homework

The History of Stupidity

Charlotte L. Carp Comment by MSU: Just to clarify … Make sure your own name goes here! My name does not need to go on this page.

History and Theories of Psychology Comment by MSU: Normally, if you were writing up an article for publication, you would not include this information … However, because this paper is for the classroom, I would like you to include it … it helps me keep everything organized!

Spring 2013

McNeese State University

1

Running head: THE HISTORY OF STUPIDITY

Abstract

Your abstract should go here. It should be a brief summary about your paper. It should be approximately 150-200 words. The first word of the abstract does not need to be indented. Following the abstract you should write some keywords in the same format as it is on this paper.

Keywords: behavior, humans, stupidity

The History of Stupidity Comment by MSU: You do not need an abstract, you can just start with the body of the paper following the title page. Also, notice how the words ‘running head’ are just in the header of the title page.

“Never underestimate the power of human stupidity” (Heinlein, 1973, p. ). Comment by MSU: Once again, if you were writing an article for publication, you probably wouldn’t include this because it’s not really scientific … However, because the paper is for the classroom, you are welcome to include a quote that pertains to your paper if you would like!

Although stupidity reaches into human history and prehistory, research on the topic of stupidity appeared relatively recently. In their initial investigations, Whosit and Whatsit (1974) focused on human stupidity. Those investigations revealed that humans do not consider a wide range of factors when they make decisions. In making decisions, the human tendency is to consider the most recent or the most vivid factors with a personal impact. This tendency prevents humans from making good decisions in situations with long-term consequences. For example, Whosit and Whatsit found that academically capable students who did not attend college tended to focus on the time and expense of obtaining a degree and to ignore the long-term benefits of such a decision. Comment by MSU: Authors are mentioned in the sentence; date appears in parentheses. Look on References page to find the complete citation. Also note, the verb focused is in past tense, not present tense because it refers to a specific article published in the past (1974). Comment by MSU: There is no reference at the end of the paragraph. The reference for this paragraph appeared in the first sentence of the paragraph. Unlike footnotes, references in psychology papers typically appear early in the paragraph, not at the end. If you have already cited the paper early in the paragraph, you do not need to cite it again in the paragraph. Comment by MSU: Once again, because you have already cited the paper at the beginning of the paragraph, you do not need to include the date in that same paragraph. So you can leave the date out if (a) the sentence is in the same paragraph that you cited the paper in and (b) if you are discussing the same study that you cited earlier in the paragraph

Stupidity and Short-Term Consequences Comment by MSU: Sometimes, you have different topics that you need to discuss but they don’t really flow nicely … If this is the case for you, then you can use sections like the ones in this paper. If you have a paper that flows nicely, then you don't have to use sections. I put them in this paper just to give you guys an example of how you would use them and how they should look with APA style.

Humans may also make stupid decisions in situations with short-term consequences. Additional research (Whosit, Whatsit, & Thing, 1977) showed that, even in emergency situations, people behave stupidly. Research on behavior in emergency situations (Thing et al., 1999) explored personality factors in stupid reactions, finding little evidence to suggest that stupidity is a personality trait. Rather, Thing and colleagues concluded that stupidity is so common that it cannot be restricted to a single personality dimension. Comment by MSU: A thought from the previous paragraph begins the next, which tends to make your paper “flow.” Make sure that you work on your transitions from paragraph to paragraph … this allows the reader to follow and understand your paper better! Comment by MSU: Typically, when you first cite an article that has between two and five authors in your paper, you will list all of the authors names the first time, then use “et al.” for the rest of the paper. This article, however, has more than six authors. If you have an article that has six or more authors, then you can use “et al.” the first time it’s cited in the paper. Comment by MSU: Once again, because you are discussing the same article that you cited in the previous sentence, you do not need to include the date.

Factors Related to Stupidity

Additional research has pursued the identification of factors related to stupid behavior, focusing on situational rather than personality factors that promote stupidity. In some sense, the classic research of Asch (1955) on the topic of conformity and Darley and Latané (1968) on bystander behavior illustrates stupidity and the situations that encourage it. However, these researchers did not emphasize stupidity; other researchers have done so. Whatsit and Whosit (1978) connected Asch’s research on conformity to situations in which people’s behavior leads to unfortunate outcomes, such as loss of money or injury that individuals could have predicted but failed to do so. This behavior meets the definition of stupidity. Whatsit and Whosit found that conforming to a group was an important situational factor in such stupid behavior. Comment by MSU: Again, a topic mentioned in the prior paragraph appears in this one, and this paragraph elaborates that topic. Comment by MSU: Drawing on important research in psychology and connecting it to the topic of this paper. Comment by MSU: Just to point this out … Although you didn’t include the date in the previous paragraphs, you are now in a new paragraph and you have also discussed other research; therefore, the date needs to be included. Comment by MSU: Nice connection among and summary of the several citations in this paragraph.

Conclusion

Literature on the stupidity of humans has just recently started to increase. Research has demonstrated that stupidity among humans is so common that it cannot be restricted to a specific personality trait (Thing et al., 1999). Additionally, the number of stupid behaviors being emitted in humans increases in emergency situations and situations that involve persons conforming to the group (e.g., Asch, 1955; Whosit, Whatsit, & Thing, 1977; Whatsit and Whosit, 1978; Thing et al., 1999). Although the literature in this area is increasing, more research needs to be conducted so that we can further identify the variables that affect human stupidity. This information will help guide individuals to make better and more knowledgeable decisions during emergencies and group situations. Comment by MSU: “e.g.” means for example. You will use this when you are backing up a general statement that refers to a number of articles and not just one specific article. Comment by MSU: Note that, when you are citing multiple articles in a paper the citations are separated by a semi-colon. Also, the order that you list the references in goes by the date that the articles are published, not alphabetically by the author’s name. If you have two articles that are published in the same year, then you will go by alphabetical order. Comment by MSU: Make sure you have a strong ending sentence/paragraph that sums up the main points of your paper!

Note … This is just a sample paper, the main body of your paper should be at least 5 pages long Please email me or come by and look at my APA manual if you have any questions!

References Comment by MSU: The reference section should start on its own page. The word ‘references’ should look exactly like this … so it should not be bolded or underlined.

Asch, S. E. (1955, November). Opinions and social pressure. Scientific American, 31-35. Comment by MSU: This reference is a magazine, not a journal, so the month of publication appears in parentheses with the date. If the volume number is available, it should appear as for journal article references, along with the issue number. Issue numbers or month of publication (or both) are important for magazines because the page numbers begin at page 1 for each issue; journals usually have continuous pagination throughout a volume. Another note: this is a real article, unlike most of the others … Please try and stay away from magazine articles though! This is just an example *in case* you have to include one.

Darley, J. M., & Latané, B. (1968). Bystander intervention in emergencies: Diffusion of responsibility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 203-210. Comment by MSU: This is a reference for a typical journal article … this type of citation should be very common in your paper!

Thing, R., Thing, M., Whosit, I. B., Whatsit, I. V. Whosit, I. X., & Whosit, I. M. (1999). Stupidity in emergencies. Journal of Human Stupidity, 24, 1-15. Comment by MSU: Also another typical journal article … This reference includes all six authors in the actual reference, but did not in the text (et al. appeared).

Whatsit, I. V., & Thing, I. B. (1978). Situational factors related to stupidity. In I. B. Whosit & I. V. Whatsit (Eds.), Factors in human stupidity (pp. 136-157). Persnickety, NE: Nevernever Publishing. Comment by MSU: This reference shows the correct format for citing an article in a book of readings, which is a collections of articles authored by different people. This article was written by Whatsit and Thing but appears in a book edited by Whosit and Whatsit; both authors and editors are mentioned in a specific format. The reference citation has elements of referencing a book, such as the place of publication and publisher, but it also includes specific page numbers because this article is only part of the book.

Whosit, I. B., & Whatsit, I. V. (1974). Some preliminary findings related to stupidity. Journal of Irreproducible Results, 67 (3), 345-367.

Whosit, I. B., Whatsit, I. V., & Thing, R. (1977). Human stupidity: The implications. Nowheresville, ID: Nonesuch Press. Comment by MSU: This citation is for a book, which varies from a journal article. The title still has fewer capital letters than expected. The three names are similar to two [except there’s one more]; initials rather than first names, separated by commas, with an ampersand (&) before the last one. Citations for books include the city and state in which the publisher is located and the name of the publisher.