Blain Personality Syllabus

Introduction to Personality Asynchronous Lectures ​and Monday ​or​ Wednesday 4:00 ​–​ 5:15 (via Zoom) Instructor

Scott Blain

Email

blain058@umn.edu

Office

via Zoom

TAs

Yuri Kim

Tyler Sassenberg

Matt Rogers

Email

kimx5361@umn.edu

sasse025@umn.edu

roge0480@umn.edu

Office

via Zoom

via Zoom

via Zoom

Course Description Is astrology a legitimate model for understanding personality?

How about MBTI? The DSM-5?

Though the answers for some of these systems may be more obvious than others, research in personality psychology suggests we should be skeptical of all three (to varying degrees). Why might skepticism be an essential foundation for scientifically understanding our personalities?

Personality refers to an individual’s long-standing patterns of emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. Personalities make us unique as individuals and contribute to the shaping of our identities. Throughout this course, we will navigate the field of personality science and how it applies to our everyday lives. To this end, we will engage in analysis of personality psychology through readings, lectures, multimedia presentations, discussions, and active learning activities.

Early on in the course, we will critically evaluate personality as presented in popular culture, as well as exploring and evaluating historical perspectives on personality, from the Ancient Greeks to Sigmund Freud, behaviorist conceptualizations, and beyond. A large portion of the course

will focus on models of personality structure that are scientifically backed, including the traits of the Five Factor Model: Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Neuroticism, Openness-Intellect, and Extraversion. We will also integrate these traits with various approaches to the measurement of emotions, thoughts, and behaviors, as well as research on neurobiology, cognitive ability, and mental illness. Finally, we’ll discuss recent and future directions in personality research, including novel causal and genetic models, as well as possible routes of personality change.

Learning Aims Throughout the semester, we will pursue the following specific learning aims: 1. You will compare and evaluate various historical and contemporary perspectives on human personality and individual differences.

2. You will master the Five Factor Model of personality and apply your knowledge to concepts from neuroscience, psychopathology, and cognition research.

3. You will develop, and communicate through course assignments and assessments, a skeptical and discerning attitude that encourages rethinking and challenging widespread societal understandings of identity, culture, and mental illness.

4. You will apply personality theory to specific examples from current events and fiction.

5. You will integrate concepts across the various perspectives on personality we have discussed, to form and communicate your own scientific and personal understanding of personality.

Classroom Climate Diversity and Equity Drawing on each of our unique backgrounds can enrich classroom discussion, especially in a field like personality psychology! All of us come to this class from different perspectives and places, with different approaches to living, learning, and interacting with the world. Diversity is an essential part of creating an environment conducive to creativity and productive dialogue.

As instructors, we seek to create an open environment where differences are valued, awareness of social justice is emphasized, and everyone attends respectfully to what others say and mean.

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Academic Freedom As ​academic freedom​ and the right to free speech are essential for academic and personal growth, my goal is for our classroom to be a place where all viewpoints can be aired without being shut down (regardless of where your views might fall on the various political and philosophical spectrums), but also where we can examine and, sometimes, modify our views, based on the input and insight of others.

Course Texts and Technology ● Our textbook for this course will be the 8th Edition of David Funder’s ​The Personality Puzzle.​ We will also be using InQuizitive, the book’s online companion portal. Note that if you buy the print version or eTextbook new from the publisher (Norton), you will receive free access to InQuizitive. If you buy a used book, you will have to purchase access to InQuizitive separately, for $25. Therefore, unless you can find the book used for very cheap, your cheapest option is probably to buy the eBook from Norton: https://wwnorton.com/books/The-Personality-Puzzle/. ● We will also use various stand-alone primary and secondary sources, including a collection of theory and literature review papers, empirical research articles, and online video clips or popular articles. ● We have set up ​Canvas​ and ​Google Drive​ spaces so you can access readings, lecture slides and notes, assignment guidelines, and ongoing feedback on your performance. ● In our live Zoom sessions, you are encouraged to participate actively in polls, chat discussions, verbal discussions as a large group and in breakout rooms. You are encouraged, but not required, to turn on your video feed during the Zoom sessions (video can be especially useful when we’re in breakout rooms).

Course Components (1000 points total) Throughout the semester, you will complete a variety of assignments and assessments. While the details of these assignments will be provided later in the class, here is an overview: Participation (200 points) As application and discussion of the course material are essential parts of understanding psychology and pursuing further education in the field, you will be graded on your active participation in class discussions and activities, both synchronous (through Zoom) and asynchronous (through online forums).

Zoom Sessions — 100 points

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You are expected to attend one of our synchronous online meetings per week. The first week, we will only have a session on Wednesday (1/20), which everyone should plan to attend. We will not meet the final week of the course. Every week after the first, you should attend one meeting, on Monday or Wednesday, from 4:00–5:15. These meetings will involve a combination of discussion in breakout groups, instructor demos, GoogleDrive activities, and content review. The Monday and Wednesday sessions each week will cover the same content, but discussion material may vary slightly based on student input. Attendance will be noted and will count toward your participation grade; for some sessions, attendance will be logged through Zoom, and for others, more formal participation records will be recorded. Since there are 14 weeks in this class, you can miss 4 weeks and receive full credit for this portion of your participation grade.

Discussion Questions — 100 points Each weekend (after our first meeting), you will have the opportunity to submit discussion questions based on the lectures, supplemental videos, and readings for the upcoming week. For each discussion question that you submit (up to two per week), you will receive 5 points. Each week you can submit one question focused on the lectures and one focused on the readings.

Since there are 13 weeks throughout the semester, you can miss up to 3 weeks and receive full credit for this portion of your participation grade.

Summative Assessment (700 points) Quizzes — 300 points (100 x 3) Throughout the course, we will have four non-cumulative, open-notes quizzes. The quizzes will be administered through Canvas and will consist of 40 questions using a combination of multiple-choice and matching formats. For each of the quizzes, you’ll have an extended time window—usually Thursday through Sunday—in which to begin the quiz, with 60 minutes to complete the quiz once you begin (adjusted for any accommodations).

Test anxiety can be a very real issue for many people, myself included. In an effort to help with test anxiety and extenuating circumstances that may come up in your lives, I will drop your lowest quiz grades (of the 4 total quizzes). This will leave you with 3 graded quizzes, worth 100 points each, for a total of 300 points out of a total of 1000 points for the class. Since one of your quizzes can drop and since all quizzes will be administered online with four day time windows, make-up quizzes ​will not be allowed​.

Quizzes (all due Sunday at 11:59pm) Quiz 1 — 2/14 Quiz 2 — 3/14 Introduction to Personality

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Quiz 3 — 4/4 Quiz 4 — 5/2 Personality Papers — 500 points Near the beginning of the semester, you will be asked to submit a narrative that describes who you are as a person. This narrative is worth 50 points and will be required to get credit for subsequent papers in the course. Throughout the term, you will then submit four response papers analyzing various specific components of your own narrative or someone else’s, using theoretical frameworks introduced in class. Each of these papers will be worth 150 points and your top three grades will count. As you can drop one of these, no late work will be accepted, so please work ahead and plan accordingly. Assignment details and submission portals for these assignments will be accessed through Canvas. Please submit these either by typing your responses directly into Canvas or by uploading .doc(x) files (rather than Pages or GoogleDocs).

Personality Papers — Topics and Due Dates (all due Sunday at 11:59pm) 1. Personal Sketch — 1/31 2. Historical Perspectives — 2/21 3. Personality Traits — 3/21 4. Biological Perspectives — 4/11 5. Psychopathology and Personal Growth — 5/9 Extra Credit (40 points) REP.​ ​You will be able to earn extra credit by participating in our department’s ongoing psychology research (mostly online this semester due to COVID). You will receive 2.5 class points per REP point, for up to a total of 40 points of extra credit (equal to 4 percentage points or ⅓ a letter grade). This means that you can get credit for up to 16 REP points, across any number of individual studies. Details on how to earn these points will be available on Canvas.

InQuizitive. Y​ ou will be able to earn extra credit in this class by completing lessons in InQuizitive—an online computerized quiz and study tool to help you learn and review the course material. This tool is provided through W. W. Norton, the publisher of our textbook for the course. For each textbook chapter where you finish the accompanying InQuizitive quiz, you will receive 2.5 extra-credit points. This means that you can earn a total of 40 extra-credit points by completing InQuizitive modules.

Note. Y​ ou can earn extra credit using a combination of REP and InQuizitive, but you cannot earn more than 40 points of extra credit total.

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Grading â—? The breakdown of course points (1000 + 40 points total) is displayed in this table: Category

Points

Participation

200

Quizzes

300

Personality Papers (and Sketch)

500

Total

1000

(With Extra Credit)

1040

â—? The following course grading scheme describes the level of achievement and point ranges associated with each letter grade. Ranges may be adjusted slightly (but only to make grades higher) based on individual and class performance throughout the term.

Grading Scale - Description

Grade

Max

Min

Achievement on assignments and assessments not only demonstrates superior understanding of course aims, but also consistently shows integration of material across units and application of personality psychology concepts in novel or creative ways.

Performance on course assignments and assessments is exemplary and demonstrates successful achievement of learning aims and mastery of content, including successful attempts to synthesize and apply material.

A

1000

940

A-

939

900

Assessments and assignments are completed thoroughly and present a comprehensive knowledge of course concepts and achievement of our learning aims. Effortful attempts are made to synthesize and apply material.

B+

899

860

Assessments and assignments are completed thoroughly and demonstrate knowledge of course concepts and achievement of learning aims. Despite relatively coherent integration of material across units, there may be gaps in how material is applied to novel contexts.

B

859

820

Despite mostly consistent performance on assignments and assessments, there is a lack of consistent integration across course units, and few successful attempts are made to apply material in novel contexts.

B-

819

780

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Assignments and assessments are completed with effort and engagement, but integration and application of material is lacking. Consistent but minor gaps in content knowledge and comprehension may also be present.

C+

779

740

Basic minimum course requirements are met, in terms of assignment and assessment completion. Nonetheless, gaps in knowledge are present and some work or portions of work may be late or missing.

C

739

700

Most minimum course requirements are met, despite a trend of significant knowledge gaps and/or partially completed work.

C-

699

660

This also represents the minimum level of achievement to pass the course.

S

100

660

Assignments and assessments are (1) mostly completed but do not demonstrate an understanding of the course content or (2) show a trend of partial completion and missing components, despite some acceptable work.

D(​±​)

659

500

This also represents an insufficient level of achievement to pass the course.

N

659

0

Work was (1) consistently not completed and no significant attempts were made to create a plan for makeup work and/or (2) completed but either did not demonstrate relevance to the course aims or did not show evidence of a significant enough level of learning to warrant even minimal credit.

F

499

0

A concrete plan is made that will allow makeup work to be completed in the weeks following the official course end date.

I

N/A

N/A

● In accordance with the ​Student Conduct Code​, any form of cheating on assessments or plagiarism on assignments will not be tolerated. If you are ever in doubt about what constitutes plagiarism or academic dishonesty, please do not be afraid to address this. ● In addition to these grading criteria, actively disrupting a healthy classroom climate, after being asked to stop certain behaviors can result in lowering of your grade. In addition, students are expected to follow the University’s ​Student Conduct Code​, as well as specific policies on ​equity and inclusion​ and ​sexual harassment​. ● If you have any conflicts that make it difficult for you to show up to class or consistently complete on-time work, because of illness, university business, or other circumstances in your personal life, please feel free to reach out to me. In most situations, we are happy to make accommodations and alternative arrangements that work with your life.

Conflict Resolution ● If you ever feel there are moments of tension or disrespect, either from me or from a fellow student, please feel free to voice your concerns to me individually or in class. ● If disputes cannot be resolved, we may decide to reach out to the ​Office for Community Standards​ or ​Student Conflict Resolution Center​ for support (and the offices of ​Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action​ or ​Equity and Diversity​, if applicable.)

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Campus Support Services College can be stressful, whether you’re starting or nearly finished! Being in a new environment with increased responsibilities often contributes to a variety of mental health issues. These issues can be especially difficult for those with disabilities and members of marginalized groups.

Thankfully, there are a variety of resources available to help provide support for these issues: ● Healthcare for those dealing with psychological and/or physical health concerns is provided at a variety of locations, on and off campus. These include ​Boynton​, ​Student Counseling Services​, and numerous ​off-campus mental health providers​. ● If you are ever struggling to keep up in our course, we are happy to have a conversation about possible strategies you can use to succeed in the class! You may also want to consider resources such as ​English Language Support​ and the ​Writing Lab​. ● For ​students with disabilities​ (documented or undocumented), you are encouraged to chat with me about how these concerns may impact your learning. Together, we can develop a plan to support your success this semester. Students with documented disabilities can also reach out to the ​Disability Resource Center​ regarding access and accommodations. ● Additional resources are available for those with other specific concerns, including LGBT+ students​, ​international students​, ​individuals of racial minorities​, those impacted by ​interpersonal violence​ or ​sexism​, and students seeking to foster ​spiritual​ growth.

Semester Schedule ● The following schedule provides an overview of the timeline of our semester. ● Calendar details are subject to change. ● All alterations will be communicated via Canvas.

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Week

Topic

Readings, Assignments, and Assessments

1/17

“What is Personality?”

Funder Chapter 1

1/24

Historical Perspectives and Psychoanalysis

Funder Chapters 10 and 11

1/31

Behaviorism and Social Learning Theory

Funder Chapter 14 Personal Sketch due 1/31

2/7

Humanistic Approaches and the Self

Funder Chapters 12 and 15

2/14

Toward a Modern Personality Science

Funder Chapter 4 and ​McAdams & Pals (2006) Quiz 1 due 2/14

2/21

Research Methods in Personality

Funder Chapters 2 and 3 Personality Paper 1 due 2/21

2/28

The Big 5 and Beyond

Funder Chapter 6

3/7

Spring Break!

3/14

Culture and Characteristic Adaptations

Funder Chapter 13 Quiz 2 due 3/14

3/21

Personality, Evolution, and Genetics

Funder Chapter 9 Personality Paper 2 due 3/21

3/28

Personality Neuroscience

Funder Chapter 8

4/4

Personality and Psychopathology

Funder Chapter 17 Quiz 3 due 4/4

4/11

Personality and Social Behavior

Funder Chapter 16 Personality Paper 3 due 4/11

4/18

Intelligence and Creativity

DeYoung, 2011 (pp. 1 – 10) DeYoung et al. (2012)

4/25

Personality Change and Personal Growth

Funder Chapter 7

5/2

Conclusion

Quiz 4 due 5/2

5/9

Personality Paper 4 due 5/9

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