Introduction to the Study of Personality

PSYSC 317 Fall 2010

Instructor: Dr. Thomas Holtgraves

                  NQ 108B

                  285-1716

                  E-Mail: 00T0HOLTGRAV@bsu.edu

                  Office Hours: MW 4:00 - 5:00 /By appointment

Webpages:

Instructor: http://www.bsu.edu/web/00t0holtgrav/

Textbook: http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0073531901/student_view0/index.html

Required text:: Personality Psychology (3rd edition) by Randy Larsen & David Buss. McGraw-Hill (2007).

Course Description: The goal of this course is provide students with a broad introduction to the field of personality psychology. This will be accomplished with text readings, lectures, writing assignments, class discussion, and hands-on personality assessment. More specifically, this course will familiarize students with some of the major theoretical approaches to personality, the assessment of personality, and the operation of selected personality processes.

Course Format: A lecture format will usually be followed. However, questions and discussion during class are encouraged. It is, of course, recommended that students keep up with the text readings. Some of the lectures will cover text material, other lectures will cover material not discussed in the text.

Statement of Academic Honesty: For learning to be meaningful and worthwhile it must be based on honesty. Learning that is not fundamentally honest is incomplete, systematically flawed and potentially damaging to all of us. Simply put: if you cheat, you don't learn. Academic dishonesty, or cheating, damages students and universities because it adds suspicion and resentment to academic competition, and it distorts the meaning of grades. Ball State University has taken a very definitive position on academic dishonest, as laid out in Section VIII.B of the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities. Academic dishonest, as defined in the Code, includes, but is not limited to, using unauthorized aids during a test, submitting another's work as your own, and submitting previously presented work as newly executed work without my knowledge or authorization. I am committed to assigning grades based on students' honest efforts on exams and other class assignments. All suspected incidents of academic dishonesty will be pursed through the established channels.

                                                 Course Outline

Exams. There will be four exams each worth 100 points. These exams will be objective (multiple choice and matching) and will cover material from class lectures and assigned text readings. All make-up exams will be given during the last week of the semester (the exact date will be announced in class). Only those who have a documented excuse (from a physician or the dean's office) will be allowed to take a make-up exam.

In-class Exam Dates:

Exam 1: Week 4

Exam 2: Week 8

Exam 3: Week 12

Exam 4: Monday, December 13, 2010

Papers

2. Research Paper Project. A research paper is required for this course.  Completing this project will expose you to primary research in the field, help develop your writing skills, and give you the opportunity to explore in more detail an area of personality that is of interest to you. This paper will be due November 22, 2010. It is worth 100 points.

3. Personality Analysis Project. An important component of personality psychology is the assessment of various features of personality. To provide some familiarity with this aspect of personality psychology, students will take several personality measures during the semester. The results of these tests will be completely anonymous. A self-analysis of personality paper, based on the results of these measures, is required. Completing the project will give you some familiarity with the issues involved in personality measurement. It will also give you a means for organizing and thinking about many of the issues discussed during the semester, and it will facilitate learning of the material by making it self-relevant. This paper will be due December 10, 2010. It is worth a total of 80 points.

Late papers: Late papers will be accepted but 10%/day will be deducted from the score.

Internet Personality Sites

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/index_surveys.shtml

http://www.2h.com/Tests/personality-tests.html

http://www.queendom.com/tests.html

http://www.socialpsychology.org/person.htm#online

Be aware that some of the measures on these (and other) sites may not be very valid measures.

1. Extra credit points can be earned by reviewing a recent empirical research article (i.e., data is reported) published in an acceptable personality journal. The questions that you need to address can be found at http://www.bsu.edu/web/00t0holtgrav/317/317JOURN.HTM. This can not be an article that is used in your term paper. To complete this assignment you need to select and read a recent article(2000-2010) from a scholarly journal that publishes empirical personality research. A report is to be written that consists of a summary and evaluation of the article. The report must be typed, 3-5 pages in length, and include a xeroxed copy of the article that is reviewed. Acceptable journals for this assignment are: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Journal of Research in Personality, Journal of Personality. Only articles found in these journals for the years 2000-2010 will be acceptable. It is recommended that you spend time looking for an article that is interesting to you and that you will be able to summarize and review. In other words, don't just randomly choose an article. These reviews will be evaluated and are worth up to 10 point each (a maximum of two may be submitted).

2. Complete and critically review a personality measure not taken in class. Your review should address the following issues

a) What trait or traits were measured?

b) How was/were the trait(s) conceptualized?

c) What is the relationship between this/these trait(s) and the traits discussed in class.

d) Include a copy of the measure (all of the items to which you responded)

These reviews will be evaluated and are worth up to 10 points each (a maximum of two may be submitted).

Other extra credit assignments may be possible; if so, they will be announced in class.