Page 2
THE BATTALION
WEDNESDAY, APR. 21, 1976
Have you been seeing yourself around campus lately;
By DOUGLAS KIRK
Feature Contributor
When was the last time you stood
in the bathroom making faces at the
mirror? If someone dropped their
books, would you help pick them
up? If a girl asked you to dance, what
would you say? Did you know that
your GPR may be related to your
study posture?
Students of Psychology 350
(Psychological Assessment) have
been investigating these and other
questions around the A&M campus
recently. The course is being taught
by Dr. Donald Woods who stimu
lated the students with an assign
ment he hoped would teach the po
tential of “unobstrusive measures” of
naturally occurring behavior.
“Human behavior is a network of
interwoven response tendencies,”
he told the class. “Too often be
havioral scientists isolate behavior
from its ecology through laboratory
experimentation, or seek indirect
evidence for response dispositions
through the infamous 'personality
test’.” Woods’ assignment was in
tended to broaden students’ concep
tions of psychological assessment, by
encouraging them to think in
categorical terms about the
naturally-occurring behavior around
them. Their task was to decide on
some behavior of interest to them on
or around campus, and to look for
some relationship between degrees
or types of this behavior and some
other variable.
“I want you to be imaginative,”
Woods stressed and advised against
the invasion of privacy, thereby rul
ing out the use of hidden cameras,
one way mirrors and concealed
sound-recording equipment. The
young scientists were unleashed.
BEHIND DOORS
Claryllie Warzecha peered
around the corner with pen and ruler
in hand and slipped into an empty
bathroom stall. There she carefully
measured the amount of toilet paper
present and noted the general slop
piness (number of cigarette butts,
water on the floor, discarded Battal
ions) and the amount of grafitti.
She repeated this procedure in
each stall in 30 bathrooms on cam
pus. An associate of hers checked for
similar indications of stall use in
men’s rooms around campus.
Interestingly, she found a signific
ant tendency for females to frequent
the stall furthest from the door,
perhaps in an effort to reach solitude
in this overpopulated world. The
males, however, did not necessarily
seek locations away from bathroom
entrances, but tended to use stalls
furthest away from sinks.
Grooming behavior was observed
by two of Woods’ students. Brenda
Green arranged to have men and
women observed as they groomed
themselves in MSG restrooms. The
sample of males groomed them
selves an average of 21 seconds while
women spent an average of 115 sec
onds engaged in this activity. During
grooming, the men were more silent
than the women. Only 10 per cent of
the men spoke while grooming, but
60 per cent of the women kept right
on talking.
Steve Ryter classified male stu
dents into three categories and then
observed various activities at re
stroom sinks. Sixty per cent of the
“kickers” combed their hair as did 70
per cent of the “conservatives” and
40 per cent of the “freaks”. It seemed
that freaks preferred to wash their
hands and did so more often than the
other two groups. Seventy per cent
of the “freaks” washed as did 50 per
cent of the “conservatives”. Just 30
per cent of the “kickers” bothered to
wash. Women readers may wish to
use this information for date selec
tion — remember, neatly combed
hair does not necessarily indicate
clean hands. “Conservatives” spent
the most time at the sink, an average
of 28 seconds.
THE UT FACTOR
Around campus, the Psychology
350 students found other unusual
behaviors. Cindy Whitten was in
terested in breath-holders. She at
tempted to assess the differing de
gree to which 1), environmental con
trol, or, 2) personal control of be
havior can affect behavioral per
formance. She asked one group of
students to hold their breath and
told them that she was studying the
effects of environmental pollution.
The average breath-holding time for
this group was 56 seconds. She asked
a second group to hold their breath
and explained to them that they
Town Hall congratulated
Editor:
We would like to take this oppor
tunity to thank the Town Hall Com
mittee for finally bringing to Texas
A&M the quality rock concert the
students deserve. To the students
who follow rock bands but missed
Baby and Journey, we offer our
sympathy — it was a great concert.
Luckily, the embarrassingly small
crowd did not inhibit either band
and those who attended were
treated to a super performance. As
for the audience response, one could
not have asked for a better concert
mood. At last, the students found the
courage to initiate a new tradition to
A&M music concerts. For once, the
Aggies moved the habits traditional
to the midnight cruises out Wellborn
Road right into Jolly Rollie to enjoy
the smokin-toking atmosphere of a
good hand-clapping, foot-stomping
raunch and roll rock concert. Keep
up the good work, Town Hall. You
have the support of the country-
western fans, and the support of tbe
rock and roll fans is forthcoming.
Rick Brenneman
Greg Etheridge
Texas oil reserves decline
Associated Press
HOUSTON ^— Current trends in
dicate Alaska will replace Texas this
year as the No. 1 state in crude oil
reserves.
Alaska’s reserves have remained
rather steady while work continues
on the Trans-Alaska pipeline. Texas
reserves meanwhile have declined
sharply and no reversal pattern is in
sight.
The new American Petroleum In
stitute report on crude oil reserves
estimates Texas reserves declined in
1975 by 921 million barrels for a
year-end total of 10.08 billion bar
rels.
Alaska finished the year with
10.03 billion barrels, a decline of
only 56 million barrels.
A similar pattern this year would
put Alaska in first place at about 9.9
billion barrels and drop Texas into
the runner-up spot at about 9.1 bil
lion barrels.
The dominant Texas position on
natural gas reserves is in no im
mediate danger although its proved
reserves have declined each year
since attaining a record level of 125
trillion cubic feet in 1967.
The new American Gas Associa
tion reserves report gave Texas an
estimate of 71 trillion cubic feet at
the end of 1975, a decline of 7.5
trillion for the year.
Like natural gas, Texas additions
to crude oil reserves also have fallen
far short of actual production.
The Texas decline in crude oil re
serves, however, dates back to 1951
when the state held a record esti
mate of 15.3 billion barrels. Texas
crude reserves have increased in
only six of the 24 years since then,
including only once in the past eight
years.
In crude reserves, Louisiana fol
lows Texas and Alaska at 3.8 billion
barrels. California is in the fourth
spot at 3.6 billion.
Louisiana continues in the No. 2
spot in natural gas at 61.3 trillion
cubic feet, followed by Alaska at 32
trillion and Oklahoma at 13 trillion.
ALLEN
Oldsmobile
Cadillac
SALES - SERVICE
"Where mtisfaetion is
standard equipment
2401 Texas Ave.
823-8002
^7e ( Txirquoise G Stlpp
MANOR EAST MALL
PRICES FROM $6.00 — UP
UmammcuB
10% AGGIE DISCOUNT WITH I.D. CARD
OPEN 11:00 A.M. DAILY
were being compared to students at
the University of Texas. The average
breath-holding time was 67 seconds
— perhaps symbolizing a gasping
desire to beat UT in the coming foot
ball season. The difference illus
trates the effect of motivation on be
havioral performance.
Door-holding behavior opened
the imagination of Kay Keelan. She
found that 80 per cent of a sample of
male corps cadets held a door for a
female while 57 per cent of civilian
males did the same. She also found
that 23 per cent of males judged to be
attractive held the door for unattrac
tive females. Forty-seven per cent of
the unattractive males showed their
true-blue nature by holding the door
for unattractive females.
IN TIGHT
Loaded down with books, Dottie
Robinson repeatedly dropped her
notebook in the library elevator. She
found that 60 per cent of the males
and only 40 per cent of the females
were willing to help her.
Also studying behavior in an
elevator was Linda Hosea. She
found that males and females tend to
look at different things as they ride
the elevator. Males prefer to look
straight ahead (48 per cent) and
women like to look at the numbers
above the door (47 per cent). About
equal proportions (29 per cent) of
both groups were found to look at the
elevator floor. (In my own research,
I have found that women do tend to
look at the numbers, but in my sam
ple, the males did not prefer looking
straight ahead, but rather, at the
women.)
Karen Blaschke studied seat selec
tion in A&M’s shuttle buses. She
analyzed the behavior of 200 sub
jects and found that 62 per cent of
the men and 83 per cent of the
women selected window seats. In
contrast, 20 per cent of the males
took aisle seats while only 5 per cent
of the females selected similar seats.
Ruth Conway works as a waitress
when not attending classes. She is
concerned with the lack of a
mechanistic society to remember a
person’s name. In her study for
Woods’ class, she determined
whether or not certain groups of
people would remember her name
after she waited on them in a re
staurant. Unexpectedly, slightly
more women remembered her name
than men. Age, race, and
student/non-student status seemed
to play no significant role.
WOMEN’S LIB
Ellen Kennedy wanted to deter
mine if men are really ready for lib
erated women. She wrote in her re
port, “I asked ten guys (to dance, at
the Peanut Gallery) . . . they all
seemed rather shocked but pleased.
I think it helped their ego, but that is
beside the point.” All the men she
asked to dance did dance with her.
She also asked men to take her
seat on the shuttle bus. All refused.
She opened doors for another group
of men. Sixty per cent stammered
around and tried to hold the door for
her. The remaining 40 per cent
either went in without thanks or
thanked Kennedy for her good deed.
She then administered a question
naire which asked questions such as
“If on a crowded bus a woman of
fered you her seat, would you take
it?” Thirty-two per cent said yes.
Other questions attemptedt|
the relative feeling toward#
liberation. In general, fcj
concluded that men arei
paper, but not in practice,
She wrote, “I know ontl
though, if more girls start!
guys out, and if they would]
dance, this campus mightres
former excitement.” Indet
deed.
WHILE AT WORK |
In study behavior, itwasfi
Josephine Moore thatGPRi|
lated somewhat with studyp
It seems that the higherGPi
viduals share poor posture#
lower GPR individuals wliilt|
age GPR students have |
ure. The next time someonett
to straighten up in youn
them that you are working j
coming a genius.
The college campus isan
of people and behavior. Itis|
where minds are molded a
sonalities take on many sla
you stop for a moment youn|
an awareness, that people,a
said and done, are only tun
7.95
9.95
Cbe Battalion
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editor Represented nationally by National Educational Advertising Serv
er of the writer of the article and are not necessarily those of ices, Inc., New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles.
the university administration or the Board of Regents. The ! ' ; "
D i. . c-j. ir ^ x / Mail subscriptions are $16.75 per semester; $33.25 per school
Battalion is a non-projit, selj supporting enterprise operated coc nr, F c n *n u • ^ u- . * ee* i
. , . . , . year; $35.00 per lull year. All subscriptions subject to 5% sales
by student as a university and community newspaper. tax Advertising rate f urn ished on request. Address; The Battalion,
Editorial policy is determined by the editor. Room 217, Services Building, College Station, Texas 77843.
_ "^ le Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for repro
duction of all news dispatched credited to it or not otherwise
credited in the paper and local news of spontaneous origin pub-
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and are lished herein. Rights of reproduction of all other matter herein
subject to being cut to that length or less if longer. The are also reserved.
editorial staff reserves the right to edit such letters and does Second-Class postage paid at College Station, Texas.
not guarantee to publish any letter. Each letter must be ^ f ^ l(
signed, show the address of the writer and list a telephone Managing Editor '.!!! ^^ i ^ i^ ii ^ ii i ^ .Richard ChamTierla!"
number for verification. City Editor Jamie Aitken
Campus Editor Kevin Venner
Sports Editor Paul Arnett
Address correspondence to Listen Up, The Battalion, Room Photo Director Jim Hendrickson
217, Services Building, College Station, Texas 77843. News Editor Lloyd Lietz
A special gift for any Aggie —
available only from
News Office
Supply Co.
108 College Main
Northgate
RING
Top of the Tower
Texas A&M Universitl
Pleasant Dining — Great Vm
SERVING LUNCHEON BUFFET
11:00 A.M. - 1:30 P.M.
Each day except Saturday
BankAmericard
$2.50 DAILY
$3.00 SUNDAY
Serving soup if sandwich
11:00 A.M. - 1:30 P.M.
Monday - Friday
$1.50 plus drink
Available Evenings
For Special
University Banquets
Department of Food Service
Texas A&M University
“Quality First”
iTEXi
DANCE.
a part of
senior Weekend
april 30-may 1
Senior Bash
Memorial Dedication
Senior Banquet
Ring Dance
A-V .
C3s >vt¥h»«^'
Tickets available at the Rudder Box Office.
Sponsored by the 1976 Centennial Class.