PSY 836: Personality Psychology – Fall, 2011
Course Syllabus
Meets: Tuesdays, 12:40-3:30, Room 218A Berkey Hall
Isis Settles
E-mail:
Office hours:
Office:
Office phone:
settles@msu.edu
Wednesday, 11:00am – 12:00pm (or by appointment)
252C Psychology
432-4364
Overview:
The overarching goal of this course is to provide an introduction to the major theoretical and empirical
issues in personality psychology. These include the traditional personality theories that focus on
motivation, social-cognition, traits, and the self/identity. We will also examine theories regarding the
origins and development of personality across the life course. Finally, we will cover theories that link
aspects of the social context with personality – theories of power and culture.
Course Readings:
Most course readings can be found on the class Angel website. Readings marked with ‘eb’ are available
as e-books on MSUs ebrary. To access them, go to http://www.lib.msu.edu/ and type in the name of the
book under Library Catalog (be sure to change to “title”). You can set up a free account and keep the
books on your “bookshelf.”
Note: The articles are listed in the order that I think you should read them.
Course Requirements:
Your grade will be based on the following:
Class participation and discussion questions:
Leading class discussion:
Three written papers:
20%
20%
60%
Class participation and discussion questions (20%)
In this class, I expect that you will learn as much from our class discussions as you do from the assigned
readings. Thus, you should come to each class having read all the articles and prepared to participate
actively. To facilitate the discussion process, you will be expected to prepare detailed discussion
questions/comments (2-3 questions) that you post on the class Angel website by 10pm the Monday
before class meets. Your questions will be a few sentences long (1-2 paragraphs maximum), and will
include some description of your thinking about the topic/question/issue that you are raising. Please be
sure to indicate what reading to which your question is related.
Leading class discussion (10% each, 20% total)
Twice in the semester you will be required to lead discussion for that week’s readings. Your
responsibility is to motivate and sustain a critical discussion. Included in leading discussion is a brief
summary of the readings, organization and facilitation of discussion questions, and generation of
additional key issues related to the topic. Leading discussion is an important skill so please take this
requirement seriously. Although not required, many students find it helpful to have an outline of
readings for future reference. You may choose to provide an outline for the readings during the weeks
you facilitate. We will pick dates on the first day of class.
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Written assignments (20% each, 60% total)
There are three written assignments in the class that address different material and topics throughout
the course. For each assignment, you will write 5-6 double-spaced pages (12 point font, 1 inch margins,
double-spaced) in response to a specific question related to the readings in that section of the course.
Questions will be distributed during the semester and you will have 2 weeks to complete each
assignment.
Due dates for written assignments
Assignment #1: October 11 (due in class)
Assignment #2: November 8 (due in class)
Assignment #3: December 13 (turn in to 252C Psychology by noon)
Academic Honesty
Simply put, any and all forms of cheating and plagiarism are unacceptable. Students are expected to
complete papers without assistance from other individuals. Any student caught cheating or plagiarizing
will receive a failing grade in this course. Legalistic Details: Article 2.3.3 of the Academic Freedom
Report states that "The student shares with the faculty the responsibility for maintaining the integrity of
scholarship, grades, and professional standards." The Department of Psychology adheres to the policies
on academic honesty as specified in General Student Regulations 1.0, Protection of Scholarship and
Grades; the all-University Policy on Integrity of Scholarship and Grades; and Ordinance 17.00,
Examinations. For extensive details see Spartan Life: Student Handbook and Resource Guide and/or the
MSU Web site.
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Schedule of Topics & Readings
Week 1 – September 6: Introduction to Course
Week 2 – September 13: What is Personality?
Barenbaum, N. B., & Winter, D. G. (2008). History of modern personality theory and research. In O. P.
John, R. W. Robins, & L. A. Pervin (eds.). Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research (3rd Ed.)
(pp. 3-26). New York: Guilford.
Funder, D. C. (2001). Personality. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 197-221.
Funder, D. C. (1998). Why does personality psychology exist? Psychological Inquiry, 9, 150-152.
Week 3 – September 20: Motivational Theories
Westen, D. Gabbard, G. O., & Ortigo, K. M. (2008). Psychoanalytic approaches to personality. In O. P.
John, R. W. Robins, and L. A. Pervin (Eds.). Handbook of personality: Theory and Research (3rd
ed., pp. 61-113). New York: Guilford Press.
Pittman, T. S., & Zeigler, K. R. (2007). Basic human needs. In A. W. Kruglanski & E. T. Higgins (Eds.), Social
psychology: Handbook of basic principles (2nd ed., pp. 473-489). New York: Guilford. eb
Schultheiss, O. C. (2008). Implicit motives. In O. P. John, R. W. Robins, & L A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of
personality: Theory and research (3rd ed.). (pp. 603-633). New York: Guilford Press.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation,
social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 68-78.
Week 4 – September 27: Social Cognitive and Goals Theories
Mischel, W. & Shoda, Y. (1995). A cognitive-affective system theory of personality: Reconceptualizing
situations, dispositions, dynamics, and invariance in personality structure. Psychological Review,
102, 246-268.
Folkman, S. (1984). Personal control and stress and coping processes: A theoretical analysis. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 839-852.
Cantor, N. (1990). From thought to behavior: "Having" and "doing" in the study of personality and
cognition. American Psychologist, 45, 735-750.
Molden, D. C., & Dweck, C. S. (2006). Finding “meaning” in psychology: A lay theories approach to selfregulation, social perception, and social development. American Psychologist, 61, 192-203.
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Week 5 – October 4: Trait theories
Allport, G. W. (1931). What is a trait of personality? Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 25,
368-372.
Funder, D. C. (1991). Global traits: A neo-Allportian approach to personality. Psychological Science, 2,
31-39.
Clark, L. A., & Watson, D. (2008). Temperament: An organizing paradigm for trait psychology. In O. P.
John, R. W. Robins, & L. S. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (3rd Ed.,
pp. 265-286). New York: Guilford Press.
McAdams, D. P. (1995). What do we know when we know a person? Journal of Personality, 63, 365-396.
Week 6 – October 11: Big Five Traits
Assignment #1 due
John, O. P., Naumann, L. P., & Soto, C. J. (2008). Paradigm shift to the integrative Big Five trait taxonomy:
History, measurement, and conceptual issues. In O. P. John, R. W. Robins, & L. A. Pervin (Eds.)
Handbook of personality: Theory and research (3rd Ed., pp. 114-158). New York: Guilford Press.
 Just read pages 114-130
McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T., Jr. (2008). The Five-Factor theory of personality. In O. P. John, R. W.
Robins, and L. A. Pervin (Eds.). Handbook of personality: Theory and research (3rd ed., pp. 159181). New York: Guilford Press.
Ashton, M. C., & Lee, K. (2007). Empirical, theoretical, and practical advantages of the HEXACO model of
personality structure. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 11, 150-166.
Block, J. (1995). A contrarian view of the five-factor approach to personality description. Psychological
Bulletin, 117, 187-215.
Week 7 – October 18: Person-Situation Debate
Epstein, S., & O'Brien, E. (1985). The person-situation debate in historical and current perspective.
Psychological Bulletin, 98, 513-537.
Swann, W. B. Jr. & Seyle, C. (2005). Personality psychology’s comeback and its emerging symbiosis with
social psychology. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 155-165.
 Skim pages 155-158, then read 159-165.
Mischel, W. (2004). Toward and integrative science of the person. Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 1-22.
 Read pages 1-9 and 18-19
Zimbardo, P. G. (2004). A situationist perspective on the psychology of evil: Understanding how good
people are transformed into perpetrators. In A. Miller (Ed.), The social psychology of good and
evil: Understanding our capacity for kindness and cruelty (pp. 21-50). New York, NY: Guilford
Press. eb
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Week 8 – October 25: Evolutionary Theory
Buss, D. M. (2008). Human nature and individual differences: The evolution of human personality. In O.
P. John, R. W. Robins & L. A. Pervin (Eds.). Handbook of Personality (3nd Edition) (pp. 29-60).
New York: The Guilford Press.
Kenrick, D. T. (1995). Evolutionary theory versus the confederacy of dunces. Psychological Inquiry, 6, 5661.
Nettle, D. (2006). The evolution of personality variation in humans and other animals. American
Psychologist, 61, 622-631.
Week 9 – November 1: Behavioral Genetics
Krueger, R. F., & Johnson, W. (2008). Behavioral genetics and personality: A new look at in the
integration of nature and nurture. In O. P. John, R. W. Robins, & L. A. Pervin (eds.). Handbook of
Personality: Theory and Research (3rd Ed.) (pp. 287-310). New York: Guilford.
Scarr, S., & McCartney, K. (1983). How people make their own environments: A theory of genotype
environment effects. Child Development, 54, 424-435.
Moffitt, T. E., Caspi, A., & Rutter, M. (2006). Measured gene-environment interactions in
psychopathology: Concepts, research strategies, and implications for research, intervention, and
public understanding of genetics. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1, 5-27.
Week 10 – November 8: Self and Social Identity
Assignment #2 due
Swann, W. B., & Bosson, J. K. (2010). Self and identity. In S. T. Fiske, D. T. Gilbert, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), The
handbook of social psychology, 5th ed. (Vol. 1, pp. 394-427). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Hogg, M. A. (2006). Social identity theory. In P. J. Burke (Ed.) Contemporary social psychological theories
(111-136): Stanford University Press. eb
Shih, M., Sanchez, D. T., & Ho, G. C. (2010). Costs and benefits of switching among multiple social
identities. In R. J. Crisp (Ed.) The psychology of social and cultural diversity (62-83). WileyBlackwell.
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Week 11 – November 15: Power and Gender
Fiske, S. T. (2010). Interpersonal stratification: Status, power, and subordination. In S. T. Fiske, D. T.
Gilbert, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology, 5th ed. (Vol. 2, pp. 941-982).
Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
MacKinnon, C. A. (1987). Difference and dominance: On sex discrimination. In Feminism unmodified:
Discourses on life and law (pp. 32-45). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Stewart, A. J., & McDermott, C. (2004). Gender in psychology. Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 519-544.
Wood, W. & Eagly, A. H. (2002). A cross-cultural analysis of the behavior of women and men:
Implications for the origins of sex differences. Psychological Bulletin, 128, 699-727.
Week 12 – November 22: Culture and Personality
Triandis, H. C. & Suh, E. M. (2002). Cultural influences on personality. Annual Review of Psychology, 53,
133–160.
Markus, H. R. (2004) Culture and personality: Brief for an arranged marriage. Journal of Research in
Personality, 38, 75-83.
Cohen, A. B. (2009). Many forms of culture. American Psychologist, 64, 194-204.
 Also read commentaries by Tebes (2010) and Takhooshian (2010) and reply to commentaries by
Cohen (2010).
Phinney, J. S. (1996). When we talk about American ethnic groups, what do we mean? American
Psychologist, 51, 918-927.
Week 13 – November 29: Lifespan and Developmental Theories
Caspi, A., Roberts, B. W., & Shiner, R. L. (2005). Personality development: Stability and change. Annual
Review of Psychology, 56, 453-484.
Lucas, R. E., & Donnellan, M. B. (2011, June 27). Personality development across the life span:
Longitudinal analyses with a national sample from Germany. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology. Advance online publication.
Roberts, B. W., Kuncel, N. R., Shiner, R., Caspi, A., & Goldberg, L. R. (2007). The power of personality: The
comparative validity of personality traits, socio-economic status, and cognitive ability for
predicting important life outcomes. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2, 313-345.
Roberts, B. W., Helson, R. & Klohnen, E. C. (2002). Personality development and growth in women across
30 years: Three perspectives. Journal of Personality, 70, 79-102.
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Week 14 – December 6: Integrative Theories
Winter, D. G., John, O. P., Stewart, A. J., Klohnen, E. C., & Duncan, L. E. (1998). Traits and motives:
Toward an integration of two traditions in personality research. Psychological Review, 105, 230250.
McAdams, D.P., & Pals, J. L. (2006). A new big five: Fundamental principles for an integrative science of
personality. American Psychologist, 61 (3), 204-217.
 Also read commentaries by Epstein (2007), Maddi (2007), and Wood & Joseph (2007) and reply
to commentaries by on McAdams & Pals (2007).
Cole, E. (2009). Intersectionality and research in psychology. American Psychologist, 64, 170-180.
Pelham, B. W. (1993). The idiographic nature of human personality: Examples of the idiographic selfconcept. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 4, 665-677.
Assignment #3 due Tuesday 12/13 by 3pm to 252C Psychology
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