Psychology lecturer’s exam question goes viral

IT’S not a hard decision — choose between less or more points in an exam. But it’s the catch that proved difficult for students sitting this exam.

AN exam question asking students if they wanted less or more points has gone viral because of the ‘catch’.

Psychology lecturer at the University of Maryland Dr. Dylan Selterman gave his students a curve ball in their test, making them decide the following:

Here you have the opportunity to earn some extra credit on your final paper grade. Select whether you want 2 points or 6 points added to your final grade. But there’s a small catch: If more than 10% of the class selects 6 points, then no one gets any points. Your response will be anonymous to the rest of the class, only I will see the responses.

Dr Selterman told local media he has been doing the exercise every semester at the college since 2008 and not surprisingly, “only one time did students stay under the threshold for the selfish option (I think that was a random fluke).”

WHAT KIND OF PROFESSOR DOES THIS pic.twitter.com/ACtQ0FCwRm

— shahanye (@shaunhin) July 1, 2015

Dr Selterman himself had to answer the question when he was a student and is aimed at teaching students about individual actions on a collective. It shines a light on the selfish nature of individuals when their actions go against the interests of a group and impact a collective resource.