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Academic Goals
Departmental Learning Goals for Psych 303: Personality
By the end of this course, students will be able to:- Understand the scientific study of human personality and individuality. Explain what psychologists mean when they use the term "personality". Explain the characteristics of the personality construct from a variety of approaches, including the trait, biological, humanist phenomenological, psychodynamic, cognitive, and behavioral approaches. Explain the basic evidence that justifies our knowledge of each approach. Demonstrate tolerance of multiple approaches to personality and tolerance of the perspectives of other individuals.
- Engage with each approach to personality and address the following questions: What are the important issues raised by the approach? What questions does the approach spark? How could you use the approach in real life? How has learning about this approach supported or changed your initial thinking?
- Understand the aspects of human behavior that are shared across or may differ according to cultural, ethnic, gender, geographic, or other boundaries. Understand the way that culture and experience affect how knowledge, and more specifically, a representation of the self are constructed.
- Differentiate between the methodologies used to investigate personality by listing the strengths and weaknesses of each approach to measurement. Develop critical thinking skills by evaluating psychological issues and experimental design. Use knowledge of factor analysis and multiple regression to interpret findings in the primary literature.
- Grapple with the on-going controversies in the interpretation of and approaches to studying human personality and individuality that are presented in lecture, the course textbook, and scientific articles. Use data to predict something about behavior: infer and extrapolate on the major theories, research findings, and controversies within the field of personality.
- Summarize the findings discussed in the scientific literature in personality and discuss them with peers. Formulate a written argument that is logical and coherent, that relies on scientific evidence, and that draws on appropriate conclusions from that evidence. Actively participate in discussions on topics in the field.
- Apply knowledge of personality and individual differences to other areas of study like social, abnormal, and developmental psychology.
