3720G-001

This course is designed to provide a broad introduction to the theories, methods, and findings associated with the scientific study of prosocial and antisocial behavior, and to give students the opportunity to generate a research proposal.  Topics to be covered include personal, situational, and interpersonal influences on helping behavior; biological and social factors underlying aggression; and the social psychology of deviance. Emphasis will be placed on experimental data from classic and contemporary studies.

Note that the Psychology Department expects 3000-level courses to have final grade averages near 75%.

Course grades will be based on two Exams and a Research Proposal.  Note:  Final grades cannot be adjusted on the basis of “need” (e.g., the need to get into graduate or professional school; the need to stay in a program, etc.).

(1)     Exams. Each two-hour exam will consist of “short answer” questions that test your ability to identify, conceptualize, and/or apply the course material.  Sample questions (from previous exams) will be provided before the first exam to illustrate the format (see Resources section of OWL).  Students are responsible for material assigned in the readings, as well as material covered in lectures.  The midterm exam (February 14), worth 35% of the final grade, will cover material from January 10 through February 7. The final exam (date, time, and location to be announced), worth 35% of the final grade, will cover material from February 28 through April 4.

(2)    Research Proposal. You are required to write a research proposal, which is worth 30% of the final grade. The maximum length of the proposal is 15 typed, double-spaced pages (excluding references). It is due at the beginning of the last class (April 4, 7 pm).

Your goal is to propose a study (preferably an experiment) that would extend our understanding of any area in prosocial or antisocial behavior. Note that you will not actually conduct the study.

I suggest that you begin by choosing a topic area that interests you (see Weekly Topics and Readings below for an overview of possible topic areas; an up-to-date Social Psychology textbook will contain chapters on Helping and Aggression that might suggest other interesting topic areas).

Then, to get ideas for possible studies, conduct a literature review to find out what has been done in this area.  PsycINFO will provide an up-to-date listing of published studies in your chosen area, and can be accessed from the library’s website (http://www.lib.uwo.ca). Feel free to contact me if you wish to discuss your preliminary ideas.

The write-up of your proposal should include (1) an "Introduction", (2) a "Method" section, and (3) an "Anticipated Results and Discussion" section.

(1)    The Introduction should introduce your topic area (the general issue or problem). Past research that is directly relevant to your proposed study should be reviewed to show what has already been done.

Then you should explain why another study is necessary (i.e., you should explain how your study will extend past research in this area). Finally, state the specific predictions of your proposed study.  Note that your predictions should follow logically from the literature reviewed (e.g., "given [this set of findings] and [this set of findings] we can predict [this new finding]").  Avoid proposing an "exploratory study" where no firm predictions can be made.  I strongly encourage you to contact me if you wish to discuss these issues in more detail.

(2)    The Method section should present details about how the study would be conducted. To facilitate the organization of this section, you should include two major sub-sections. The "Participants" sub- section should include a brief description of who the participants are and where they would be obtained. The "Procedure" sub-section should include a detailed description of the procedures you would use, including (a) specific instructions that would be provided to participants, (b) how the independent variable(s) would be manipulated, and (c) how the dependent variable(s)  would be measured. Except in rare circumstances, you should not include a separate "Apparatus/Materials" section that describes your measures; instead, integrate this material into the procedure sub-section.  A useful rule of thumb:  Your procedures should be presented in the order that they will occur (e.g., don’t mention “debriefing” before you’ve presented the independent and dependent variables).  If you have any questions about this section of your proposal, please see me.

(3)    The Anticipated Results and Discussion section should present the anticipated results, including a Table or Figure that illustrates all of your conditions and clearly shows how the conditions are expected to differ (use hypothetical numbers for purposes of exposition).  Do not include inferential statistics (e.g. Fs, ts or standard deviations).  Including these statistics would make it look like you actually conducted the study (which you didn’t).  Make sure that you describe the contents of any Tables/Figures in the text of your paper. Note that you do not have to explain how you would analyze the results.  You should then relate your predicted findings back to the material in the Introduction and reiterate how the findings would extend past research in this area. You should also discuss “specific limitations” of your study, and speculate about “directions for future research” (again, be specific).

Recommended Schedule for completing the Research Proposal:

January:                  Find area that interests you (skim readings; intro textbooks, etc.).

February:                Review past research in this area (PsycInfo).

How can past research be extended? (see “Techniques” document). Develop outline of research proposal (Intro, Method, Anticipated R&D) Discuss ideas with me (any time).

March:                    Write first draft (March 1 - 15).

Write second draft (March 16 - 30); focus on writing style/organization; avoid problems discussed in “Sample Feedback” document.

Submit draft to Turnitin and check for “matches” (March 30).

Revise, print, and submit Final Draft by April 1 (3 days before deadline).

CLASS FORMAT

The primary class format will be lectures (although questions and discussions from students are desired and encouraged).  To facilitate “open-ended” discussions, the last part of each class meeting will be set aside as a forum for discussing your thoughts about the readings and lecture material.  Although participation in these discussions is voluntary, all students are encouraged to participate in as many sessions as possible, even if it means simply discussing the material with a fellow student over a beverage at the Grad Club.  Note that, in addition to facilitating your “active” involvement with the course material, these discussions can also provide an excellent opportunity to think about possible topics for your research proposal (see below).

STUDENT RESPONSIBILITIES

(1)  Lecture Attendance:

Material covered in lectures will not always be the same as material covered in the assigned readings; these two sources of information should be viewed as complimentary, not redundant. As such, students who want to do well in this course are strongly encouraged to attend lectures on a regular basis. Also, please note that I will not be providing copies of lecture notes or slides.  Therefore, if you miss a lecture, you should try to obtain this material from another student. I strongly recommend that you contact a fellow student early in the term, and arrange to exchange notes in case either of you are forced to miss a lecture.  You should not provide notes to students who are “chronically” absent.

Past experiences show that students often lose 5% - 10% for each lecture that they miss (even if they borrow someone’s notes).  On exams, this can easily translate into C’s, D’s (and even F’s) for students who should otherwise be achieving B’s, A’s, or A+’s. Given that exams are worth 70% of your final grade, you should think carefully about missing any lectures.

(2)  Policy regarding Makeup Exams and Extensions of Deadlines:

Students will be allowed to write makeup exams and will be given extensions of assignment deadlines only under special circumstances.  These include medical or compassionate reasons and must be substantiated with proper documentation. Please note that documentation must be submitted to (and approved by) an academic counsellor in your Dean’s office. Additional information regarding appropriate documentation and procedures can be found at Student Responsibilities.

A student who misses an exam or assignment deadline for any other reason (or who is unable to substantiate a claim) will be assigned a grade of zero for the exam and a penalty each day that the assignment is late (weekends automatically count as two days).  In fairness to all students, no exceptions to this policy will be allowed.

(3)  Policy Regarding Illness:

If you feel that you have a medical or personal problem that is interfering with your work, then you should contact your Faculty Academic Counselling Office as soon as possible.  Problems may then be documented and possible arrangements to assist you can be discussed at the time of occurrence, rather than retroactively.  In general, retroactive requests for grade revisions on medical or compassionate grounds will not be considered.

(4)  Statement on Academic Offences:

Students are responsible for understanding the nature and avoiding the occurrence of plagiarism and other scholastic offenses. Actions constituting a scholastic offense are described at the following link: http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/scholastic_discipline_undergrad.pdf

Cheating and Plagiarism are considered very serious offenses because they undermine the integrity of research and education.  As of September 1, 2009, the Department of Psychology will take the following steps to detect these scholastic offenses.

Cheating: All multiple-choice tests and exams will be checked for similarities in the pattern of responses using reliable software, and records will be made of student seating positions in all tests and exams.  If a similar pattern of responses is detected, students will be reported to the Dean’s office for further investigation and possible disciplinary action.

To avoid any suspicion of cheating, please take the following steps:

(i)   If you studied with another student, then do not sit near this person during the tests/exams.

Students who study together are more likely to have similar answers.

(ii)   Keep your answers covered so students sitting near you do not have the opportunity to cheat from your exam.

(iii)   If you suspect that someone is cheating from your exam, then immediately notify the course instructor or one of the proctors. That way, a record can be made of the incident, and alternative seating arrangements can be provided.

Plagiarism: All written assignments will be submitted to Turnitin, a service designed to detect and deter plagiarism by comparing written material to over 5 billion pages of content located on the Internet or in Turnitin’s databases. All papers submitted for such checking will be included as source documents in the reference database for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of papers subsequently submitted to the system.  Use of the service is subject to the licensing agreement currently between The University of Western Ontario and Turnitin.com (http://www.turnitin.com).

PART I

Prosocial Behavior:  The Psychology of Helping

January 10                 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW

Penner, L.A., Dovidio, J. F., Piliavin, J. A., & Schroeder, D. A.  (2005).  Prosocial behavior: Multilevel perspectives. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, 365 - 392. Available ONLINE: http://www.lib.uwo.ca

January 17                 PERSONAL INFLUENCES I: BIOLOGICAL FACTORS

Dovidio, J. F., Piliavin, J. A., Schroeder, D. A., & Penner, L. A. (2006). The origins of prosocial behavior: Are people selfish or selfless by nature?  In J. F. Dovidio et al. The social psychology of prosocial behavior (pp. 33 - 64).  New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum. [see OWL - RESOURCES]

January 24                 PERSONAL INFLUENCES II:  EMOTIONAL FACTORS

Baron, R. A. (1997).  The sweet smell of ... helping: Effects of pleasant ambient fragrance on prosocial behavior in shopping malls. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 498 - 503.  Available ONLINE: http://www.lib.uwo.ca

January 31                 PERSONAL INFLUENCES III: EGOISM vs ALTRUISM

Batson, C. D., Van Lange, P. A., Ahmad, N., & Lishner, D. A. (2003).  Altruism and helping behavior. In M.

1. Hogg & J. Cooper (Eds.), The Sage handbook of social psychology (pp. 279 - 295). Thousand Oaks: Sage. [see OWL - RESOURCES]

February 7                 1.  SITUATIONAL INFLUENCES:  THE BYSTANDER EFFECT

Garcia, S. M., Weaver, K., Moskowitz, G. B., & Darley, J. M. (2002). Crowded minds: The implicit bystander effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 843 - 853.  Available ONLINE: http://www.lib.uwo.ca

2.  INTERPERSONAL INFLUENCES:  WHOM DO WE HELP?

Burger, J. M. et al (2004).  What a coincidence!   The effects of incidental similarity on compliance.

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 35 - 43.  Available ONLINE:  http://www.lib.uwo.ca

Sturmer, S. & Snyder, M.  (2010).  Helping “us” versus “them”: Towards a group-level theory of helping and altruism within and across group boundaries. In S. Sturmer & M. Snyder (Eds.) The psychology of prosocial behavior (pp. 33 - 58).  Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. [see OWL - RESOURCES]

F ebruary 14              ***** M ID TE R M E X A M (35%) *****