Coping with Seven Disruptive Personality Types in the Classroom

year. But the student with the sociopathic personality style is likely to be more blatant thanother students in his cheating behavior, not only in terms of how often he resorts toplagiarism but also to the extent to which he uses plagiarized information. Although weknow that honor codes seem to work quite well in curbing plagiarism with most students,these codes are less likely to impress the sociopathic student than other students.Sociopaths seem to gain a special thrill from the experience of outwitting others. If a studentis caught cheating in your class, you might keep an eye out for whether the guilty partyevinces contrition and remorse. If there is little evidence of remorse, this may signal that thestudent is likely to be an antisocial individual generally.How to Respond• Employ honor codesIn dealing with antisocial students and issues like cheating, honor codes work reasonablywell. Also, because cheating is so prevalent on campus, you might begin each semester witha short commentary on the problem by saying to students the following: “The problem ofcheating is widespread. The competition for good grades is fierce. Good grades are a path toa good grade point average, and a good grade point average is a passport to graduate schoolor a good job, so there are strong temptations to cheat. However, it’s important for you to findways to resist that temptation, because not only is it ethically wrong to cheat, but theconsequences for being caught cheating can be grave, including a failing grade on a paper,failing the course, or possibly a suspension.” This way the problem is out in the open, and allthe students, including the antisocial ones, are forewarned.• Define “plagiarism” in the syllabusIt is also important to recognize that students sometimes plagiarize without realizing thatthey are cheating, as when, for example, they fail to provide attribution with quotation marks.This is why it is important for instructors to define “cheating” and “plagiarism” clearly forthem, possibly in the syllabus. Then, if someone plagiarizes and is caught, he cannotlegitimately claim he did not know he was indeed cheating.• Make penalties proportionate and apply them to all students in equalmeasureKeep in mind that it does not matter what kind of personality style you are dealing with whenit comes to cheating. Cheating is an important form of academic dishonesty and should,12