Theories of Personality

PSYSC 623 - Fall 2010



Lecture: W 6:30-9:00, NQ 106

Instructor    Dr. Thomas Holtgraves
                          NQ 108B
                          285-1716

E-Mail: 00t0holtgrav@bsu.edu

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

Web pages:


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

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


Required text: Personality Psychology (4th edition) by Randy Larsen & David Buss. McGraw-Hill (2010).

Additional readings: Copies of additional assigned articles will be on reserve at the University library. Some of these materials should be available electronically.

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, and class discussion. 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. The applicability of personality research, theorizing, and assessment for culturally diverse populations will be considered.

Course Format: A lecture format will usually be followed. However, questions and discussion during class are encouraged. It is expected that students will have read the assigned material before it is discussed in class. Fifteen percent of the final grade will be based class participation (exclusive of the paper presentation).

Disability Adaptations and Accommodations: If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, if you have emergency medical information to share with me, or if you need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please make an appointment with me as soon as possible. My office location and hours are listed above.

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.

Paper and class report: A term paper is required and will be due the last class period. The paper should be 10 to 15 pages (typed - double spaced). The topic is open but it must deal with some aspect of personality (broadly defined) and it must be approved by me. A short summary outline of the paper should be submitted to me by the fourth class period. In general, the paper should be a review and critique of some recognizable research area in personality psychology. Finally, each student will be required to make a 10-15 minute class presentation (using power point) based on their paper.

Exams: There will be two in-class essay exams (mid-term and final), each worth 100 points. Exams will cover all assigned readings and material discussed in class. Exact dates for the exams will be announced in class.

Grading: There are 350 possible points distributed as follows:

Exam 1: 100 points

Exam 2: 100 points

Paper/presentation 100 points

Participation/attendance 50 points

 

                                                                                            Course Outline                                                                                            

Topic Text Readings Additional Readings
     
Introduction and Overview Chapter 1 McAdams & Pals (06) (recommended)
     
Intrapsychic    
     
Psychoanalytic overview Chapter 9 Weston (rec).
     
Defense Mechanisms: Research and Individual Differences   Baumeister, Dale, & Sommer
    Geraerts et al (2007)
     
Terror Management Theory   Greenberg et al., (01)
    Laundau et al. (2004)        
    http://www.tmt.missouri.edu/
     
Conscious and Unconscious Processing Chapter 10 Caprara & Cervone ch. 11
    Dijksterhuis & Nordgren (2006
    Newell, Wong, Cheung, & Rakow (2009)
    Erdelyi (2006; recommended)
Trait    
     
Trait overview Chapter 3  
  Chapter 4 McCrae & John (1992)
    Back et al. (2010)
Trait controversies Chapter 5  
        
     Social Desirability   Paulus (2002)
     
     Traits vs. Situations   Kenrick & Funder (1991)
     
     
     Traits and Motives Chapter 11 Winter et al., (1998)
    McAdams (95)
     
  MIDTERM  
     
Social Cognitive    
     
Cognitive - Control Chapter 12 Twenge, Zhang, & Inn
     
Kelly and schemas   Kelly (1970)
    Caprar & Cervone Chapter 9
     
     
Self and culture Chapter 14 McAdams (2008)
  Chapter 15 (rec,)  
  Chapter 17 Baumeister, Campbell, Kreuger, & Vohs (2003)
    Markus & Kitayama (2010)
     
Biological
     
Physiology Chapter 7

Alves, Fukusima, & Aznar-Casanova (2008) 

    DeYoung et al (2010)
Heritability Chapter 6 Champagne & Mashoodh (2009)
     
     
Evolutionary Chapter 8 Neese (1990)
    Harris (2003)
    Baumeister (2007)
     
  FINAL  

 

Required/Recommended Readings (all on 2hr/overnight reserve at Bracken). Most will be available electronically via WebCat.

Alloy, L. B., Abramson, L. Y., & Francis, E. L. (1999). Do negative cognitive styles confer vulnerability to depression? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8, 128-132.

Alves, N. T., Fukusima, S. S., & Aznar-Casanova, J. A. (2008).  Models of brain asymmetry in emotional processing.  Psychology and Neuroscience, 1, 63-66

Back, M. D., Stopfer, J. M., Vazire, S., Gaddis, S., Schmukle, S. C., Egloff, B., & Gosling, S. D. (2010).  Facebook profiles reflect actual personality, not self-idealization.  Psychological Science,

Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, 191-251.

Baumeister, R. F. (2007).  Is there anything good about men?  Invited address.  American Psychological Association Convention.

Baumeister, R. F., Bushman, B. J., & Campbell, W. K. (2000). Self-esteem, Narcissism, and aggression: Does violence result from low self-esteem or from threatened egotism? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9, 26-29.

Baumeister, R. F., Campbell, J. D., Krueger, J. I., & Vohs, K. D. (2003). Does high self-esteem cause better performance, interpersonal success, happiness, or healthier lifestyles? Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 4, 1-44.

Baumeister, R. F., Dale, K., & Sommer, K. L. (1998). Freudian defense mechanisms and empirical findings in modern social psychology: Reaction formation, projection, displacement, undoing, isolation, sublimation, and denial. Journal of Personality, 66, 1081-1124.

Bouchard, T. J. Jr. (2004). Genetic influence on human psychological traits. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 4, 148-151.

Caprara, G. V., & Cervone, D. (2000). Personality: Determinants, dynamics, and potentials. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Champagne, F. A., & Mashoodh, R. (2009).  Genes in context;  Gene-environment interplay and the origins of individual differences in behavior.  Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18, 127-131.

Costa, P. T. Jr., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Four ways five factors are basic. Personality and Individual Differences, 13, 653-665.

DeYoung, C. G., Hirsh, J. B., Shane, M. S., Papademetris, X., Rajeevan, N., & Gray, J. R. (2010). Psychological Science, 21, 820-828.

Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R., & Smith, H. (1999). Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 276-302.

Diener, E., & Seligman, M. (2004). Beyond money: Toward an economy of well-being. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 5, 1-31.

Dijksterhuis, Ap & Nordgren, L. (2006). A theory of unconscious thought. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1, 95-109.

Donnellan, M. B., Trzesniewski, K. H., Robins, R. W., Moffitt, R. E. & Caspi, A. (2005). Low self-esteem is related to aggression, antisocial behavior, and delinquency. Psychological Science, 16, 328-335.

Dunning, D., Heath, C., & Suls, J. M. (2004). Flawed self-assessment: Implications for health, education, and the workplace. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 5, 69-106.

Eley, T. C. (1997). General genes: A new theme in developmental psychopathology. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 90-95.

Erdelyi, M. H. (2006). The unified theory of repression. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 29, 499-551.

Fiske, S. T., & Taylor, S. E. (1991). Social cognition. Chapter 4: Social categories and schemas. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Galdi, S., Arcuri, L., & Gawronski, B. (2008).  Automatic mental associations predict future choices of undecided decision-makers.  Science, 321, 1100-1102.

Geraerts, E., Schooler, J. W., Merckelbach, H., Jelicic, M., Hauer, B. J. A., & Ambadar, Z. (2007).  The reality of recovered memories.  Psychological Science, 18, 564-    568.

Greenberg J., Arndt J., Schimel J., Pyszczynski T., & Solomon S., (2001). Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 37, 70-76.

Harris, Christine, R. (2003). A review of sex differences in sexual jealousy, including self-report data, psychophysiological responses, interpersonal violence, and morbid jealousy. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 7, 102-128.

Harris, Christine, R. (2005). Male and female jealousy, still more similar than different: Reply to Sagarin (2005) . Personality and Social Psychology Review, 9, 76-86.

Heine, S. J. (2001).  Self as cultural product:  An examination of East Asian and North American  selves.  Journal of Personality, 69, 881-906.

Hogan, R., & Nicholson, R. A. (1988). The meaning of personality test scores. American Psychologist, 43, 621-626.

Holden, R. R., Wood, L. L., & Tomashewski, L. (2001). Do response time limitations counteract the effect of faking on personality inventory validity? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 160-169.

Kelly, G. A. (1970). A brief introduction to personal construct theory. In D. Bannister (ed.), Perspectives in personal construct theory (pp. 1-29). New York: Academic Press.

Kenrick, D. T., & Funder, D. C. (1991). The person-situation debate: Do personality traits really exist? In V. Derlega, B. Winstead, & W. Jones (Eds.), Personality (pp. 150-174). Chicago: Nelson-Hall.

Kihlstrom, J. F. (1990). The psychological unconscious. In L. Pervin (Ed.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (pp. 445-464). New York: Guilford.

Larson, R. (1991). Emotion. In V. Derlega, B. Winstead, & W. Jones (Eds.), Personality (pp. 407-432). Chicago: Nelson-Hall.

Landau, M. J., Solomon, S., Greenberg, J., Cohen, F., Pyszczynski, T., Arndt, J., Miller, C. H., Ogilvie, D. M., & Cook, A. (2004). Deliver us from evil: The effects of mortality salience and reminders of 9/11 on support for President George W. Bush. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 1136-1150.

Maddux, J. E. (1999). Personal efficacy. In V. Derlega, B. Winstead, & W. Jones (Eds.) Personality (2nd ed., pp. 229-256). Chicago: Nelson-Hall.

Markus, H., & Kitayama, S. (2010).  Cultures and selves:  A cycle of mutual constitution.  Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5, 420-430.

McAdams, D. P. (1995). What do we know when we know a person? Journal of Personality, 63, 365-395.

McAdams, D. P. (1997). A conceptual history of personality psychology. In R. Hogan, J. Johnson, & S. Briggs (Eds.). Handbook of personality psychology (pp. 4-39). San Diego: Academic Press.

McAdams, D. P. (2008).  Personal narratives and the life story.  In John, Robins, & Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of personality:  Theory and research (3rd edition).  New York:  Guilford Press.

McAdams, D. P., & Pals, J. L. (2006). A new big five: Fundamental principles for an integrative science of personality. American Psychologist, 61, 204-217.

McCrae, R., & John, O. (1992). An introduction to the five-factor model and its applications. Journal of Personality 60, 172-215.

Moffitt, T. E., (2005). The new look of behavioral genetics in developmental psychopathology: Gene-environment interplay in antisocial behaviors. Psychological Bulletin, 131, 533-554.

Neese, R. M. (1990). The evolutionary functions of repression and the ego defenses. The Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis, 18, 260-285.

Newell, B. R., Wong, K. Y., Cheung, J. C. H., & Rakow, T.  (2009). Think, blink or sleep on it? The impact of modes of thought on complex decision making.  Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 62, 707-732

Newman, L. S., Duff, K. J., & Baumeister, R. F. (1997). A new look at defensive projection: Thought supression, accessibility, and biased person perception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 980-1001.

Paulus, D. L. (2002).  Socially desirable responding:  The evolution of a construct.  In H. I. Braun, D. N. Jackson, & D. E. Wiley (Eds.), The role of constructs in psychological andeducational measurement (pp. 49-69).  Mahwah, NJ:  Erlbaum.

Rentfrow, P. J., Gosling, S. D., & Potter, J. (2008).  A theory of the emergence, persistence, and expression of geographic variation in psychological characteristics.  Perspectives on          Psychological Science, 3, 339-369.

Roberts, B. W., & Pomerantz, E. M. (2004). On traits, situations, and their integration: A developmental perspective. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8, 402-416.

Robinson, M. D. (2004). Personality as performance: Categorization tendencies and their correlates. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13, 127-129.

Rowe, D. C. (1999). Heredity. In V. Derlega, B. Winstead, & W. Jones (Eds.) Personality (2nd ed., pp. 66-100). Chicago: Nelson-Hall.

Sagarin, B. J. (2005). Reconsidering evolved sex differences in jealousy: Comment on Harris (2003). Personality and Social Psychology Review, 9, 62-75.

Schiffer, F., Teicher, M.H., Anderson, C., Tomoda, A., Polcari A., Navalta, C. P., & Andersen, S. L. (2007). Determination of hemispheric emotional valence in individual
subjects: A new approach with research and therapeutic implications. Behavioral and Brain Functions, 3:13 (doi:10.1186/1744-9081-3-13). Available at: http://www.behavioralandbrainfunctions.com/content/pdf/1744-9081-3-13.pdf

Schimel, J., Greenberg, J., & Martens, A. (2003). Evidence that projection of a feared trait can serve a defensive function. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 969-979.

Triandis, H. C. (1989). The self and social behavior in differing cultural contexts. Psychological Review, 96, 506-520.

Twenge, J. M., Zhang, L., & Im, C. (2004). It's beyond my control: A cross-temporal meta-analysis of increasing externality in locus of control, 1960-2002. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8, 308-319.

Weston, D. (1998). The scientific legacy of Sigmund Freud: Toward a psychodynamically informed psychological science. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 333-371.

Winter, D. G., John, O. P., Steward, A. J., Klohnen, E. C., & Duncan, L. E. (1998). Traits and motives: Toward an integration of two traditions in personality research. Psychological Review, 105, 230-250.

 

PSYSC 623

Possible Term Paper Topics

Note: Listed below are broad topics (term papers should be more narrow) that are not covered explicitly in the course. For other possible topics see the attached list of personality measures, the review articles, and/or the text and additional required/recommended readings.

Implicit Attitudes Test

Terror Management Theory

Parental influences on children (shared environment effects; e.g., Harris)

Birth order and personality

Culture and personality (e.g., individualism and collectivism)

Sociobiological explanations of personality and/or specific personality processes.

Moral character and/or development

Personality and relationships (e.g., effects of personality on relationships and vice versa)

Loneliness

Personalty correlates of psychological disorders

Personality and health

Personality development (e.g., Bowlby's attachment theory)

Motives (e.g., power, achievement, affiliation, personal strivings)

Aggression

Ego psychology

Longitudinal studies of personality

Interaction concepts of personality (Sullivan, Leary, Wiggins)

Leadership

Optimism/Pessimism