1997_04 The Daily Collegian April 1997

              •
THE DAILY
COLLEGIAN
Tuesday, April 29, 1997
Back Page
Games
Continued from page 1.
months ago realized there were a
lot of women playing the game as •
well." Bosnium said. "Wc did a
search and found oul about Case
beating one of Quake's designers.'*
In her spare time away from the
Internet and classes. Case creates
and designs new levels for Quake.
"I would love to become a level
designer, designing the levels of the
games." she said. "You would ac¬
tually gel paid fantastic money for
playing a game."
Fraud
Continued from page 1.
nized crime racquet. In this
country . credit caqj companies,
banks and retail establishments
suffer losses totaling-more then
52 billion annually as the result
of credit card fraud.
Jackson's study ."Fraud
Masters: Professional Credit
Card Offenders and Crime."
identifies and discusses the
nuxlus operandi of a clique of
14 professional thieves who
earn six-digit figures annually
from credit card offenses. The most
striking aspect of Professor
Jackson's research is that none of
his subjects have ever been arrested
for crimes relating to credit card
fraud.
Jackson, who also serves as an
associate pastor at St. Rest church
in Fresno, says "whether an inves¬
tigator is engaged in getting his or
her hands dirty in real research or
not, all research is hard work."
He was first introduced to sev¬
eral of these fraud masters by a le¬
gally sanctioned business operator.
It took Jackson almost six years lo
culminate the research on this gang.
He spent ihe first several months
breaking the ice and earning the
trust of these active criminals.
"Studying the response of the
subjects when they are incarcerated
is remarkably different then observ¬
ing them when they arc freely en¬
gaging in illegal acts."
An important issue this Fresno
Slate professor had to be aware of
in his research was, never crossing
the lines of research or never en¬
gaging in any act which would clas¬
sify him as an accomplice.
Most of the subjects in Jackson's
study arc college graduates who
have aptly identified the loopholes
in the consumer markets and eco¬
nomic system. \
In spite of the immense appar¬
ent monetary benefits to credit card
companies and banks as the result
of his research, none came forward
to sponsor Professor Jackson's
work. He is in the process of writ¬
ing a masterpiece on credit card
crimes which could be the most ex¬
tensive work in this sphere. Surpris¬
ingly, he has not been able to at¬
tract major publishers.
Jackson, a renowned person in
the criminal justice field, is leav¬
ing for Dallas next week to attend
a theological conference which
would focus on the relationship
between crime and religion.
Baby
Continued from page 1.
She says that babies can take in
all they see. all the different faces
they are exposed lo. and create an
ideal example.
"They form prototypes. go<xl ex¬
amples." she says, "by adding in all
the) see. If you take faces and av¬
erage them all together, you get a
really attractive face."
This can be done with computer
simulations where many faces can
be fused together and the product
will be much more attractive than
any of the individual parts.
Having a staring contest with an
adult won't work as well, but Ritter
says that there are certain behaviors
even adults are guilty of when it
comes to dealing with physical ap¬
pearance.
"People who are attractive elicit
expectations that they'll be compe¬
tent and sociable and so people lend
to treat them in a way that's consis¬
tent with that."
But is an opinion of what's at¬
tractive really a universal one?
Don'l diffreni people find different
types' of people attractive? Accord¬
ing to Ritter, wc don't.
"People arc remarkably consis¬
tent in their judgements of attrac¬
tiveness.   It's not as subjective as
people assume il is."
There are certain features, such
as a symmetrical face, and certain
opinions of attractiveness, that arc-
found in almost all cultures.
The two aspects of appearance
are physical attractiveness and age
appearance. Ritter is now working
on a study that deals with the eld¬
erly and hiring preferences.
"We're trying to see if how old
they appear predicts hiring deci¬
sions because there are stereotypes
against older workers." she said.
"The stereotypes arc that older
workers are slow workers, that they
don't learn things as quickly."
Quite the opposite is the case.
"The evidence shows that the
AppciDeAcz90^s now r?E9tfg accepted!
Applications for the Fall 1997 semester are now being accepted for the
following paid positions:
Sports Writers
Copy Editors
Staff Writers
Columnists
Music Reviewers
Movie Reviewers
Photographers
Layout Artists
Graphic Artists
Ad Reps
Business Manager
Ad Manager
Circulation Manager
Production Manager
Sports Editor
News Editor
Features/Opinion Editor
Managing Editor
Photo Editor
Male Swimwear Model
Staff Psychologist
Transcendental Meditator"
Applications can be obtained and returned to The Daily Collegian office
located in the Keats Campus Building. We offer long hours, no benefits,
grouchy working associates and a building that couldn't meet 1911
building codes. But we do offer a lovely view of the Kennel Bookstore
from our spacious picture window.
older workers are actually more
conscientious than younger work¬
ers and are more capable and com¬
petent." she said. "The stereotypes
do not reflect reality, but they're
fairly pervasive nonetheless."
Another study Ritter was in¬
volved with that was even a bit con¬
troversial was one involving moth¬
ers' attitudes and behaviors towards
their babies.
In the study, the behavior of the
mothers during feeding and play¬
ing was observed in the first few
days of the baby's life.
The mothers were also given a
questionnaire regarding their feel¬
ings towards their babies. This pro¬
cess was repeated when the baby
was 3 months old. The startling
results revealed that mothers show
preferential treatment to babies who
are more attractive, a» opposed to
mothers who have less attractive
babies.
"We found that mothers of at¬
tractive babies were more likely to
play affectionately with them."
Ritter said. "And mothers of less
attractive babies were more likely
to engage in routine care-giving
types of behaviors and they were
also more likely to pay attention'to
other people, rather than their
baby."
But when it came time for the
questionnaire, the mothers reported
perfectly positive feelings toward
their babies, no matter what their
appearance. There is a subcon¬
scious element to such behavior.
"There's much more to who we
are than our mere physical appear¬
ance." Ritter said. "And how wc
look is not the most fundamental
component in determining what we
arc like."
Ritter has published her studies
in various journals and has pre¬
sented her findings at various semi¬
nars and conferences. She is a
mother of two. She received her
Ph.D. from the University of Texas
at Austin and then came to teach at
Fresno Stale in 1990. Developmen¬
tal psychology is her specialty.
Title
Continued from page 2.
you loo want a change. They have
had their day in the sun. Heck,
they've had two weeks worth. It is
time for a new champion.
Let us fantasize. How about a
Chicago-L. A. Lakers finals, and
Shaquillc O'Neal dunks it with no
time remaining in the final game to
win it for the Lakers. Or picture
this: a New York-L. A. Lakers fi¬
nals. Knicks vs. Lakers conjures up
old visions of past rivalry, which
included players like Willis Reed
and Will Chamberlain. Yes, the TV
sporlscastcrs would love thai
match-up. Today's Knicks-Lakcrs
would feature Shaq vs. Patrick
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Ewing. Look out someone might
■ get hurt. Or how about a Miami vs.
Utah championship series? With
Utah finally winning an NBA
championship as Malonc and
Stockton ride off into a western sun¬
set.
Chicago has all the pieces to re¬
tain the NBA championship. And
of course Michael Jordan is a great
player. Jordan will go down as one
of the NBAs greatest players. Nol
even one NBA learn has a solution
to beat Jordan. The myriad amount
of moves Jordan has in his arsenal
make him totally unpredictable. If
a player is unpredictable, he is un¬
stoppable.
The Bull most likely will win,
but is there hope for the other
teams? Yes, of course there is hope.
There are and have been upsets. On
paper, the Bulls look invincible, but
they must physically win these
playoff games. One of the stronger
learns could upset, as anything is
possible. Remember in the NCAA
final, Arizona beat heavily favored
Kentucky.
Possibly, the Knicks, Jazz, Heat
and Rockets could be the next NBA
champion. One Of ihcm would like
a turn as NBA champion (the Rock¬
ets are a recent NBA champion).
Maybe, dreams do come true and a
new 1997 NBA champion will be
crowned.