of the Modern Racism Scale were placed in either the high or low racism group (respectively).

As a member of Psi Chi, I intend to help foster the development and growth of psychology as a science among undergraduate students. I’m excited for the opportunity to join Psi Chi; I agree with its constitution and greatly value the organization’s commitment to serving the student community (especially undergraduates). My contributions to Psi Chi will include attending meetings, familiarizing myself with the workings of the society, suggesting new ideas for events or other forms of enrichment, helping to bridge the gap between undergraduates and graduates/faculty, and being an overall active member of the organization. Because of my interest in social science and research in general, I believe my participation in Psi Chi would be quite rewarding and I would be honored to be part of the organization.