Personality Psychology

This class will be divided into seven units which each emphasize a) a

contemporary issue in personality psychology, b) a personality trait, c) a

research method, and d) a statistical concept. Students will be expected

to engage in discussion about these topics and will be assessed through

class assignments, quizzes, and a final exam.

In personality psychology, there are many complimentary and competing

theories and perspectives. In this class, students will learn about strengths

and limitations of each. We will explore how major historical approaches

to psychology such as the psychoanalytic, behaviorist, and cognitive

approaches have all had important influences on personality psychology.

We will compare lexical and biological approaches to developing models

of personality traits. We will consider whether differences in personality

or situations have more of an influence on human behavior.

Personality is commonly defined in terms of personality traits. In each

unit students will be able to assess themselves on a personality trait and

we will use the trait as an example to apply research methods, statistical

concepts, and theories. For examples, we will consider Extraversion,

Neuroticism, Sensation Seeking, Narcissism, Machiavellianism, Honesty-

Humility, and Social Value Orientation.

For the assessment of personality we rely on a variety of research

methods, some of which may be more useful and valid depending on the

research question. We will first define four different types of personality

data: Behavior, Life, Informant, and Self (BLIS). In each unit, we will

consider different methods for obtaining the data, such as self-report,

informant report, physiological methods, projective tests, and template

matching procedures. We will evaluate research in terms of construct

validity, statistical validity, external validity, and internal validity.

In order to analyze quantitative personality data, we need to use

statistics. In particular, we use internal consistency and correlations to

determine the construct validity of a measure, we use factor analysis to

understand the structure of personality, and we use multiple regression

to understand the influence of personality in relation to other variables

(e.g., situation) on things like behavior.