Psych professor offers interesting extra credit question

[ttt]

This is actually pretty interesting and thought-provoking. 


college.usatoday.com/2015/07/17/psychology-professors-tricky-extra-credit-question-goes-viral/


One professor’s final exam went viral after Shahin Rafikian, a rising junior at the University of Maryland, shared its extra credit question on Twitter:

The “evil genius” behind the twisted question? Dr. Dylan Selterman.

But, as the psychology lecturer explained to USA TODAY College, he can’t take credit for the exercise.

“I first learned about this when I was in a college,” Selterman, who attended Johns Hopkins University, says. “My professor, Steve Drigotas, used this exercise with my class.”
 
Selterman says the exercise was originally published in a psychology journal 25 years ago and has since been adapted by a number of his colleagues. He says it’s intended to illustrate the tragedy of the commons.

“[The tragedy of the commons is] basically a dilemma between doing what’s good for you as an individual versus doing what’s best for the group,” he explains. “Now it stands to reason that people behave selfishly. But if too many people behave selfishly, the group will suffer… and then everyone in the group individually will suffer.”

Selterman says only one class — his fall 2011 group — has received the extra credit since he first implemented the exercise in 2008. But he speculates it may have merely been a fluke.

“In behavioral science, nothing is ever 100%,” he says.
 
Selterman says that he believes most students select the six-point option by way of a “go big or go home” mentality. Others, he says, may do it out of fear of being slighted.
  
“You’re trying to anticipate what other people are doing,” he says. “If other people get six points, they want six points, too. They want to be among those who score the highest.”

And, as Selterman adds, this need to maximize personal gain transcends the world of academia.

“The extra credit question is analogous to any public resource in the world that we would all use like food or water or land,” he says. “Again, if people are mindful of their own consumption, then it’s fine, but if too many people are selfish, then we have now — like in California — water shortages.”

Rafikian — whose tweet has since been shared more than 6,000 times — told USA TODAY College: “I honestly wasn’t expecting this tweet to go viral. It was really interesting though to see how people would respond to the question and what they thought was the ‘right’ choice.” 

He adds that he was shocked to discover that he was an outlier in the exercise.

“I was surprised and disappointed — surprised by not only how 20% of the class chose six points but also by how many responses on Twitter said to take the six points.”

But Selterman says he was unsurprised by the results, adding that he hopes his students at least walk away from his course with a sense of mindfulness.

“I wish that students took from this the idea that their actions affect others and vice versa and, going forward, whenever they work in groups or whenever they interact with others in their community, that they carefully consider these things, these mechanisms and that they work together constructively with others,” Selterman says. “I would hope that any student who chose six points would, in the future, think twice about the selfish option and think about what’s best for the group and — by extension — what’s best for them.”

[downtoearth]

Love it. I think it's a cool way to teach a lesson.

[aurora]

This is kind of like the prisoners dilemma (either you tattle on your accomplice or not, and the result depends on whether he/she does, too).

I like it for a class.

[katfco]

I wonder how the results would change if, instead of no one getting extra, everyone lost points if too many people took the six. Because that's really what happens with resources. Some people take more that their fair share and others lose out. The professor's way, it's just that no one gets extra, but they still get what they earned, so I can see people thinking there's nothing to lose if they go for the six.

[insominac]

I'd chose 6 points because I'd already have an A and would prefer that no one get the stupid extra points.

[Deleted]

What an anti-Amurican commie marxist socialist academic!!!

very cool exercise though.

[phdprocrastinator]

Well I would have been passed to lose the 2 points!

Obviously you choose 2 points. How shortsighted to assume you're going to be one of the few to choose 6 points.

[Deleted]

I would have chosen neither as i would have been not in the school lol.

[tiramisu]

Knowing it's a psych class and that this is an experiment of sorts, I'd select the 2 points because I'd know the whole idea was to see how willing people would be to sacrifice their own self-interest for the greater good.

Plus I see it as less of a gamble and I'm fairly risk-averse in that area.

[Deleted]

I would have chosen 2 points, no question. 90% of the class need to choose it--that's almost everyone.

I'm not sure if it's an oldest kid thing or just some way that my parents warped me, but I really have no problem doing the right thing and knowing that a few people may get a free ride. I'd rather have something than nothing.

[elleblue]

Sept 5, 2015 13:35:55 GMT -5 @kcpokergal said:

I would have chosen 2 points, no question. 90% of the class need to choose it--that's almost everyone.

I'm not sure if it's an oldest kid thing or just some way that my parents warped me, but I really have no problem doing the right thing and knowing that a few people may get a free ride. I'd rather have something than nothing.

I'm the youngest and feel the same so probably not related to birth order.  

[Deleted]

Sept 5, 2015 14:12:07 GMT -5 elleblue said:

Sept 5, 2015 13:35:55 GMT -5 @kcpokergal said:

I would have chosen 2 points, no question. 90% of the class need to choose it--that's almost everyone.

I'm not sure if it's an oldest kid thing or just some way that my parents warped me, but I really have no problem doing the right thing and knowing that a few people may get a free ride. I'd rather have something than nothing.

I'm the youngest and feel the same so probably not related to birth order.  

Haha. Probably not.

[Deleted]

Sept 5, 2015 14:29:54 GMT -5 1234FIF! said:

I would choose two points because that makes the most sense to me.

But I think the people that PIck 6 assume that everyone will think that way so they can skate by with the 6.

And what's the point of a bonus if everyone gets it?

[orriskitten]

I'd go for the 2. I'd bust my butt to do the best I could regardless, but not hope to get any extra in this case.

[ttt]

Two points or six points aren't going to make or break anybody. But if everyone is greedy, then nobody gets anything.

[skwcm80]

I'd choose 2 points too. I figure at least I have a shot at 2 points, and that's more than I'd get if more than 10% choose 6 points.

[sfy]

I'd choose 6, both because I am greedy and because I always think things will work out for me. I'd do it for the same reason I love the blackjack, roulette and craps tables. Also, this thread indicates that most people will choose 2 points and help the collective cause.

I am also the oldest child who doesn't mind anyone getting a free ride (chauffeurs for everyone!), but this has little to do with what anyone else gets. It's not as if the question is "give yourself 6 points or give everyone, including yourself, 2 points." That would be a more apt example of "doing the right thing" for other people. In that case, I'd actually go with the 2 points, but in this case, I have to roll the dice.

[oscarnerdjulief]

Sept 5, 2015 12:15:30 GMT -5 insominac said:

I'd chose 6 points because I'd already have an A and would prefer that no one get the stupid extra points.

I thought the opposite.  I would choose the 2 points because I never needed extra credit to get an A, and I would feel like many other people would choose the six because they were not smart enough to get the grade they wanted on their own.

I am wondering what another prior poster designates as "one's fair share."

[Deleted]

Sept 5, 2015 15:26:39 GMT -5 1234FIF! said:

Sept 5, 2015 14:58:16 GMT -5 @hannymaren said:

But I think the people that PIck 6 assume that everyone will think that way so they can skate by with the 6.

And what's the point of a bonus if everyone gets it?

Or maybe I am selfish, because I don't care what the two point bonus means to everyone else, I care what it means to me and my grade. 

I'm a chicken and I would take the 2 points. But I could see the rationale for all or nothing for anyone. Especially if a curve ever exists

[gibbinator]

Sept 5, 2015 12:15:30 GMT -5 insominac said:

I'd chose 6 points because I'd already have an A and would prefer that no one get the stupid extra points.

This is what I was thinking too. I would want to stay top of the class, so I wouldn't want a competitor to beat me because they got a 4pt boost.
The 2 points mean nothing if everyone gets them (unless you failed by 2pts). It's like grading on a curve.

[open24hours]

To make this a really interesting dilemma, it should be couched as choose 6 points or 2 points, but if more than 10% choose 6 points, everybody loses 2 points.