Leadership 390 1 Fall, 2008 LDST 390 Good and Evil: Empirical Perspectives Instructor Don Forsyth Office: 233 Jepson Hall Phone: 289-8461 Email: [email protected] Office Hours: MW AM and online Don completed his undergraduate studies at Florida State University and earned his Ph.D. in 1978. He has held teaching positions at Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Kansas, and the University of Richmond (Jepson School of Leadership Studies). He studies reactions to success and failure, individual difference in moral thought, applications of social psychology in educational and clinical settings, and group dynamics. He holds the Leo K. and Gaylee Thorsness Chair in Ethical Leadership. Class Monday afternoons (2:40 to 5:20), Jepson Room 107 Course description When will an act, a thought, or a motive be characterized as immoral rather than moral? Why do people act in ways that others think are unethical? Are ethics based on rational thought, emotion, or intuition? When is an action judged to be evil rather than good and what causes people to act in such negative ways? This course, rather than offering prescriptive answers to these questions—for example, a good act is one that is consistent with the highest moral principles or an act is only altruistic if done sole for the purpose of benefiting others—takes a descriptive approach to good and evil by exploring the personal and interpersonal factors that influence moral thought, action, emotion, and motivation. The analysis will, in all cases, rely on conceptual approaches that have been supported by empirical research relevant to the moral phenomena of interest. We will focus on four essential questions: (a) What is humanity’s moral nature? (b) Why do people act morally (“the good”) or immorally (“the evil”)? (c) What feelings and sentiments do people experience when they consider and act in ways both proper and improper? and (d) How do people see, construct, judge, perceive, and react to positive and negative feelings, thoughts, and behaviors? We will, however, restrict our analysis to moral phenomena that have been investigated empirically; that is, through the collection of data using scientifically acceptable procedures. We will examine questions of human nature, egoism and altruism, violence, murder, war, values and moral choices, communalism and individuality, courage and cowardice, and genocide and moral inclusion, but as phenomena that must be explored through scientific research. In keeping with the emphasis on the empirical tradition, we will also review ways moral thought and action have been calibrated and assessed. Readings will include original articles (2-3 per week) and a number of books.Leadership 390 2 Fall, 2008 Course topics and goals We will examine both positive and negative aspects of human behavior, including such topics as violence, depravity, altruism, compassion, and the roots of collective aggression. We will restrict our analysis to moral phenomena that have been investigated empirically; that is, through the collection of data using scientifically acceptable procedures. Theoretical frameworks for the analysis will include: (a) the cognitive foundations of moral judgment, including cognitive-developmentalism (Kohlberg, 1983; Piaget, 1934), the cognitive algebra of information integration (Anderson, 1981), social intuitionism (Haidt, 2001); (b) personological explanations of morality, including studies of personality (Hogan & Emler, 1995), values (Rokeach, 1973), virtues and strengths (Peterson & Seligman, 2004), character (Lapsley & Power, 2005); and (c) biological and psychological explanations, such as evolutionary explanations (Wright, 1995) and psychodynamic views (Smith, 2004). We will, in keeping with the emphasis on the empirical tradition, review ways moral thought and action have been calibrated and assessed. Beyond the content of the course, I hope that you use this course to develop further your already strong scholarly skills, including gains in critical thinking, ethical thought, writing and communication, information search and retrieval, technological skills, scientific skills, and study skills. You will may also develop enhanced insight into your own moral values and experiences, and these insights may help you better understand yourself and your relations with others. This is not, however, a course on moral philosophy and religion, or a self-development course: our focus is on studying, scientifically, moral phenomena. Teaching and learning methods This course will operate as a seminar, with all members participating in the discussion and analysis of each day’s topic. Each member of the group will contribute to the discussion, through presentations of particular studies, commentaries on issues, discussions of one’s own personal insights, and guided review of the text material. Topics for discussion will be drawn from selected readings, the primary texts, and a number of secondary texts. Discussions will provide you the opportunity to express your understanding in your own words, and to raise questions that you find personally interesting. In addition to discussion, we will also spend our classroom time in lecture, demonstrations, activities, and audiovisual events. All activities are designed to stimulate critical thinking. If you need addition information about a topic mentioned in the text, or you have a problem understanding a particular portion of the text, just ask. This class also uses World Wide Web-based instruction extensively. In some cases I will email additional materials to you, and if class must be cancelled I will hold the session on-line instead. Some discussions will occur on line as well, and so will office hours. Many of the activities, papers, quizzes, and supplemental readings will also take advantage of the WWW, primarily Blackboard and a wiki page. Textbook and readings Research suggests that students acquire as much as 50% of their learning in a course directly from the readings. The bulk of the readings will be empirical articles and chapters. We will, however, also read several books, including including but not limited to: • The social psychology of good and evil, edited by A. G. Miller 1-59385-194-4 • The Most Dangerous Animal by David Livingston Smith 0-312-34189-X • The Lucifer Effect by Philip Zimbardo 978-1-4000-6411-3 • Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir