Theories of Personality · Theories of Personality PSYC-235-002OL-2014S page 2 Pedagogic means: How we’ll achieve those Learning Objectives To help you learn theories of personality

Theories of Personality PSYC-235-002OL-2014S page � 1

!Theories of Personality 4 Approaches to Understanding Who You Are ... and Can Be! !Brian T. Yates, Ph.D. Professor Department of Psychology !

Learning Objectives 1. As specific implementations of critical inquiry into diverse perspectives and experiences, identify four basic approaches to describing,

explaining, predicting, and improving personality, including: a) a fundamental and unique assumption of this approach regarding human nature, b) an original theory and a historical predecessor, c) two or more newer theories from this approach, d) a unique method of assessing (describing) personality, e) a unique method of changing (improving) personality, and f) a unique danger posed by this approach for society.

!2. To foster innovative thinking, apply this knowledge by:

a) using two or more theories from each of those approaches to describe, explain the origins of, and recommend a way to mitigate one negative aspect of your personality,

b) using two or more theories from each of those approaches to describe, explain the origins of, and recommend a way to prevent deterioration of one positive aspect of your personality, and

c) judging the relative worth of these four approaches for helping you understand your own personality.

Professor: Brian T. Yates, Ph.D., [email protected], office: 315A Asbury, meetings by appointment—email good days & times for this & next week. Teaching Assistant (TA): Alexis French, [email protected], meetings by appointment—just email good days and times for this and next week.

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

http://brianyates.net/info/

http://www.american.edu/cas/psychology/index.cfm


Pedagogic means: How we’ll achieve those Learning Objectives To help you learn theories of personality better, we use selected readings and carefully designed lectures, and structured writing assignments. In this course you learn four remarkably different ways of describing, understanding, and possibly improving your and others' personalities. We explore, in succession, the Trait, Dynamic, Learning, and Holistic families of personality theories. In your Self-Paper, you apply ideas garnered from each to enhance your understanding of one negative and one positive aspect that you select for your own personality. In each approach, we examine how elements of complex social systems fostered different approaches to personality theory throughout history that continue to affect how individuals function in varied social settings, and the root causes of social behavior.

More specifically, to better understand theories of personality our lectures and readings call forth concepts from philosophy, history, and social movements of past millennia. Through the vehicle of writing your Self-Paper as you progress through the course, you’ll see how major approaches to self-understanding developed by Asian, European, and American psychologists illuminate radically different explanations of, and prescriptions, for your personality. Founding theories are described next, followed by newer ones. Biographies of major personality theorists show how social, political, and economic events such as wars, movements, poverty, and discrimination experienced by those theorists are responsible for general assumptions and specific principles of their theories.

Applications of these theories to the measurement and improvement of personality are examined as well, in lectures, readings, and in self-analyses. Each unit’s lectures end by discussing personality phenomena for which that particular group of theories has provided unique insights to human nature, as well as unique dangers to society.

To learn theories of personality and achieve the learning objectives:

• Watch and listen to the lectures on Blackboard or iTunesU! Take notes, pause, rewind to your heart’s content … just don’t leave ‘em until the last minute! After each lecture, take the Lecture Exam on Blackboard for that lecture. Most lectures are shorter and more focused than regular lectures.

• On Blackboard, take the Reading Exam on each assigned chapter or other reading assignment as you finish it. Each unit has at least 3 assigned chapters or other sets of readings. If more than 3 readings are offered for an approach, pick 3 in which you are most interested.

• Finally, in each unit, download the writing assignment templates, complete them, and upload them to Blackboard. These Self-Paper templates will guide you to find and use principles from several specific theories in each family to analyze one negative and one positive aspect of your personality.

For extra credit, complete work by the early extra credit deadlines, explained below and announced via email and on our course Blackboard site. Or, interact with me and fellow students In our Blackboard course Discussion Board by posting questions and reactions in the forums for Intro, Trait, Dynamic, Learning, and Holistic units, and by posting suggestions about future course structure and content (in our Closure unit).


Theories of Personality PSYC-235-002OL-2014S page � 3!

Deadlines (5:00 PM in Washington DC)

Listen & Watch → lectures (slides + audio) from your professor

Read → about theories of personality in Feist, Feist, and Robert etext or text

Apply → theories of personality to a negative and positive aspect of your personality: write on template!

2 extra credit points …

… if you complete all 5 Lecture exams 3+ days before deadline

… if you complete all 3 Reading exams 2+ days before deadline

… if you write and successfully upload to Blackboard the completed template for the unit 1+ days before the unit deadline (see leftmost column in this table)

Introduction due: Tues. 1/21

Intro to theories of personality, Time management [2 lectures x 5 points = 10 possible points]

Syllabus and text Introduction chapter 1 [these are 2 separate readings, 10 points each]

Define and give examples of 1 negative & 1 positive aspect of your personality. Complete the matrix template on Blackboard or iTunesU. [10 points]

Trait theories, due: Tues. 2/11

Trait lectures, videos, sites. [5 lectures x 5 points = 25 points]

Trait text chapters 12, 13, 14, Bem materials. [choose 3, 10 points each]

Trait etiology, mitigation of your negative and preservation of your positive aspect. Complete the matrix template on Blackboard or iTunesU. [20 points]

Dynamic theories, due: Tues. 3/04

Dynamic lectures, videos, sites. [5 lectures x 5 points] = 25 points]

Dynamic text chapters 2, 4, 6, 7 [choose 3 chapters, 10 points each]

Dynamic etiology, mitigation of your negative and preservation of your positive aspect. Complete the matrix template on Blackboard or iTunesU. [20 points]

Learning theories, due: Tues. 04/01

Learning lectures, videos, sites. [5 lectures x 5 points = 25 points]

Learning text chapters 16, 17, 18 [read & take exams on all 3 chapters, 10 points each]

Learning etiology, mitigation of your negative and preservation of your positive aspect. Complete the matrix template on Blackboard or iTunesU. [20 points]

Holistic theories, due: Tues. 04/22

Holistic lectures, videos, sites. [5 lectures x 5 points = 25 points]

Holistic text chapters 9, 10, 11, 19 [choose 3 chapters, 10 points each]

Holistic etiology, mitigation of your negative and preservation of your positive aspect. Complete the matrix template on Blackboard or iTunesU. [10 points]

Closure, due: Mon. 04/28

no lectures or videos, no lecture exams for Conclusions

no readings, no readings exams for Conclusions

Your reactions to theories for your negative and positive aspect. Complete the matrix template on Blackboard or iTunesU. [10 points]

Access by: videos on Blackboard or iTunesU Feist, Feist, & Robert etext or text Self-Paper matrix template sections for the unit

Assessed by: Lecture exams for each lecture Reading exams for each reading Self-Paper templates uploaded by you in each unit

Points 110 140 100

Final Exam on Learning Objectives: download template anytime. Upload completed exam by 5:00 PM on 05/01/14 for up to 20 additional points.


Theories of Personality PSYC-235-002OL-2014S page � 4!Lecture Exams !Required. Take all of them at least 3 days (72 hours) before the unit deadline for 2 extra credits per unit !Complete all Lecture Exams for a unit, one for each lecture, by 5:00 PM of the deadline day for the unit, or you’ll get a zero score. There are 2 Intro unit lectures (Intro and Syllabus), so those Lecture Exams are 5 points each = 10 points. There are 5 lectures in each of the Trait, Dynamic, Learning, and Holistic units, with 5 points per lecture exam, so that’s 25 points total for each unit’s lecture exams. There’s no Closure unit lecture. !These exams are available on Blackboard. All exams are closed videos, closed notes, and should be taken by you without any assistance from anyone. Lecture exams are provided on Blackboard in the unit. Any material presented in lectures could appear on these exams. !My advice: take these exams within 24 hours of when you view and listen to the lecture! The material will be fresher in your memory, and that’ll be one more thing done before the deadline hits. The exams should be posted within 24 hours after the lecture is posted. Review your notes in advance of taking a Lecture Exam: you have 30 minutes for the exam, but it shuts down after that.

!Readings: "pText" or eText? Your choice !Feist, Gregory; Feist, Jess, Roberts, Tomi-Ann Theories of Personality, 8th Edition (2013) !rent for 120 days for only $87 eText: ISBN-10 0077378873, ISBN-13 9780077378875 Print: ISBN-10 0073532193, ISBN-13 9780073532196



!Readings Exams !Required. Take them (1 for Intro, 3 for each of the Trait, Dynamic, Learning, and Holistic units, 1 for Closure) at least 2 days (48 hours) before the unit deadline for 2 extra credits per unit !Take the Reading Exams for the reading assignments (usually chapters in our text) for each of the Intro, Trait, Dynamic, Learning, and Holistic units, for 10 points each. There’s 10 points per exam x 14 exams = 140 points possible. These exams also are closed book and closed notes, and they should be taken by you without any assistance from anyone. Reading exams are provided on Blackboard in each unit. Answer the multiple-choice questions. Read the chapter thoroughly before taking the exam. You shouldn’t need more than 15 minutes to complete the exam, but you have 30 minutes. Do be sure to start the last Readings exam for the unit more than 30 minutes before 5:00 PM of the deadline for the unit. Please also note that we may not be available to reset an exam that’s been terminated prematurely by Blackboard if you wait until the last day to take it, and that this can result in a low or zero score for that exam. !!Self-Paper writing !Required. Upload the unit’s complete negative and positive aspect sections at least 1 day (24 hours) before the unit deadline, for 2 extra credits per assignment !You can make a phone, Skype, or iChat appointment to meet with me or our TA about your paper. As scheduling can get complex, please make this appointment a week before you plan to meet with me or our TA. !Use the Self-Paper Templates provided through Blackboard. Download the matrix template for the unit and fill it out. Keep all the outline headings in the file. That way, the different sections of your paper will be separated by headings that will help me and our TA read and score your developing Self-Paper. !For each unit, upload your file to the Blackboard unit assignment section well before 5:00 PM on the deadline day for the unit. Write your developing Self-Paper in any format you like, but upload it in either Word (.doc) or .pdf (Adobe Reader) format. If we can't read it, we can’t score it and, well, it’ll get a zero. (Bummer!) Blank, corrupted, infected, or otherwise unreadable files will be scored zero, regrettably. No


Theories of Personality PSYC-235-002OL-2014S page � 6exceptions. Sorry! It’s your responsibility to be certain that the files you upload are free of viruses and other malware. AU provides free software to help; AU’s IT staff (202-885-2550) can help you install and use it. !Be certain you're uploading the version of the assignment that you want us to read. We score whatever you upload, even if it's incomplete or blank, so make sure you've uploaded the correct, final draft! Be sure to check the readability of what you’ve uploaded by immediately downloading it and making sure you can see your entire file. !For help posting your Self-Paper assignments to Blackboard, watch the brief video on how to do this: Submitting an Assignment: Watch It! !Please don’t wait until the last minute to do this. You can upload the assignments several times if necessary, so try uploading a sample file now! … or really soon, after watching the above video. Then check what you uploaded by downloading it to make sure it’s what you want us to read. !Late Assignments (Exams, Papers) always receive a zero score !A reading or lecture exam or paper submitted after 5:00 PM (in Washington, DC) of the deadline date for the unit is scored zero. Because there is plenty of time to take the exams and submit the paper sections, there are no exceptions to this. Really! Illness and computer and internet issues do not justify any exceptions to this rule. Also note that if you’re in a different time zone, you still need to get all assignments done by 5:00 Washington DC time, as that’s when the Blackboard servers will close access to the exams and upload links for everyone. !Last-minute problems taking exams or uploading assignments are not always things I can deal with in the hours leading up to the deadline, as I’m supposed to do a lot of things as professor—in addition to teaching our wonderful course! :-) Please, please, please plan to complete your work early—and get extra credit! Il !My advice: get your Readings and Lectures exams done way early, and turn in your Self-Paper assignments early too. I give you extra points for doing this, as detailed above. That way, if there is a problem, you have time to deal with it before the deadline. Waiting until the last minute just seems to create more problems! If you don’t have your computer or i-device set to automatically back up, make a copies your paper when writing it by emailing it to yourself with gmail or another email service that you can access via the internet from any computer. !!Professor: Brian T. Yates, Ph.D., [email protected], office: 315A Asbury, meetings by appointment—email good days & times for this & next week. Teaching Assistant (TA): Alexis French, [email protected], meetings by appointment—just email good days and times for this and next week.


Resources you need for this course to work for you • Resources that are essential: your intellect, time, energy, and honesty. I believe these are the most important resources for learning,

and life.

• Reliable, fast access to the internet for most of the other resources used in this course. Dial-up connections won’t cut it! And, trying to take an exam while in a moving car, train, boat, or airplane (or just walking) is pretty much guaranteed to result in a break in connection and a premature end to your exam or upload! So, please try to stay in one place while taking exams and uploading assignments.

• Regular, reliable access to AU's Blackboard site. You’ll use Blackboard to get and do assignments, to view videos, readings, and other materials, to take exams, to upload assignments, and to view and get feedback on your self-management projects.

• Regular, reliable access to an email address to receive critically important course Announcements. If you don't check your American University email address regularly, make sure it automatically forwards from Blackboard to the email address you do check regularly. You can set up this automatic forwarding by visiting my.american.edu and logging in, then clicking on “Technology” in the right column, and clicking “Forward my AU E-mail” … or call 202-885-2550 to get help with this). To get reminders in a timely way, I recommend that you check and read email related to our course at least once a day. I do too.

• Firefox (http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/) or Chrome (https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/browser/) browsers, recommended by AU’s Blackboard gurus as the least trouble-prone. I use Safari (Apple’s default browser) with few glitches... Internet Explorer (Window’s default browser) has been said to have issues. All these browsers are free. Sorry about this.

• Readings and links provided via our Blackboard site. These can be viewed as .pdf files on just about every computer and iDevice out there, including Android as well as Apple smartphones and tablets. I’ll be try to compose these into one or more iBooks for our course as we move through the semester, but there’s too many unknowns for me to predict with confidence how well this will work. Simple .pdf files will work no matter what. No other texts or materials are required.

• Optional: On my iPad I use its built-in Safari web browser to log onto Blackboard, view most of the movies (.mov format files) and readings (with the CourseSmart app for iPad or iPhone and some .pdf files), and most work fine. There are Blackboard apps for iPhones and iPads, too—available from the AppStore. Some students have had good luck using them both for readings and to take exams. Report submission doesn’t seem to work with these apps, though. Make sure you can access a “full” computer to upload reports.

• Optional too: access the brief movies, readings, and other materials also are available on a near-duplicate of our Blackboard site that has worked lots better for many students: iTunesU. That’s not “iTunes,” but iTunesU (short for iTunes University). And you can access all course materials except exams and assignment upload sites (iTunesU doesn’t have those capabilities) in a few steps:


Theories of Personality PSYC-235-002OL-2014S page � 81. if you use an iPhone or iPad, there’s free iTunesU apps for both—both let you check-off each assignment as you do it! Cool for

sensing progress, figuring out what you still need to do.

2. on your Mac or on your Windows computer, go to iTunes dowload (free; it's probably already on your computer).

3. click on iTunesU (iTunes University). On my Mac version of iTunes, it's listed near the top on the right of the iTunes Store.

4. in the Search area in the upper right type in “Theories of Personality" (position may vary with different versions of iTunes).

5. click and explore to find what you want to read or watch on one to watch. Don't bother downloading it -- let it stream right in your computer's iTunesU window!

6. (even more optional): click on subscribe to, well, subscribe.

!Learning with Challenges !If you are a student with physical or other disabilities and experience difficulty in this course, please do not hesitate to contact me. In addition to the resources of the department, as an online student, a range of services is available through American University to help you my course requirements.

Academic Support and Access Center (202-885-3360, Mary Graydon Center [MGC] room 243) offers resources and consultation for all students, as well as services for students with learning disabilities and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder).

If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please notify me in a timely manner with a letter from the Academic Support and Access Center so that we can make arrangements to address your needs.

!Academic Integrity

!Professor: Brian T. Yates, Ph.D., [email protected], office: 315A Asbury, meetings by appointment—email good days & times for this & next week. Teaching Assistant (TA): Alexis French, [email protected], meetings by appointment—just email good days and times for this and next week.

All exams are closed-book, closed-notes, and closed everything else. You must not seek or accept help from, and you must not provide help to, other people for the exams and other assignments. If you do not follow these rules precisely and completely, you are in violation of AU’s rules of academic integrity. It’s wrong, and it’s not worth it either if you think that way.

Theories of Personality PSYC-235-002OL-2014S page � 9Unfortunately, experience has shown that a few of my students have needed the following made explicit, so I must burden you with it as well. Please read the following with special care. !Standards of academic conduct are set forth in the University’s Academic Integrity Code. By registering for classes at AU, you are acknowledging your awareness of the Code and obligating yourself to become familiar with your rights and responsibilities as defined by the Code. Violations of the Code will not be treated lightly, and disciplinary actions will be taken should such violations occur. The standard sanction for violations of the code is failure in the course. Please see me if you have any questions about the academic violations described in the Code in general, or as they relate to the requirements of this course in particular. !All of your exam responses, and your Self-Paper, must be completely original: it must be your own writing, done for the first time for this course. All material drawn from other sources, whether a direct quote or a close paraphrasing (a "putting in your own words") must be placed within quotation marks and must be followed immediately by a reference citation (a footnote or APA-style citation with a References section at the end of your paper). To do otherwise is plagiarism, which is a violation of the Academic Integrity Code of American University. Also, I will not accept use of any material from a paper you have written for another course: do not do this, under any circumstances! !Copying or paraphrasing examples used to illustrate how to do projects is plagiarism. (Yes, this has been a problem in the past.) !All suspected plagiarism, including paraphrasing without quotation marks and without reference citation, will be reported to the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences with a recommendation for disciplinary action. This is a University regulation. !The College of Arts and Sciences says the following, which I endorse: !

I take plagiarism and academic dishonesty very seriously, and I am required to report cases to the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, whose policy is to fail students for the course. Please read the university's Academic Integrity Code closely, and be sure to ask me if you have any questions. The code is available online at http://www.american.edu/academics/integrity/index.htm.In writing papers, you must properly cite all sources (1) directly quoted, (2) paraphrased, or (3) consulted in any fashion. Sources include all printed material as well as the Internet. Proper citation means using a standard citation format: MLA, APA, or Chicago. It is also considered plagiarism if you merely rework source material, placing an author's thoughts in other words without contributing your own ideas. For that reason, you must include some kind of source note whenever drawing on someone else's interpretation. A source note can be a sentence or more in your paper, or it can be a footnote. A source note should clarify the extent to which your


Theories of Personality PSYC-235-002OL-2014S page � 10interpretation is indebted to your source, explaining both (1) what you use and (2) where you depart or differ from the source. It is also considered plagiarism to submit drafts, response papers, and other informal assignments without properly citing sources and acknowledging intellectual debts. Failure for the course is the typical sanction in such cases. I expect all work that you do on homework, on take-home exams, and on in-class exams to be your own work. Consulting with and sharing answers with other students violates the Academic Integrity Code, so too does consulting outside resources such as notes, textbooks, and the Internet. !Consulting with and sharing answers with other students violates the Academic Integrity Code, as does consulting outside resources such as notes, textbooks, and the Internet. !

Extra Credit City! You can get earn 2 extra credit points per unit for completing any of the following:

a) all required Lecture exams for the unit at least 3 days (72 or more hours) before the deadline for the unit,

b) all required Reading exams for the unit at least 2 days (48 or more hours) before the deadline for the unit,

c) Self-Paper writing assignments for the unit at least 1 day (24 or more hours) before the deadline for the unit, or

d) a substantive (not “me too” or “I agree”) post to a thread on the unit forum in our course Discussion Board any time before the deadline for the unit.

Do 2 of the above and get 4 extra credit points. Do 3 and get 6 extra credit points. Do 4 …that’s 8 more extra credit points possible for each of the 5 units (Intro, Trait, Dynamic, Learning, Holistic) plus another 2 points if you post to the course advice forum and 2 more points upload the Conclusions sections early ... Whoa! That’s 40 + 4 = 44 total extra points possible — over 11% of total points for Reading exams, Lecture exams, and Self-Paper section writing!

!Emergency Preparedness !We’re totally online, so no problem! Keep on keeping on, learning, and turning stuff in. Check your email for announcements, as always.

!



Course Grades !Your grade in this course is based on the percent you earn of the 400 total score possible (excluding extra credit) for: !1) Lecture exams (0 to 110 points) 2) Reading exams (0 to 140 points) 3) Self-Paper sections (0 to 100 points) 4) Final exam on Learning Objectives (0 to 20 points). !These points sum to 370 before extra credit. 370 is the base from which the scores for each course grade are calculated, as shown below. The following minimum scores for each course grade; there’s no “rounding up” from your total.

370 is the total number of points that I’ll figure your course grade is a percentage:

Grade F D C- C C+ B- B B+ A- A

minimum % for grade none 60% 70% 73% 77% 80% 83% 87% 90% 93%

minimum Total (minimum % of

total points, i.e., of 400)

none 222 259 270.1 284.9 296 307.1 321.9 333 344.1


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Theories of Personality · Theories of Personality PSYC-235-002OL-2014S page 2 Pedagogic means: How we’ll achieve those Learning Objectives To help you learn theories of personality