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Dr.
Mark
Sibicky
(See other alumni
profiles)
1. Where are
you from originally? Where did you grow up?
I grew
up in a small town called Franklin in eastern Connecticut.
2. Where did you do your undergraduate work at and when did you get
your degree?
I graduated
in 1980 with a major in psychology from the University of Connecticut. In 1984, before coming to the U of A, I received a Masters Degree in
Counseling from Colgate University in Hamilton, NY.
3. When did you get your Ph.D.?
I
received my Doctorate in Experimental psychology with a concentration in
social psychology from the University of Arkansas in 1990.
4. Who was your faculty mentor and what kind of projects did you work
on while at the University of Arkansas?
My
primary mentor was David
Schroeder. He is still a mentor and friend. We see each other
at psychology conferences, and I still call him from time to time for
advice. Eric
Knowles also played an important role in my training and
career. I tried to get involved in as much research as I
could while in graduate school. I worked a lot with Dave Schroeder on
pro-social behavior, including social dilemmas, and motivational models
of helping. From Eric Knowles I learned a great deal about order
effects in personality measurement and studied aspects of the Self,
including exploring how William James conceptualized the Self.
5.
What was the title of your dissertation?
My
dissertation was on the motivation of helping behavior, and was titled:
A test of the Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis: When helping less is
more altruistic.
6. Describe some of the work you published (i.e., Representative
publications)
These
are some of the publications that came out of my graduate work at U of A.
Schroeder, D. A., Dovidio, J.
F., Sibicky, M. E., Matthews, L. L., & Allen, J. L. (1988). Empathic
concern and helping behavior: Egoism or Altruism? Journal of
Experimental Social Psychology 24, 333-353.
Knowles, E. S. & Sibicky,
M. E. (1990). Continuity and diversity in the stream of selves:
Metaphorical resolutions of William James' one-in-many-selves paradox. Personality
and Social Psychology Bulletin 16, 676-687.
Schroeder, D. A., Sibicky, M.
E., & Irwin, M. E. (1995). A framework for
understanding decisions in
social dilemmas. In D. Schroeder (Ed.), Social Dilemmas: Social
Psychological Perspectives. New York: Praeger.
Sibicky, M. E., Schroeder, D.
A., & Dovidio, J. F., (1995). Empathy and helping: Considering the
consequences of intervention. Basic and Applied Social
Psychology 16, 435-453.
Some
recent work:
Sibicky, M. E., (2004).
Electrodes and entertainment: Stanley Milgram and the dangers of pop
psychology, The Common Review, 3, 10-19.
Sibicky, M. E., (in press). The
automatic sweetheart: An assignment in a history of psychology course, Teaching
of Psychology.
7. Why did you choose the U of A to do your graduate work?
I was at
Colgate University finishing my Masters thesis in Counseling. My
thesis advisor at the time was a social psychologist named John Dovidio
who had worked with David Schroeder. Although I enjoyed counseling,
I was becoming passionate about experimental psychology, particularly
social psychology. I looked at several different universities, mostly in
the east, however John Dovidio urged me to consider U of A. He kept
telling me that I would learn a lot with David Schroeder and Eric Knowles
and it would be a good fit for me. This sounds terrible but growing up in
New England; I did not have a clue about Arkansas. I thought the world
pretty much ended at Pennsylvania. I was accepted at several
graduate programs in the east but I remember visiting them and being
turned off by the aloofness of the faculty. There was a “pecking
order” among graduate students and in some cases; first year graduate
students had little contact with their major professors until they
“proved themselves”. It was very different in the psychology
department at U of A. The minute I talked to David Schroeder, I
knew the program was a good fit for me. The psychology program at U
of A was very challenging, yet I always felt that every psychology
faculty member I met was dedicated to my education and to helping me
succeed. The experimental psychology faculty were excellent
researchers and outstanding teachers. I have used them as models in my
own academic career and it has severed me well.
8.
What did you think of the U of A campus and the Fayetteville area?
I have
to be honest; I teased many of my fellow graduate students who grew up
around Fayetteville about being raised in the Ozarks. The truth is
I fell in love with the place and my family and I love to come back and
visit campus. It is a beautiful place to both live and go to school.
9.
What sorts of things did you do for fun as a graduate student?
My
class of clinical and experimental graduate students bonded together and
become very close friends. We did all kinds of things together including
hiking in the Ozarks, pick up basket ball games, and many potluck dinners
at each other’s apartments. Like any university town we enjoyed
concerts, sporting events and of course all the bars and restaurants in
downtown Fayetteville. I also remember the experimental psychology
faculty had us over to their homes for dinners and get togethers.
The graduate students often played both racquetball and poker with
several of the psychology faculty members and as I recall it, we lost at both
a lot.
10.
What sorts of research and teaching experience did the UA program give
you?
One of
the most valuable experiences for me in terms of getting an academic job
was the opportunity to get teaching experience while in graduate school.
Today I am chair of the psychology department at a small liberal
arts college and we require two things of faculty members. One is
excellent teaching, and the second is getting students involved in
research. As I mentioned, Dave Schroeder and Eric Knowles were great
role models. They are excellent researchers and excellent teachers and
there is not a day that goes by in my job that I do not use something I
learned from them.
11. What are some of your fondest memories of being a graduate
student?
One is
the wonderful relationships and friendships I made in graduate school
with my fellow students and my professors. Second, is time. In
graduate school, I had time to study, discuss research ideas with other
graduate students, and learn about the things that fascinated me. I
love my career and family but there are days now that I long to be back
in graduate school so I can find the time to read a book or article in
peace.
12. What are you doing right now?
Coming
out of graduate school at the U of A in 1990, I took a tenure track job
in the psychology department at Marietta College in Marietta Ohio. I am now a tenured full professor of psychology. I teach mainly
introductory psychology, history of psychology, and social psychology at
the undergraduate and graduate level. I am also department chair
and director of the Masters program in general psychology.
13.
What are your plans for the future?
I just
finished writing an article that will be published in the journal of
Teaching of Psychology. I currently have a team of undergraduate
and graduate students investigating how group members respond to a group
leader who defects from the common good. As department chair, I
have many administrative duties, one of which is hiring a new faculty
member in experimental psychology.
14. What advice would you give someone thinking of going to graduate
school in psychology?
I
loved graduate school, and my advice is that graduate school is a special
time in your life and you will get out of it what you put into it.
It may not seem like it, but I doubt there will be another time in
your life where you can study something that interests you so intently,
so make the most of it and learn as much as you can. Get to know
your professors and fellow graduate students and of course have
fun.
15.
Anything else you'd like to tell us about your time at the University of Arkansas?
Now
that I teach and supervise the research of my own graduate students, I
just want to say I how much I appreciate the psychology faculty at U of
A. They truly prepared me for my academic career and I thank them
for giving me a great education.
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