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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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