"Its a science project!"
Posted on 07/23/2011 11:44:44 PM PDT by nickcarraway
ASU kids are drinking in class, and unlike when I was in college, it’s actually encouraged.
Arizona State University has quite the reputation and it’s not for math, science, philosophy, classics, or any other form of education that you would normally find in a classroom. The students attending school in Tempe like to party, and they are damn good at it. Year-in and year-out the Sun Devils rank high amongst the nations elite party schools. Academically they aren’t exactly as well respected.
So today when my dad texted me this morning about an Arizona Republic report that the school has a bar in a nondescript third floor classroom of the Psychology department, my first reaction was “of course they do.” If I had to guess one school that would try to legitimize getting drunk as a class requirement, ASU would be near the top of my list.
Now of course my initial reaction was unfairly judgmental of ASU’s administration, students, faculty and staff, but I’m a University of Arizona fan so I can’t help myself.
After I got past my prejudice I found Dr. William Corbin’s alcohol research to be both interesting and enlightening. Surprisingly enough, his drunken psychology lab is entirely legitimate. The fact that Dr. Corbin was teaching at Yale for 7 years before moving to Arizona State immediately gave his research a greater sense of validity. He specializes in the causes and consequences of alcohol use and abuse.
A couple nights a week a handful of students head to Dr. Corbin’s lab to socialize and get drunk. The room has been designed to recreate the bar atmosphere from the dim lighting, music and televisions. Over the course of a half hour each student is given three drinks, all of them the same combination of 7UP, lime juice, cranberry juice and vodka. The goal is to reach the the legal limit of .08.
After the subjects reach the target inebriation level researchers perform memory tests and ask hypothetical questions in order to determine how the brain operates under the influence. Some of the results are rather predictable, such as their finding that we are more likely to spend money recklessly when drunk.
But the results of some studies were actually rather interesting:
In another study, Corbin used computer exercises and found participants are more motivated to avoid risky behavior by the likelihood of negative consequences than by the severity of the consequences. According to Corbin, these results suggest that increasing the frequency of DUI checkpoints may discourage drinking and driving more than toughening DUI penalties.
Some of the other more interesting focuses of Dr. Corbin and his team are the genetic factors that go into someone’s alcohol use and the effects of stress and poverty on drinking habits.
And the best part is the students don’t have to worry about their tab at the end of the night, it’s being taken care of by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. In fact they are not only fitting the bill but they’re also getting paid to drink. Each student who participates in the study earns $60 a night and are given cab rides back home.
The only negative appears to be the fact Dr. Corbin makes his subjects sober up before heading out, giving them soda, chips and salsa while they play video games and watch TV. So to recap, this study includes: free food, free booze, video games, TV, hypothetical questions, gambling and $60. It seems like a typical college Thursday pregame, minus the free money and the fact that it concludes in sobriety.
Not bad ASU, I have a newfound respect for a small part of your Psychology department; but aside from that, Ike Davis and Phil Mickleson, I still hate you guys.
So none of the cited results were from this particular study. Which means this is exactly what it appears to be - a spin puff piece, no doubt requested by ASU, which is getting flack for this psych prof.
It's just another lame-ass government psych grant, folks. If it has any real aspect to it, it's nothing to do with alcohol, but rather the effectiveness of various manipulative influences on college kids in such a social environment.
Can you spell measuring political indoctrination influence techniques? I thought you could.
Remember - it's for Obama's government. So the results have to appeal to Obama's government.
Think I'm paranoid? Read the news and get back to me.
With that being said, I’d definitely sign up for it.
It’s one of the few jobs that there are ones waiting in the wings to work for less, and without having to stoop to the hiring of illegal aliens.
You actually might have a point.
Socialist regimes have historically shown a tendency to stigmatize alcohol use. When people drink they are much harder to control. It puts things in perspective and provides an escape from the revolutionary fervor that “the Party” tries to inculcate within its subjects. They’d much prefer to keep alcohol as one of those “luxuries” that can only be afforded to those high ranking party members who sacrifice day in and day out for the good of the people.
I wouldn’t put it past BHO to try the same thing. Socialists in this country have always looked for excuses to increase checkpoints, lower legal BAC limits, and generally make alcohol use increasingly inconvenient and frowned upon. They’d much prefer that we plebs not have access to it at all.
Some of the other more interesting focuses of Dr. Corbin and his team are the genetic factors that go into someone’s alcohol use and the effects of stress and poverty on drinking habits.
Visit a rehab center.
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