One professor’s final exam went viral after Shahin Rafikian, a rising junior at the University of Maryland, shared its extra credit question on Twitter:

WHAT KIND OF PROFESSOR DOES THIS http://t.co/ACtQ0FCwRm—
name (@shaunhin) July 01, 2015

The “evil genius” behind the twisted question? Dr. Dylan Selterman.

I am that professor. https://t.co/5OIDw7ZXxX

— Dylan Selterman (@SelterMosby) July 9, 2015

But, as the psychology lecturer explained to USA TODAY College, he can’t claim credit for the exercise.

“I first learned about this when I was in a college,” Selterman, who attended Johns Hopkins University, says. “My professor, Steve Drigotas, used this exercise with my class.”

Selterman says the exercise was originally published in a psychology journal 25 years ago and has since been adapted by a number of his colleagues. He says it’s intended to illustrate the tragedy of the commons.

“[The tragedy of the commons is] basically a dilemma between doing what’s good for you as an individual versus doing what’s best for the group,” he explains. “Now it stands to reason that people behave selfishly. But if too many people behave selfishly, the group will suffer… and then everyone in the group individually will suffer.”

Selterman says only one class — his fall 2011 group — has received the extra credit since he first implemented the exercise in 2008. But he speculates that it may have merely been a fluke.

“In behavioral science, nothing is ever 100%,” he says.

Selterman says that he believes most students select the six-point option by way of a “go big or go home” mentality. Others, he says, may do it out of fear of being slighted.

The University of Maryland hosted a TEDx event in the CP Marriott Hotel Conference Center on May 3, 2015 (Photo courtesy of Dr. Dylan Selterman)

“You’re trying to anticipate what other people are doing,” he says. “If other people get six points, they want six points, too. They want to be among those who score the highest.”

And, as Selterman adds, this need to maximize personal gain transcends the world of academia.

“The extra credit question is analogous to any public resource in the world that we would all use like food or water or land,” he says. “Again, if people are mindful of their own consumption, then it’s fine, but if too many people are selfish, then we have now — like in California — water shortages.”

Reflecting on the exercise, Rafikian — who chose the two-point option — told the Baltimore Sun, “I was first upset because I was thinking, ‘I know there’s going to be some selfish kids in the class,’ but I am still hoping that everyone was choosing two points.”

Rafikian, whose tweet has since been shared more than 6,000 times, says he was shocked to discover that he was an outlier in the exercise.

“In the past two days, it has turned into a huge philosophical decision-making process among so many people,” he says. “Before it blew up on Twitter, I was thinking people would just choose two points. A lot of those responses are surprisingly telling me, ‘choose six points.'”

But Selterman says he was unsurprised by the results, adding that he hopes his students at least walk away from his course with a sense of mindfulness.

“I wish that students took from this the idea that their actions affect others and vice versa and, going forward, whenever they work in groups or whenever they interact with others in their community, that they carefully consider these things, these mechanisms and that they work together constructively with others,” Selterman says. “I would hope that any student who chose six points would, in the future, think twice about the selfish option and think about what’s best for the group and — by extension — what’s best for them.”