GESC 2310 Psychology of Civic Contribution
2011-12, 2nd Term
Shaw College, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
1. Course Description: What is the course about?
This is an action-learning course that students will learn theories and findings of
prosocial behaviours that they will apply their knowledge to devise campaigns that
encourage the public to contribute to the society like protecting the environment,
engaging in volunteer work, donating to charitable organizations, conserving energy,
etc. With the understanding of the facilitating and inhibiting factors of prosocial
behaviours, students are agents of change to promote a civil society.
2. Contact Information of Teaching Members
Lecturer:
Name:
Office Location:
Telephone:
Email:
Lecture Time &
Venue:
Consultation
Hours:
Website:
Winton Au
Sino Building, Room 335
3943-6652
wintonau@cuhk.edu.hk
Friday 1430-1715; Lee Shau Kee Building 304
Friday 1730-1830 or by appointment
http://www.psy.cuhk.edu.hk/en/people/wwtau/wwtau.php
3. Learning Outcomes
Students are expected:
I.
To know the theories and research behind prosocial behaviours
II.
To be able to apply these knowledge to devise campaigns to promote prosocial
behaviours among the public
4. Course Content and Required Readings
I.
Prosocial behaviors: Psychology theories and research to understand helping
from both an egoistic and altruistic perspective.
Penner, L. A., Dovido, J. F., Piliavin, J. A. & Schroeder, D. A. (2005). Prosocial
behavior: Multilevel perspectives. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, 365-392.
http://dx.doi.org/DOI:10.1146/annurev.psych.56.091103.070141
II.
Public goods and Resource Dilemmas: Consider helping as a mixed-motive
interaction as conceptualized by a social dilemma. Generally classify cooperation
or civic contribution as giving something (as in a public goods) and [not] taking
something (as in a resource dilemma)
Komortia, S. S., & Parks, C. D. (1996). Social dilemmas (Chapters 3, 4 & 6 on Public
1
Goods, Social Traps and Interdisciplinary Issues). Madison, WI: Brown &
Benchmark.
III.
Voting: Your vote counts, or not? Hardly! Very unlikely that your single vote can
make a difference in an election. Why do people still go to vote?
Gerber, A. S., & Rogers, T. (2009). Descriptive Social Norms and Motivation to Vote:
Everybody's Voting and so Should You. Journal of Politics, 71(1), 178-191.
http://dx.doi.org/DOI:10.1017/S0022381608090117
Harder, J., & Krosnick, J. A. (2008). Why do people vote? A psychological analysis
of the causes of voter turnout. Journal of Social Issues, 64(3), 525-549.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2008.00576.x
IV.
Blood donation: In the event that it is down to the last pack of blood and you have
never donated blood before, you *may* be given a lower priority. Are biscuits and
orange juice the reasons for blood donation? Maybe knowing your blood type?
Bednall, T. C., & Bove, L. L. (2011). Donating Blood: A Meta-Analytic Review of
Self-Reported Motivators and Deterrents. Transfusion Medicine Reviews,
25(4), 317-334. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tmrv.2011.04.005
Lee, C.K., Hong, J. & Hung, A.T.F. (2008). An update of blood donor recruitment
and retention in Hong Kong. Asian Journal of Transfusion Science, 2(2),
47-50. http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/0973-6247.42691
Masser, B. M., White, K. M., Hyde, M. K., & Terry, D. J. (2008). The psychology of
blood donation: Current research and future directions. Transfusion
Medicine Reviews, 22(3), 215-233. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tmrv.2008.02.005
V.
Organ donation: How are our kidneys or eyes useful to us after we die? Donate
them; but obviously not all of us do.
Skowronski, J. J. (1997). On the psychology of organ donation: Attitudinal and
situational factors related to the willingness to be an organ donor. Basic and
Applied Social Psychology, 19(4), 427-456.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15324834basp1904_3
Siminoff, L. A., Gordon, N., Hewlett, J., & Arnold, R. M. (2001). Factors influencing
families' consent for donation of solid organs for transplantation.
Jama-Journal of the American Medical Association, 286(1), 71-77.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.286.1.71
VI.
Online community sharing: This is even more bizzare…putting in hours and hours
fielding questions under a pseudo-name that no one knows who you are!
Sproull, L. (2011). Prosocial Behavior on the Net. Daedalus, 140(4), 140-153.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/DAED_a_00120
Schroer, J., & Hertel, G. (2009). Voluntary Engagement in an Open Web-Based
Encyclopedia: Wikipedians and Why They Do It. Media Psychology, 12(1),
http://dx.doi.org/96-120. 10.1080/15213260802669466
VII.
Volunteerism: We all know that helping others is a very joyful experience.
However, is this still altruism if we “gain” psychologically in volunteerism?
Wilson, J. (2000). Volunteering. Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 215-240.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.26.1.215
Clary, E. G. & Snyder, M (1999). The motivations to volunteer: Theoretical and
2
practical considerations. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8(5),
http://dx.doi.org/156-159.10.1111/1467-8721.00037
VIII.
Recycling: Do you always recycle? Do you recycle “everything” possible?
Chu, P. Y., & Chiu, J. F. (2003). Factors influencing household waste recycling
behavior: Test of an integrated model. Journal of Applied Social Psychology,
33(3), 604-626. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2003.tb01915.x
Meneses, G. D., & Palacio, A. B. (2005). Recycling behavior - A multidimensional
approach. Environment and Behavior, 37(6), 837-860.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0013916505276742
IX.
Green consumption: Is this just chic to purchase green?
Kazdin, A. E. (2009). Psychological science's contributions to a sustainable
environment extending our reach to a grand challenge of society. American
Psychologist, 64(5), 339-356. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0015685
Peattie, K. (2010). Green consumption: Behavior and norms. In A. Gadgil & D. M.
Liverman (Eds.), Annual Review of Environment and Resources, Vol 35 (pp.
195-228). Palo Alto: Annual Reviews.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-032609-094328
X.
Energy conservation: This does not concern me…it is 101% sure that energy will
not run out even well beyond my life time.
Abrahamse, W., Steg, L., Vlek, C., & Rothengatter, T. (2005). A review of
intervention studies aimed at household energy conservation. Journal of
Environmental Psychology, 25(3), 273-291.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2005.08.002
Stern, P. C. (1992). What psychology knows about energy-conservation. American
Psychologist, 47(10), 1224-1232.
XI.
Climate Change: It is the climate, stupid! Just so so little that we can do.
Gifford, R. (2011). The dragons of inaction: psychological barriers that limit
climate change mitigation and adaptation. American Psychologist, 66(4),
290-302. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0023566
Stern, P. C. (2011). Contributions of Psychology to limiting climate change.
American Psychologist, 66(4), 303–314. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0023235
3
5. Learning Activities
Lecture &
Discussion
(in-class)
Volunteer
Work
(out-class)
Group Project
(out-class)
Project
Presentation
(in-class)
3 hours per
week
20 hours in total
20 hours in total
3 hours in total
No. of sessions
10 sessions
--
--
1 session
Attendance
Optional
Mandatory
Mandatory
Mandatory
Time
Matching with
learning
outcomes (LO)
√
LO 1
√
√
LO 2
√
LO 2
√
LO 1
LO 2
6. Assessment
Task
Social service (“personal participation”)
Reflection piece on “personal participation”
Social service (“peer participation”)
Reflection piece on “peer participation
Civic contribution promotion (group project)
Peer evaluation on group project participation
Class participation
I.
%
5
10
15
30
25
5
10
Participation in Social Service
The exercise fosters a self-reflection experience from the moment contemplating
whether to take part in social service work to actually engaging in the activity. Be
very sensitive and conscious of your internal debate whether and why you want
to or do not want to do it. During the activity there may be ups and downs of
feeling joy and frustrations. What makes you want to continue; what makes you
want to quit? After it is all being done, do you feel a sense of achievement or
would you rather have spent the time on something else? Would you want to do
social service again; but on other activities; or no more? These should be the
questions running in your mind. The primary objective of this course is to learn
why people engage in civic contribution. You need to understand yourself before
you can understand others. The 8 hours of social service shall stimulate you to
reflect on these questions. During the social service activity, also pay attention to
or inquire why other people are motivated to engage in these works. Document
your personal reflection in a two-page (about 800 words) article. No need for any
references. Submit this “personal participation” article and bring a hard copy to
class on Feb 17 for class discussion.
Your performance in the social service will also be “graded” in the sense that we
will solicit feedback from the social service organization on your performance.
The evaluation criteria will be jointly developed by the whole class.
4
II.
Motivating Others to Participate in Social Service
Recruit two other individuals to participate in 12 hours of social service together
with you. Make it a challenge and spread the joy to recruit people who are not
typical volunteer work doers. These people do not necessarily have to be CUHK
students. It is also fine to recruit your family members. Of course, classmates in
this course do not count. Note that individuals who promise to help may drop out
after a session or even before starting the work. This is “good”. Understand why
they want to quit. Motivate them to continue. If people do quit, recruit other
people to take up their vacancies. The bottom line is that ***you need to ensure
that there are always at least two other people working with you on this social
service task***. Pay attention to what you do to recruit, motivate and retain these
volunteers throughout the process. Inquire why these volunteers are motivated
to help or not. Document your reflection in a six-page (about 2400 words) article.
In this article make reference to theories and concepts in order to illustrate your
observations. List your references (books, journals, etc.) on a separate page.
Submit this “peer participation” article and bring a hard copy to class on Mar 30
for class discussion.
III.
Promoting civic contribution
Work in a group of three to five people; explore how Hong Kong and some other
countries engage the public in any one of the following areas: blood donation,
organ donation, energy conservation, green consumption, voting, or a topic with
consent of the instructor. Present your work in an A1-size poster. Unless stated
otherwise, your work, while crediting promptly your group as the authors, may
be used by Shaw College in its education or promotion.
Project timeline:
Jan 20: Submit tentative group member list and tentative topic by end of
class
Feb 3:
Finalize group member list and topic; submit five to ten references
and peer evaluation criteria by end of class.
Apr 6:
Submit full draft online for peer and instructor feedback
April 20: Present your finished poster in class
IV.
Peer evaluation
In order to encourage group members to make significant contributions to the
group project, every member of a group will be evaluated by other members of
the group upon the completion of the group project report. Remember, we are
constantly evaluated by others (both in school and at work), and it benefits us a
lot to know how well we perform in our peers’ eyes. Each person should
comment anonymously on each group member on a separate piece of paper and
gives each person a score between 0 and 10 according to their contributions to
the project. The higher the score, the larger the contribution. You have to provide
written comments to others to explain why they receive a particular score from
you after the evaluation. Give constructive comments on what you appreciate
about each other’s work and also how they can also further improve. Describe
your comments behaviorally, e.g., “complete tasks on time”, “look up materials
beyond lecture notes”. Turn in the evaluations by April 27.
5
V.
Participation
Learning does not only come from the instructor’s lectures but also from sharing
and discussion among students. Part of civic contribution is speaking up and
providing constructive feedback. Students are expected to contribute in class
discussion to help each other learn.
7. Course Updates
Moodle (http://moodle.cuhk.edu.hk/) will be adopted in this course for posting
course notes, announcements, online Q&A, submitting on-line assignments, etc.
For students who are not familiar with the platform of Moodle, you are
recommended to read the instructions and guidelines of how to use Moodle on
http://moodle.cuhk.edu.hk/cuhk_guide/about.php
8. Feedback for Evaluation
Students are welcome to give comments and feedback at any time during the class.
Stop by to talk to the instructor or teaching assistants. You can also send us emails or
post your comments on Moodle.
Around Week 6 of the course, we will ask you to give us comments and feedback
through an open-ended questionnaire. Some questions will be like “things that you
like and do not like about this course”, “suggestions on enhancing the course”, and
etc.
6
9. Course Schedule
Week
1
2
Date
13-Jan
20-Jan
Topic
Introduction
Prosocial behaviors
3
4
27-Jan
3-Feb
Lunar new year vacation
Public goods and resource dilemma
5
10-Feb Blood donation: Dr. Lee Cheuk
Kwong
17-Feb Organ donation: Department of
Health
24-Feb Social service work (out-of-class)
2-Mar Voting: Prof. Chan King Ming
9-Mar Volunteerism: Agency for Volunteer
Service
16-Mar Online community sharing
23-Mar Social service work (out-of-class)
30-Mar Energy conservation, recycling
6-Apr Public holiday – Easter
13-Apr Green consumption, climate change
20-Apr Poster presentation
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
Milestone
Tentative member list and
topic
Finalized member list and
topic; references
“Personal participation”
“Peer participation”
Full draft of poster
Finalized poster
10. Academic Honesty and Plagiarism
The University places very high importance on honesty in academic work, and has a
policy of zero tolerance on plagiarism. Guidelines on academic honesty are on the
website on "Honesty in Academic Work: A Guide for Students and Teachers"
http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/.
Guidelines on avoiding plagiarism
Any assignment (i.e., project, essay, or paper) that shows evidence of plagiarism will
be marked down severely. In simple terms, plagiarism is copying passages and/or
ideas from other sources without referencing those sources. Moreover, when you
report someone else’s ideas/findings you must put it in your own words and not
merely copy full sentences or parts of sentences from the source article. It is your
responsibility as a scholar-in-training to cite the ideas and work of others correctly.
Please visit the following websites for discussions of how to recognize and avoid
plagiarism.
http://ec.hku.hk/plagiarism/introduction.htm
http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml
http://www.hamilton.edu/writing/style/plagiarism/plagiarism.html
7
If you commit plagiarism in an assignment, and it is your first offence in the course,
the penalty will range from a minimum of a single letter grade reduction in score on
the assignment to a maximum of failure on the assignment. A second offence within
the same course will result in a minimum penalty of a single letter grade reduction in
the course grade to a maximum penalty of course failure. The specific penalty
applied is up to the discretion of the professor. In all cases of plagiarism, the
student's name will be recorded in a central database maintained by the general
office. If a student is referred for plagiarism in more than one course, or more than
one instance in the same course, the student's case will be forwarded to the
university administration for follow-up action.
Detecting plagiarism
The Senate Committee on Teaching and Learning requires that all student
assignments in undergraduate programmes should be submitted via VeriGuide.
Obviously, this policy will only apply to assignments in the form of a
computer-generated document that is principally text-based (i.e., excluding
calculations in science, brief laboratory reports, drawings in fine arts and
architecture, etc.).
 Each student must upload a soft copy of the completed assignment to the
plagiarism detection engine VeriGuide, at the URL:
http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/veriguide
 The system will issue a receipt which also contains a declaration of honesty,
which is the same as that in
http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/p09.htm
 The declaration should be signed, and the receipt stapled to a hard copy of the
assignment, which should be handed in before the assignment due date.
 Assignments without the receipt will not be graded by teachers.
8
Declaration of Academic Honesty
GESC 2310 Psychology of Civic Contribution
2011-12, 2nd Term
Shaw College, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
I promise that all assignment submitted to this course across the entire semester will be
original except for source material explicitly acknowledged. I also acknowledge that I am
aware of University policy and regulation on honesty in academic work, and of the
disciplinary guidelines and procedures applicable to breaches of such policy and regulations
as contained in the website http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/.
________________________________
________________________________________________
Signature
Date
________________________________
________________________________________________
Name
Student ID
_GESC 2310___________________
_Psychology of Civic Contribution__________
Course code
Course Title
9