page 2 - The Behrend College Collegian. Thursday, April 16, 1998
Dr, Eric Corty delivers
“Lessons in Psychology”
by Anne Rajotte
managing editor
Dr. Eric Corty, recipient of last
year’s Council of Fellows Excellence
in Teaching Award, spoke in the Reed
Lecture Hall yesterday as part of the
Provost’s Speaker Series. His talk,
entitled “Lectures in Psychology,”
explored the difficulties psychologists
have dealing with flawed data and test
results.
Dr. Corty received his doctorate
from the University of Indiana at
Bloomington. He had two post doc
torate degrees from the University of
Pennsylvania and Case Western Re
serve. He has worked with heroin ad
dicts in Philadelphia, New York, and
Baltimore and worked in a gender
identity program at Case Western
Reserve.
Dr. Corty's lecture began with a
discussion of the shootings in
Jonesboro, Arkansas, from a
Rohypnol can put
students in danger
by Melissa Roberts
staff writer
Picture this scene: It is the first
weekend of the new semester, a female
college student wants to go out and
have a good time, dance and has no
intention in drinking anything other
then soda. She just wants to relax a
little, socialize and hang out with
friends. She meets a tall, handsome,
dark stranger. They begin talking and
find they have a lot in common, they
are in the same Sociology class, and
le sits two seats ahead of her. He of
fers her a drink and she politely re
fuses, motioning to her soda that was
setting on the table. They dance and
have fun laughing and talking.
Meanwhile, the tall stranger leaves
the woman’s side, promising to return
soon. He walks near the table where
her drink is sitting, drops his wallet on
the floor and in one swift move bends
over picks up the wallet and drops a
small tablet in the woman’s drink. He
psychologist’s view. He showed a Let
ter to the Editor from The New York
Times that said that a school psycholo
gist should have been able to tell that
Andrew Golden and Mitchell Johnson
were disturbed enough to commit this
crime. Dr. Corty stated that he thought
that this overestimated psychology.
He used a hypothetical test to show
how flawed data can produce destruc
tive results. He explained that a test
that would correctly identify 99% of
children that would be future murder
ers and also correctly identify 99% of
children that would not murder in the
future sounds like a fairly accurate
test. However, if 1 child per 1,000 is
a future murderer, then 91% of chil
dren predicted to be future murders
would incorrectly be predicted. The
children wrongly predicted murderers
would have to face ostracization from
schoolmates and counseling for this
problem that was wrongly identified.
returns to her side and he suggests they
go back and finish their drinks and
maybe go for a walk somewhere. The
woman sees no problem in this, fin
ishes her drink and begins feeling
drunk and uncoordinated. She later
passes out and doesn’t awaken for 6
hours. The night of fun and socializ
ing had quickly turned into a foggy
night of horror that she will never re
member and at the same time never
forget.
Like this woman, countless people
are sexually assaulted in similar man
ner. Many of these assaults on col
lege campuses are the result of drugs
added to mixed drinks and other bev
erages. The two drugs that are the re
sult of many of these attacks are
Rohypnol, also known as Ruffies,
Roches, Rope, and the Forget Bill, to
name a few, and GHB, also known as
Liquid Ecstasy, Easy Lay, and Gamma
10. These drugs are the cause of count
less sexual assaults each year.
News
Dr. Corty stated that although he
felt that tests were one of the best pre
dictors of something like violent ten
dencies, “all tests contain errors,” and,
“there is no measurement we have that
is perfectly precise.”
Dr. Corty also discussed a phenom
enon he called, “the field of dreams
effect,” or if you ask, they will answer.
In other words, people like the chil
dren in Jonesboro may be able to give
a reason for their crimes, but it may
not necessarily be the correct one.
People can give credible answers and
not even realize they are lying, or may
give an answer that they think people
want to hear.
Research nihilism is a concept that
asks, if “all data are flawed and we
can know nothing with any certainty;
why bother?” Dr. Corty admitted that
he used to be something of a research
nihilist himself. A psychologist named
D.C. Funder offered two reasons that
Rohypnol is illegal and is a fast-act
ing sedative that may be noticeable
within twenty to thirty minutes.
Rohypnol causes drowsiness, confu
sion, impaired motor skills, dizziness,
and reduced levels of consciousness.
Rohypnol added to alcohol or other
drugs lowers blood pressure, causes
difficulty in breathing, comas and even
death.
GHB has never become FDA ap
proved in the United States because it
has many harmful effects. GHB is a
strong drug that acts as a depressant
to the nervous system. The effects of
this drug can occur as quickly as 15
minutes, and causes vomiting, confu
sion, seizures, drowsiness or in ex-
treme cause can result in a coma.
More recently, the use of drugs have
begun to aid in sexual assaults and the
only way to slow the increase is to
make people aware of the risks and
signs of the drug, so if they themselves
or a friend are a victim, they know the
changed his mind.
First, Funder stated, “There are only
two kinds of data. The first kind is
Terrible Data: data that are ambigu
ous, potentially misleading, incom
plete, and imprecise. The second kind
is No Data. Unfortunately, there is no
third kind, anywhere in the world.”
Second, Funder stated, “Something
beats nothing, two times out of three.”
Dr. Corty reiterated Funder’s point
by saying that even though data may
be flawed, some information is better
than no information. He expanded on
his point by saying that many great
things have been accomplished with
flawed data.
Audience members asked Dr. Corty
about the application of his ideas in
situations at Behrend, including the
Student Response to Teacher Effec
tiveness (SRTE) forms that students
fill out at the end of the semester.
appropriate manner in which to find
help.
The first step towards slowing the
increase is prevention. If you don’t put
yourself at risk, then you won’t have
to worry about dealing with the con
sequences. The most important rules
at parties or in the presence of some
one who you do not know or trust are:
never drink beverages that you don’t
open yourself; never drink a punch of
any kind; don’t drink from a container
that is being passed around; and never
leave your drink unattended. Also,
throw away any drinks that have been
left unattained and never drink any
thing with an unusual taste or appear
ance. Patty Pasky McMahon, coordi
nator of the Behrend Health and
Wellness Center, emphasizes, “Never
drink from a community punch bowl
and never accept a drink, whether it is
alcoholic, pop, water, anything, unless
you see exactly where it comes from.”
When going out with friends appoint
a “sober” person who watches out for
the rest of the group. Make periodic
checks on all the parties in your group
and if any of them seem overly intoxi
cated or pass out and cannot be
awakened easily you need to take them
to safety and if necessary, call 911 for
emergency assistance. If you see any
one hanging around the punch bowl at
a party try talking to the person and
discard the entire bowl of punch. If
you hear of a place where you think
people have been given these drugs let
as many people as you can be aware
of the potentially dangerous situation.
There are many signs that you have
been drugged by Rohypnol or GHB.
If you drink a questionable beverage,
then look for the following symptoms:
feeling a lot more intoxicated then you
actually are, feeling hung over, or feel
ing “fuzzy.” If you remember taking
a drink, but don’t remember anything
that happened from the time you took
the drink to the time you woke up, or
if you feel as though you have had sex
but do not remember anything before,
during or after, then you may have
been drugged and sexually assaulted.
In the case that you have been
drugged you must first go to a safe
place and get help immediately. Call
the police and go to the hospital and
get medical assistance. Tell the hos
pital you think you have been drugged
and would like a drug test. Do not
shower or urinate. Do not throw away
any articles of clothing you were wear
ing during the incident. You may also
want to call the rape crisis center for
information about support groups or
the possibility of talking to a personal
counselor.
One-third of all males and females
have been involved in a violent dating
situation, and 20% of these result in
reports of forced sexual intercourse or
rape. Anyone can become a victim,
and the problem won’t stop until
people identify the problem and take
actions in stopping it.
McMahon also “urges people to
change their ways of socializing so we
can stop giving advantages to people
who would use these drugs.”
If you have any further questions
about Rohypnol, GHB, sexual assault,
or rape, Ms. McMahon would be more
then happy to set up a confidential
appointment and discuss your con
cerns with her.
lolice And Safety
REP O R T :
04/08/98 Complainant reported finding beer cans in room
22 of the library.
04/08/98 Report of a fire alarm in Elliot Hall. Could not
give a specific apartment where it was. Housing said they
accidently tripped a sprinkler and there was no fire.
04/08/98 Bowling club wrote on the sidewalk behind
Reed. Checked it out and found no obscene language or
intolerant discussion. All the writing was in chalk.
04/10/98 Observed two white males near the Housing
golf cart. Both ran when asked to stop. One was later
apprehended and charged with a violation.
04/12/98 Complainant reported that an alarm was going
off in apartment 307 A. Upon arrival no one was home.
Entered apartment and found the alarm to be the alarm
clock going off. Secured scene.
Do you think marijuana
should be legalized?
Why or why not?
“No, because it is the Devil’s weed.”
-Todd Pounds, 02, Accounting
“Yes because it’s not as harmful as
people think it is.”
“Yes, I think it’s less harmful than
alcohol.”
“No, too many problems.”
-Brian Dacansky, 02, Electrical Engineering
“Probably not.”
-Seth Kimmy, 02, Chemical Engineering
“Yes, it can be used as medicine.”
“Yes because it can be taxed and we
would be out of debt.”
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