Jason M. Stephens, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology

Jason M. Stephens is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Connecticut, where he teaches classes on human learning, academic motivation, and research methods. Jason’s research focuses on the academic motivation and moral development during adolescence. He is particularly interested in the problem of academic dishonesty and the incongruity between moral beliefs and behaviors related to cheating, which many adolescents report experiencing. In addition to authoring several journal articles and book chapters on academic dishonesty and belief-behavior incongruity, Jason is a principal investigator of Achieving with Integrity, a three-year intervention project aimed at promoting academic engagement and honesty in Connecticut high schools. Prior to joining the faculty at UConn, Jason was a research assistant at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching where worked on the Political Engagement Project and the Project on Higher Education and the Development of Moral and Civic Responsibility. He is a graduate of the University of Vermont (1991), holds an M.Ed degree from Vanderbilt University (1994), and a Ph.D. in educational psychology from Stanford University (2004).

•Ph.D. in Educational Psychology, Stanford University, 2004

•M.Ed. in Secondary Education, Vanderbilt University, 1994

•B.A. in History and Political Science, University of Vermont, 1991

« Full C.V. »

Contact Information: 

Gentry - 011B

Phone: (860) 486-1114
Fax: (860) 486-0180

Email: jason.stephens@uconn.edu

Office Hours:
Tuesdays 9:30 to 11:00am & Thursdays from 2:00 to 5:00pm

Mailing Address:
Dept. of Educational Psychology
Neag School of Education
249 Glenbrook Road, Unit 2064
Storrs, CT 06269-2064

Current Courses Taught:

EPSY 3010 Educational Psychology

EPSY 5510 Learning: Its Implications for Instruction

EPSY 6240 Academic Motivation: Theory, Research and Practice

Associations/Committees/Outreach:

American Psychological Association

American Educational Research Association

Association for Moral Education

In the News:

Fisher, S. (2007). Educational psychologist examines factors that lead students to cheat. UConn Advance, 26(5).

James, Susan D. (2008). Cheating Scandals Rock Three Top-Tier High Schools. ABC News.

Merritt, Grace (2008, 8 September). “Researcher Studies Epidemic Of Student Cheating: Pilot Program Aims To Promote Academic Honesty In Schools.” The Hartford Courant.

Synder, Susan (2008, 11 September). “ChaCha service raises fears of cheating via cell phone.” The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Casey, M. (2008, 13 October). Digging out the roots of Cheating. New York Times.

Delisio, Ellen (2008, December 3). “Enlisting students to create a culture of academic integrity.” Education World.

Areas of Expertise:

Cognition and Instruction

Academic Dishonesty

Moral Reasoning

Civic Education

Funded Research:

Achieving with Integrity (AI) Project

Selected Publications/Presentations:

Stephens, J. M. (in press). Modeling, Internalization, Albert Bandura (three separate entries). In R. Nuzzi, C. Power, D. Narvaez, & D. Lapsley (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Moral Education. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Stephens, J. M. & Nicholson, H. (2008). Cases of incongruity: Exploring the divide between adolescents’ beliefs and behaviors related to academic cheating. Educational Studies, 34(4), 361-376.

Stephens, J. M. & Gehlbach, H. (2007). Under pressure and under-engaged: Motivational profiles and academic cheating in high school. In E. Anderman and T. Murdock (Eds.), The psychology of academic cheating (pp. 107-139). Amsterdam: Academic Press.

Murdock, T. B. & Stephens, J. M. (2007). Is cheating wrong? Students’ reasoning about academic dishonesty. In E. Anderman and T. Murdock (Eds.), The psychology of academic cheating (pp. 229-251). Amsterdam: Academic Press.

Stephens, J. M., Young, M. F., & Calabrese, T. H. (2007). Does moral judgment go offline when students are online? A comparative analysis of undergraduates’ beliefs and behaviors related to conventional and digital cheating. Ethics & Behavior, 17(3), 233-254.

Artino, A. R., Jr. & Stephens, J. M. (2006). Learning online: Motivated to self-regulate? Academic Exchange Quarterly, 10 (4), 176-182.

McCabe D. L. & Stephens, J. M. (2006). “Epidemic” as opportunity: Internet plagiarism as a lever for cultural change. Teachers College Record (www.tcrecord.org/content.asp?contentid=12860).

Stephens, J. M. (2005). Justice or just us? What to do about cheating. In A. Lathrop and K. Foss (Eds.), Guiding students from cheating and plagiarism to honesty and integrity: Strategies for change (pp. 32-34). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Stephens, J. M. (2004). Just cheating? Motivation, morality and academic (mis)conduct among adolescents. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Stanford University: Stanford, CA.

Colby, A., Ehrlich, T., Beaumont, E., & Stephens, J. (2003). Educating citizens: Preparing America’s undergraduates for lives of moral and civic responsibility. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.