The Psychology Department is pleased to announce the first Kenneth L. Smoke Colloquium of the Spring '12 semester.  Dr. Taya Cohen, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior and Theory at Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business will present:

"Feeling Bad and Doing Good: Predicting Immoral Behavior from Guilt Proneness"

This research explores the role of guilt proneness in preventing immoral behavior. Guilt proneness refers to individual differences in the propensity to feel badly about one’s transgressions, even when those transgressions occur in private. To test whether people low in guilt proneness act more unethically, we developed the self-report Guilt and Shame Proneness scale—GASP. Across a series of studies with the GASP, we found that people who scored high in guilt proneness (compared to low scorers): made fewer unethical business decisions; behaved more honestly when they negotiated and made economic decisions, and committed fewer deviant work behaviors. We found evidence of these relationships with more than one thousand adults across the United States, as well as undergraduate and graduate students. These findings suggest that guilt proneness is an important character trait that predisposes people to think, feel, and act in morally-relevant ways.

All are welcome to attend this lecture on Thursday, February 23rd @ 4:00 pm in Bowen Auditorium, McCreary Hall, room 115.

More information on Dr. Cohen