Universität Wien

200160 SE Advanced Seminar: Work, Economy, and Society (2023W)

Prosocial Behaviors

4.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 20 - Psychologie
Continuous assessment of course work

Vertiefungsseminare können nur fürs Pflichtmodul B verwendet werden! Eine Verwendung fürs Modul A4 Freie Fächer ist nicht möglich.
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 20 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

Wednesday 04.10. 11:30 - 13:00 Seminarraum Psychologie NIG 6.OG A0621A
Wednesday 11.10. 11:30 - 13:00 Seminarraum Psychologie NIG 6.OG A0621A
Wednesday 18.10. 11:30 - 13:00 Seminarraum Psychologie NIG 6.OG A0621A
Wednesday 25.10. 11:30 - 13:00 Seminarraum Psychologie NIG 6.OG A0621A
Wednesday 08.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Seminarraum Psychologie NIG 6.OG A0621A
Wednesday 15.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Seminarraum Psychologie NIG 6.OG A0621A
Wednesday 22.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Seminarraum Psychologie NIG 6.OG A0621A
Wednesday 29.11. 11:30 - 13:00 Seminarraum Psychologie NIG 6.OG A0621A
Wednesday 06.12. 11:30 - 13:00 Seminarraum Psychologie NIG 6.OG A0621A
Wednesday 13.12. 11:30 - 13:00 Seminarraum Psychologie NIG 6.OG A0621A
Wednesday 10.01. 11:30 - 13:00 Seminarraum Psychologie NIG 6.OG A0621A
Wednesday 17.01. 11:30 - 13:00 Seminarraum Psychologie NIG 6.OG A0621A
Wednesday 24.01. 11:30 - 13:00 Seminarraum Psychologie NIG 6.OG A0621A
Wednesday 31.01. 11:30 - 13:00 Seminarraum Psychologie NIG 6.OG A0621A

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

We are a remarkably prosocial species, often ready to help strangers even without expecting to meet them again. We willingly contribute our time and valuable resources to charities and show genuine concern for the well-being of our loved ones. Prosocial behaviors have been one of the greatest evolutionary puzzles. Why do we have such a strong predisposition to help others, sometimes even at a significant cost to ourselves? How come that, at the same time, we can also be extremely hostile to people from different social groups? What can we do to foster prosocial behaviors to tackle prominent societal challenges, such as climate change? This seminar course aims to provide students with essential background knowledge and an overview of the latest developments in basic (and sometimes applied) research about human prosociality. Through lectures, student presentations, discussions, and interactive tasks, participants will delve into the complexities of human prosocial behaviors.

Tentative schedule (and topics that will be covered):
- Oct 4: Introduction
- Oct 11: Conceptual overview
- Oct 18: Methods in prosociality research
- Oct 25: Social dilemmas
- Nov 8: Trust
- Nov 15: Punishment and reputation
- Nov 22: Ingroup favoritism
- Nov 29: Intergroup conflicts
- Dec 6: Prosocial health decision-making
- Dec 13: Dishonesty and corruption
- Jan 10: Moral decline
- Jan 17: Prosocial behaviors and well-being
- Jan 24: Effective altruism
- Jan 31: Group project feedback (mandatory)

This course assumes no prior knowledge about these topics. Nonetheless, given its strong focus on basic empirical research, students would benefit the most if they are generally interested in (multidisciplinary) research processes and methods and find themselves comfortable reading and learning (sometimes advanced) quantitative analyses of behaviors.

Assessment and permitted materials

Assessment will consist of attendance and participation (20%), individual in-class presentation (15 to 20 minutes; 30%), and a group project that involves preparing a research proposal (50%). These assessments will be elaborated during the first session.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

A "pass" for each assignment, and attending at least 8 sessions (besides the first, which is mandatory for all who registered and wish to stay in the course, and the last sessions).

I reserve the right to give your place to another student on the waiting list if you registered but do not show up in the first session without informing me before the session with a valid reason for absence (e.g., sickness). Students who are on the waiting list are encouraged the attend the first session if they are interested in taking up spaces from others who'd like to deregister.

Examination topics

The individual presentation will be about an empirical paper that is relevant to the topic of discussion of the session. For the group projects, students will propose a research question themselves and complete a research proposal to address the question. The question only has to be broadly relevant to the field of prosocial behaviors.

Reading list

The reading list will be provided at the beginning and updated throughout the semester. It will consist of mainly academic journal articles providing overviews of the research field or reporting empirical studies. To diversify the types of materials, there will at times be books, blog posts, and podcasts. There will be very few required materials, but to do the group project well students are expected to read (or at least skim) widely about the topic of their choice.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: We 30.08.2023 09:47