Course Detail
Course Detail
Course Description
| Course | Code | Semester | T+P (Hour) | Credit | ECTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SELECTED TOPICS in SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY | PSY4115539 | Fall Semester | 3+0 | 3 | 6 |
| Course Program | Perşembe 12:00-12:45 Perşembe 12:45-13:30 Perşembe 13:30-14:15 Cumartesi 12:00-12:45 Cumartesi 12:45-13:30 Cumartesi 13:30-14:15 |
| Prerequisites Courses | |
| Recommended Elective Courses |
| Language of Course | English |
| Course Level | First Cycle (Bachelor's Degree) |
| Course Type | Elective |
| Course Coordinator | Assist.Prof. Büşra Eylem AKTAŞ |
| Name of Lecturer(s) | Assist.Prof. Büşra Eylem AKTAŞ |
| Assistant(s) | |
| Aim | This course aims to provide a broad overview of the concept of fairness in social psychology, examining it from various perspectives, ranging from its evolutionary origins and economic games to its relationship with punishment and empathy, as well as moral emotions, group loyalty, and collective action. Throughout the semester, students will be expected to read the research articles assigned each week, prepare one discussion question for each article they read, and write a discussion paper (maximum one page, single-spaced). Discussion questions and papers should be prepared on paper and brought to class in hard copy rather than submitted through the electronic platform. Class attendance is mandatory. Students with more than 30% absenteeism will receive an FF grade for the course. Students may earn up to a maximum of 5 bonus points for participating in research, which will be added to their final score. Alternatively, students may earn bonus points (up to 5) by submitting summaries of five different articles related to the topics covered in the respective weeks. |
| Course Content | This course contains; Introduction,Fairness in Non-Human Animals,The Evolutionary Origins of Fairness,Fairness, Competition, and Reciprocity,Punishment and Empathy,Reputation, Punishment, and Empathy in Economic Interactions,Fairness, Inequality, and Moralization in Social Contexts,Moral Outrage and Injustice,Uncertainty Management and Procedural Justice Responses,Emotion and Fairness-Based Decision-Making,Fairness, Group Loyalty, and Social Exclusion,Fairness and Collective Action,Synthesis and General Review. |
| Course Learning Outcomes | Teaching Methods | Assessment Methods |
| 1. 1. Develop an understanding of the theoretical foundations of the concept of fairness in social psychology. 2. Gain knowledge of terms and concepts related to fairness (e.g., inequity aversion, reciprocity, procedural justice). 3. Gain knowledge of the methods and limitations of empirical research on fairness. 4. Gain knowledge of current research trends in the psychology of fairness. 5. Integrate knowledge of fairness with other subfields, such as developmental psychology, comparative psychology, behavioral economics, and moral psychology. | 1, 10, 14 |
| Teaching Methods: | 1: Mastery Learning, 10: Discussion Method, 14: Self Study Method |
| Assessment Methods: |
Course Outline
| Order | Subjects | Preliminary Work |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction | - |
| 2 | Fairness in Non-Human Animals | Brosnan & De Waal (2014); Brosnan & De Waal (2003) |
| 3 | The Evolutionary Origins of Fairness | Baumard, André, & Sperber (2013); Brosnan & de Waal (2012) |
| 4 | Fairness, Competition, and Reciprocity | Fehr, E., Fischbacher, U., & Gächter, S. (2002). Strong reciprocity, human cooperation, and the enforcement of social norms. Human nature, 13(1), 1-25. |
| 5 | Punishment and Empathy | Fehr & Gächter (2002); Batson et al. (1991); McAuliffe, Marshall, & McLaughlin (2025) |
| 6 | Reputation, Punishment, and Empathy in Economic Interactions | Barclay (2006); Klimecki et al. (2016) |
| 7 | Fairness, Inequality, and Moralization in Social Contexts | Aktaş & Cesur (2026); Kirkland et al. (2023); Kirkland et al. (2024) |
| 8 | Moral Outrage and Injustice | Batson et al. (2007); Zeynalli & Aktaş (2025) |
| 9 | Uncertainty Management and Procedural Justice Responses | Van den Bos (2001a); Van den Bos (2001b) |
| 10 | Emotion and Fairness-Based Decision-Making | Zheng et al. (2017); Abudukadier et al. (2026) |
| 11 | Fairness, Group Loyalty, and Social Exclusion | Mulvey, Hitti & Killen (2023) |
| 12 | Fairness and Collective Action | Malthouse et al. (2023) |
| 13 | Synthesis and General Review | No new reading. Synthesis of the articles covered throughout the semester and preparation for the final exam. |
| Resources |
| Brosnan, S. F., & De Waal, F. B. (2014). Evolution of responses to (un)fairness. Science, 346(6207), 1251776. Brosnan, S. F., & De Waal, F. B. (2003). Monkeys reject unequal pay. Nature, 425(6955), 297–299. Baumard, N., André, J. B., & Sperber, D. (2013). A mutualistic approach to morality: The evolution of fairness by partner choice. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 36(1), 59–78. Brosnan, S. F., & de Waal, F. B. (2012). Fairness in animals: Where to from here? Social Justice Research, 25(3), 336–351. Fehr, E., Fischbacher, U., & Gächter, S. (2002). Strong reciprocity, human cooperation, and the enforcement of social norms. Human nature, 13(1), 1-25. Fehr, E., & Gächter, S. (2002). Altruistic punishment in humans. Nature, 415(6868), 137–140. Batson, C. D., Batson, J. G., Slingsby, J. K., Harrell, K. L., Peekna, H. M., & Todd, R. M. (1991). Empathic joy and the empathy-altruism hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61(3), 413–426. McAuliffe, K., Marshall, J., & McLaughlin, A. (2025). Beyond punishment: Psychological foundations of restorative interventions. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 29(2), 149–169. Barclay, P. (2006). Reputational benefits for altruistic punishment. Evolution and Human Behavior, 27(5), 325–344. Klimecki, O. M., Mayer, S. V., Jusyte, A., Scheeff, J., & Schönenberg, M. (2016). Empathy promotes altruistic behavior in economic interactions. Scientific Reports, 6(1), Article 31961. Aktaş, B. E., & Cesur, S. (2026). How social context modulates the roles of fairness, reciprocity, and empathy on advantageous inequity aversion. The Journal of General Psychology, 1–41. Kirkland, K., Jetten, J., Wilks, M., & Kirby, J. (2023). Promoting prosocial behavior in an unequal world. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, Article 1021093. Kirkland, K., Van Lange, P. A., Gorenz, D., Blake, K., Amiot, C. E., Ausmees, L., ... & Bastian, B. (2024). High economic inequality is linked to greater moralization. PNAS Nexus, 3(7), pgae221. Batson, C. D., Kennedy, C. L., Nord, L. A., Stocks, E. L., Fleming, D. Y. A., Marzette, C. M., ... & Zerger, T. (2007). Anger at unfairness: Is it moral outrage? European Journal of Social Psychology, 37(6), 1272–1285. Zeynalli, F., & Aktaş, B. E. (2025). The fair and the furious: Interpersonal effects of moral anger in economic bargaining. Current Psychology, 44(21), 17274–17292. Van den Bos, K. (2001). Uncertainty management: The influence of uncertainty salience on reactions to perceived procedural fairness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(6), 931–941. Van den Bos, K. (2001). Reactions to perceived fairness: The impact of mortality salience and self-esteem on ratings of negative affect. Social Justice Research, 14(1), 1–23. Zheng, Y., Yang, Z., Jin, C., Qi, Y., & Liu, X. (2017). The influence of emotion on fairness-related decision making: A critical review of theories and evidence. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, Article 1592. Abudukadier, A., Zhou, Z., Cheng, Z., Wang, X., Luo, Y., & Chen, X. (2026). Fairness matters: The impact of leaders' emotional expressions on subordinates' behavior. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 126, 104957. Mulvey, K. L., Hitti, A., & Killen, M. (2023). When fairness and group loyalty conflict: Social exclusion, prejudice, and bias in adolescence and early adulthood. In L. J. Crockett, G. Carlo, & J. E. Schulenberg (Eds.), APA Handbook of Adolescent and Young Adult Development (pp. 159–173). American Psychological Association. Malthouse, E., Pilgrim, C., Sgroi, D., & Hills, T. T. (2023). When fairness is not enough: The disproportionate contributions of the poor in a collective action problem. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 152(11), 3229–3251. |
Course Contribution to Program Qualifications
| Course Contribution to Program Qualifications | |||||||
| No | Program Qualification | Contribution Level | |||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |||
| 1 | Knows the basic concepts of research and application-oriented sub-fields of psychology and the basic theories of these fields. | X | |||||
| 2 | Can compare theories and schools in the history of psychology, and relate new developments with this knowledge. | ||||||
| 3 | Can recognize and interpret the problems they encounter and offer solutions using their expert knowledge. | X | |||||
| 4 | Can investigate a problem with scientific methods, interpret findings and turn the results into a scientific publication. | ||||||
| 5 | Can lead the project, plan and manage the activities in a team established to solve the problems related to their field. | ||||||
| 6 | Can question and criticize new ideas from a scientific point of view without taking sides. | ||||||
| 7 | They adopt the principle of lifelong learning and can follow new developments in their field. | X | |||||
| 8 | Can share their findings, knowledge and solution suggestions about a problem with colleagues or people outside of their field in written or oral form, in an appropriate language. | X | |||||
| 9 | They have a sense of social responsibility and can use their professional achievements in solving problems in their near and far surroundings. | X | |||||
| 10 | Speaks English at least at B1 level to follow international professional developments. | X | |||||
| 11 | Has basic computer skills and can communicate with colleagues on up-to-date platforms. | ||||||
| 12 | Knows the basic tools of psychology used in assessment and evaluation and can use these tools. | ||||||
| 13 | Knows professional responsibilities, authorization, and limits, recognizes psychological problems, can make the right referral for their solution, and abides by ethical principles in research and practice. | ||||||
| 14 | They consider individual and cultural differences in research and practice and take these differences into account while evaluating the research results. | ||||||
Assessment Methods
| Contribution Level | Absolute Evaluation | |
| Rate of Midterm Exam to Success | 40 | |
| Rate of Final Exam to Success | 60 | |
| Total | 100 | |
| ECTS / Workload Table | ||||||
| Activities | Number of | Duration(Hour) | Total Workload(Hour) | |||
| Course Hours | 14 | 3 | 42 | |||
| Guided Problem Solving | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Resolution of Homework Problems and Submission as a Report | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Term Project | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Presentation of Project / Seminar | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Quiz | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Midterm Exam | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| General Exam | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Performance Task, Maintenance Plan | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Total Workload(Hour) | 42 | |||||
| Dersin AKTS Kredisi = Toplam İş Yükü (Saat)/30*=(42/30) | 1 | |||||
| ECTS of the course: 30 hours of work is counted as 1 ECTS credit. | ||||||
Detail Informations of the Course
Course Description
| Course | Code | Semester | T+P (Hour) | Credit | ECTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SELECTED TOPICS in SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY | PSY4115539 | Fall Semester | 3+0 | 3 | 6 |
| Course Program | Perşembe 12:00-12:45 Perşembe 12:45-13:30 Perşembe 13:30-14:15 Cumartesi 12:00-12:45 Cumartesi 12:45-13:30 Cumartesi 13:30-14:15 |
| Prerequisites Courses | |
| Recommended Elective Courses |
| Language of Course | English |
| Course Level | First Cycle (Bachelor's Degree) |
| Course Type | Elective |
| Course Coordinator | Assist.Prof. Büşra Eylem AKTAŞ |
| Name of Lecturer(s) | Assist.Prof. Büşra Eylem AKTAŞ |
| Assistant(s) | |
| Aim | This course aims to provide a broad overview of the concept of fairness in social psychology, examining it from various perspectives, ranging from its evolutionary origins and economic games to its relationship with punishment and empathy, as well as moral emotions, group loyalty, and collective action. Throughout the semester, students will be expected to read the research articles assigned each week, prepare one discussion question for each article they read, and write a discussion paper (maximum one page, single-spaced). Discussion questions and papers should be prepared on paper and brought to class in hard copy rather than submitted through the electronic platform. Class attendance is mandatory. Students with more than 30% absenteeism will receive an FF grade for the course. Students may earn up to a maximum of 5 bonus points for participating in research, which will be added to their final score. Alternatively, students may earn bonus points (up to 5) by submitting summaries of five different articles related to the topics covered in the respective weeks. |
| Course Content | This course contains; Introduction,Fairness in Non-Human Animals,The Evolutionary Origins of Fairness,Fairness, Competition, and Reciprocity,Punishment and Empathy,Reputation, Punishment, and Empathy in Economic Interactions,Fairness, Inequality, and Moralization in Social Contexts,Moral Outrage and Injustice,Uncertainty Management and Procedural Justice Responses,Emotion and Fairness-Based Decision-Making,Fairness, Group Loyalty, and Social Exclusion,Fairness and Collective Action,Synthesis and General Review. |
| Course Learning Outcomes | Teaching Methods | Assessment Methods |
| 1. 1. Develop an understanding of the theoretical foundations of the concept of fairness in social psychology. 2. Gain knowledge of terms and concepts related to fairness (e.g., inequity aversion, reciprocity, procedural justice). 3. Gain knowledge of the methods and limitations of empirical research on fairness. 4. Gain knowledge of current research trends in the psychology of fairness. 5. Integrate knowledge of fairness with other subfields, such as developmental psychology, comparative psychology, behavioral economics, and moral psychology. | 1, 10, 14 |
| Teaching Methods: | 1: Mastery Learning, 10: Discussion Method, 14: Self Study Method |
| Assessment Methods: |
Course Outline
| Order | Subjects | Preliminary Work |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction | - |
| 2 | Fairness in Non-Human Animals | Brosnan & De Waal (2014); Brosnan & De Waal (2003) |
| 3 | The Evolutionary Origins of Fairness | Baumard, André, & Sperber (2013); Brosnan & de Waal (2012) |
| 4 | Fairness, Competition, and Reciprocity | Fehr, E., Fischbacher, U., & Gächter, S. (2002). Strong reciprocity, human cooperation, and the enforcement of social norms. Human nature, 13(1), 1-25. |
| 5 | Punishment and Empathy | Fehr & Gächter (2002); Batson et al. (1991); McAuliffe, Marshall, & McLaughlin (2025) |
| 6 | Reputation, Punishment, and Empathy in Economic Interactions | Barclay (2006); Klimecki et al. (2016) |
| 7 | Fairness, Inequality, and Moralization in Social Contexts | Aktaş & Cesur (2026); Kirkland et al. (2023); Kirkland et al. (2024) |
| 8 | Moral Outrage and Injustice | Batson et al. (2007); Zeynalli & Aktaş (2025) |
| 9 | Uncertainty Management and Procedural Justice Responses | Van den Bos (2001a); Van den Bos (2001b) |
| 10 | Emotion and Fairness-Based Decision-Making | Zheng et al. (2017); Abudukadier et al. (2026) |
| 11 | Fairness, Group Loyalty, and Social Exclusion | Mulvey, Hitti & Killen (2023) |
| 12 | Fairness and Collective Action | Malthouse et al. (2023) |
| 13 | Synthesis and General Review | No new reading. Synthesis of the articles covered throughout the semester and preparation for the final exam. |
| Resources |
| Brosnan, S. F., & De Waal, F. B. (2014). Evolution of responses to (un)fairness. Science, 346(6207), 1251776. Brosnan, S. F., & De Waal, F. B. (2003). Monkeys reject unequal pay. Nature, 425(6955), 297–299. Baumard, N., André, J. B., & Sperber, D. (2013). A mutualistic approach to morality: The evolution of fairness by partner choice. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 36(1), 59–78. Brosnan, S. F., & de Waal, F. B. (2012). Fairness in animals: Where to from here? Social Justice Research, 25(3), 336–351. Fehr, E., Fischbacher, U., & Gächter, S. (2002). Strong reciprocity, human cooperation, and the enforcement of social norms. Human nature, 13(1), 1-25. Fehr, E., & Gächter, S. (2002). Altruistic punishment in humans. Nature, 415(6868), 137–140. Batson, C. D., Batson, J. G., Slingsby, J. K., Harrell, K. L., Peekna, H. M., & Todd, R. M. (1991). Empathic joy and the empathy-altruism hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61(3), 413–426. McAuliffe, K., Marshall, J., & McLaughlin, A. (2025). Beyond punishment: Psychological foundations of restorative interventions. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 29(2), 149–169. Barclay, P. (2006). Reputational benefits for altruistic punishment. Evolution and Human Behavior, 27(5), 325–344. Klimecki, O. M., Mayer, S. V., Jusyte, A., Scheeff, J., & Schönenberg, M. (2016). Empathy promotes altruistic behavior in economic interactions. Scientific Reports, 6(1), Article 31961. Aktaş, B. E., & Cesur, S. (2026). How social context modulates the roles of fairness, reciprocity, and empathy on advantageous inequity aversion. The Journal of General Psychology, 1–41. Kirkland, K., Jetten, J., Wilks, M., & Kirby, J. (2023). Promoting prosocial behavior in an unequal world. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, Article 1021093. Kirkland, K., Van Lange, P. A., Gorenz, D., Blake, K., Amiot, C. E., Ausmees, L., ... & Bastian, B. (2024). High economic inequality is linked to greater moralization. PNAS Nexus, 3(7), pgae221. Batson, C. D., Kennedy, C. L., Nord, L. A., Stocks, E. L., Fleming, D. Y. A., Marzette, C. M., ... & Zerger, T. (2007). Anger at unfairness: Is it moral outrage? European Journal of Social Psychology, 37(6), 1272–1285. Zeynalli, F., & Aktaş, B. E. (2025). The fair and the furious: Interpersonal effects of moral anger in economic bargaining. Current Psychology, 44(21), 17274–17292. Van den Bos, K. (2001). Uncertainty management: The influence of uncertainty salience on reactions to perceived procedural fairness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(6), 931–941. Van den Bos, K. (2001). Reactions to perceived fairness: The impact of mortality salience and self-esteem on ratings of negative affect. Social Justice Research, 14(1), 1–23. Zheng, Y., Yang, Z., Jin, C., Qi, Y., & Liu, X. (2017). The influence of emotion on fairness-related decision making: A critical review of theories and evidence. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, Article 1592. Abudukadier, A., Zhou, Z., Cheng, Z., Wang, X., Luo, Y., & Chen, X. (2026). Fairness matters: The impact of leaders' emotional expressions on subordinates' behavior. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 126, 104957. Mulvey, K. L., Hitti, A., & Killen, M. (2023). When fairness and group loyalty conflict: Social exclusion, prejudice, and bias in adolescence and early adulthood. In L. J. Crockett, G. Carlo, & J. E. Schulenberg (Eds.), APA Handbook of Adolescent and Young Adult Development (pp. 159–173). American Psychological Association. Malthouse, E., Pilgrim, C., Sgroi, D., & Hills, T. T. (2023). When fairness is not enough: The disproportionate contributions of the poor in a collective action problem. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 152(11), 3229–3251. |
Course Contribution to Program Qualifications
| Course Contribution to Program Qualifications | |||||||
| No | Program Qualification | Contribution Level | |||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |||
| 1 | Knows the basic concepts of research and application-oriented sub-fields of psychology and the basic theories of these fields. | X | |||||
| 2 | Can compare theories and schools in the history of psychology, and relate new developments with this knowledge. | ||||||
| 3 | Can recognize and interpret the problems they encounter and offer solutions using their expert knowledge. | X | |||||
| 4 | Can investigate a problem with scientific methods, interpret findings and turn the results into a scientific publication. | ||||||
| 5 | Can lead the project, plan and manage the activities in a team established to solve the problems related to their field. | ||||||
| 6 | Can question and criticize new ideas from a scientific point of view without taking sides. | ||||||
| 7 | They adopt the principle of lifelong learning and can follow new developments in their field. | X | |||||
| 8 | Can share their findings, knowledge and solution suggestions about a problem with colleagues or people outside of their field in written or oral form, in an appropriate language. | X | |||||
| 9 | They have a sense of social responsibility and can use their professional achievements in solving problems in their near and far surroundings. | X | |||||
| 10 | Speaks English at least at B1 level to follow international professional developments. | X | |||||
| 11 | Has basic computer skills and can communicate with colleagues on up-to-date platforms. | ||||||
| 12 | Knows the basic tools of psychology used in assessment and evaluation and can use these tools. | ||||||
| 13 | Knows professional responsibilities, authorization, and limits, recognizes psychological problems, can make the right referral for their solution, and abides by ethical principles in research and practice. | ||||||
| 14 | They consider individual and cultural differences in research and practice and take these differences into account while evaluating the research results. | ||||||
Assessment Methods
| Contribution Level | Absolute Evaluation | |
| Rate of Midterm Exam to Success | 40 | |
| Rate of Final Exam to Success | 60 | |
| Total | 100 | |