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Psyc 352: Personality, Spring 2012
Mon & Wed 3:00–4:15 PM, Biol Sci East, Rm 100
Teaching Team
Phone
Location
Office Hours
Email
Professor
Matthias Mehl, Ph.D.
626-2374
Psyc 407A
Fri 9:00-11:00
mehl@email.arizona.edu
Teaching Assistants
Ezra Smith
Zachary Hohman
Tucker Peck
ezrasmith@email.arizona.edu
zjhohman@email.arizona.edu
tsp@email.arizona.edu
Required Textbook
Funder, D. C. (2010). The personality puzzle (Fifth Edition). New York: Norton.
Course Description
‘Personality’ refers to the patterns in individuals’ characteristic ways of behaving, thinking, and feeling, and the
psychological mechanisms that drive these patterns. This course will examine important concepts and methods
in personality research as well as traditional and contemporary approaches to personality (specifically: trait,
biological, psychoanalytic, humanistic, learning, cognitive, and clinical approaches).
The course will closely follow the text book. Periodically, we will have Special Topics sessions in which we
discuss “hot topics” in personality psychology. Finally, there will be three Experience Personality sessions. These
sessions aim at bringing important course material to life with “hands-on” personality exercises.
Course Objectives
Over the course of the semester, you will:
 Gain an understanding of core concepts and research methods in personality psychology;
 Gain an understanding of the major approaches to study individual differences in personality;
 Gain an understanding of how personality matters in your life and the lives of people around you.
The lectures, textbook, assignments, and exams are designed to reflect these goals.
Course Website
This course will use the desire-to-learn (d2l) system to communicate important course information to you. It is
your responsibility to make yourself familiar with the course website and to check it frequently for updates about
the syllabus, assignments, exams, grades, etc.
Course Requirements and Grades
For this course, you are required to (a) take four exams and (b) complete a series of personality inventories.
Although learning about personality psychology is fun and exciting, don’t expect this to be an easy course. You
are responsible for all material that is covered in the lectures and all material that is covered in the textbook. The
best way to ensure that you will do well in this course is to attend the lectures and to do the readings. If you have
questions about the course requirements please come to talk to the TA or me.
Attendance. I do not grade attendance. However, there is a lot of material that I only talk about in class that you
cannot find in the textbook or on the lecture slides. This material is required for the exams. Data from the past
years clearly show that students who regularly attended class did better in the course than students who don’t.
Exams. There are four exams in this course. All exams are multiple-choice and cover material from the lecture
(~75%) as well as material that is only in the textbook (~25%). Note that you will be tested on material from the
book that we do not cover in the lectures. The exams are not cumulative but core concepts can appear on any
exam. Your three highest exam scores count each 25% towards your final grade; your lowest exam score is
worth only 15%. This weighting ensures that you can do badly on one exam and still do well in the class. Check
out http://www.socialpsychology.org/testtips.htm for tips on how to take multiple-choice exams.
Personality Inventories. As part of this course, you will have the opportunity to take several scientific
personality tests. These assignments will be announced in class and have to be completed as home-work
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assignments. It is your responsibility to be at class and to find out when these assignments are due. Most of the
tests will be administered online. If you do not have internet access at home, use the library or a computer lab on
campus to complete the tests. Computer problems are not a valid excuse for failure to complete the
assignments. You complete each of the personality inventories using the same, unique personal identification
code (that you make up according to a specific rule that we provide). This code ensures that (a) your responses
remain anonymous (we give you feedback on your score using this code) and (b) you will get credit for having
completed the assignment. Over the course of the semester, you will take more than 10 personality inventories.
You get full credit (10%) for this assignment if you have taken 10 or more of them. If you have taken less than
10, your credit equals the number of inventories taken (e.g., 8 inventories = 8% credit)
Final Grades. Your final grade will be determined in the following manner:
A = 90 – 100%
B = 80 – 89%
C = 70 – 79%
D = 60 – 69%
E = 0 – 59%
There will be no grading curve, so your grade in the course is independent of the grades of other students in the
class. Please use the online grade calculator (on the course website) to check how you are doing in the course.
Policy on Make-up Exams
Make-up exams will only be allowed for illness on the day of the exam. If this occurs, you must (a) inform me that
you will be unable to take the scheduled exam 2 hours prior to the exam time and (b) obtain a written excuse
from your physician or counselor. Make-up exams must be completed within one week of the scheduled exam
date. There will be no exceptions to this policy.
Study and Review
The TAs will hold review sessions prior to the exams. Take responsibility for your performance in class by (a)
attending the lectures, (b) participating in class discussions, (c) attending the review sessions, and (d) seeking
out the TAs or me during our office hours. If you experience difficulties, make sure you come and see us. We
are here to help you. Come and see us early in the semester; the later you ask for help, the less we can do to
help you. You are responsible for material and announcements made in class. If you miss a class, get notes and
find out about important announcements from another classmate.
Academic Honesty
Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated. Cheating on an exam will result in a failing grade for that exam; in
case of a second cheating incident, the Dean’s office will be notified and expulsion from the University may
result. UofA Code of Academic Integrity: http://deanofstudents.arizona.edu/codeofacademicintegrity.
Courtesy to Your Fellow Students
This is a large lecture class. This means that there need to be certain rules to ensure that everybody who wants
to attend the lecture without being distracted has the chance to do so. Therefore, please ensure that
1) you arrive on time or better 10 minutes before the class – the TA and I will be there for questions
2) if you need to be late or leave early, you take a seat in the back rows
3) turn OFF your cellphones, PDAs, ipods, or any other electronic device; and no text messaging please!
4) do not eat/ drink/ sleep , etc. in class … this should be obvious.
Students with Disabilities
If you anticipate the need for accommodations to meet the requirements of this course, you must request that
the Disability Resource Center send me notification of your accommodation needs.
Personality Psychology Resources on the Internet
Online Study Guide to Accompany the Textbook: http://www2.wwnorton.com/college/psych/puzzle/index.asp
 this website provides chapter reviews, chapter quizzes, vocabulary flashcards, and chapter activities
The Personality Project: http://www.personality-project.org/
 If you are interested in personality psychology, you find a lot of fascinating information on this website.
Association for Research in Personality: http://www.personality-arp.org/
 The website of the most important professional organization of personality psychology researchers
Social Psychology Network: http://www.socialpsychology.org/
 The largest social psychology database on the Internet … if you are interested in social and personality
psychology research, this is a great site to browse around.
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Tentative Course Outline and Reading Schedule
Date
Topic
Reading
Inventory
01/11 (Wed)
Course Overview and Introduction
Chapter 1
01/16 (Mon)
-- Martin Luther King Day / no class --
01/18 (Wed)
Sources of Personality Information
Chapter 2
01/23 (Mon)
Research Methods I
Chapter 3
01/25 (Wed)
Research Methods II
Chapter 3
01/30 (Mon)
The Trait Approach I: The Person-Situation Debate
Chapter 4
02/01 (Wed)
The Trait Approach II: Personality Test Construction
Chapter 5
02/06 (Mon)
Experience Personality: My Favorite Personality Test
02/08 (Wed)
EXAM #1 (Review Session TBA)
02/13 (Mon)
The Trait Approach III: Personality Traits and Behavior
Chapter 7
BFI
02/15 (Wed)
The Trait Approach IV: The Big Five
Chapter 7
ACT
02/20 (Mon)
Special Topic: The Accuracy of Snap Personality Judgments
02/22 (Wed)
Personality Judgment in Daily Life
Chapter 6
STOMP
02/27 (Mon)
Special Topic: My Personality and My iPod
02/29 (Wed)
The Biological Approach I: Anatomy, Physiology, and Personality
03/05 (Mon)
EXAM #2 (Review Session TBA)
03/07 (Wed)
The Biological Approach II: The Nature – Nurture Debate
03/12 (Mon)
-- Spring Break / no class --
03/14 (Wed)
-- Spring Break / no class --
03/19 (Mon)
The Psychoanalytic Approach I: Freud & Psychoanalysis
03/21 (Wed)
Experience Personality: A Glimpse into My Unconscious
03/26 (Mon)
The Psychoanalytic Approach II: Neo-Freudian Perspectives
Chapter 12
SWL
03/28 (Wed)
The Humanistic Approach
Chapter 13
ECR
04/02 (Mon)
Special Topic: My Personality and My Relationship
04/04 (Wed)
EXAM #3 (Review Session TBA)
04/09 (Mon)
The Culture Approach
Chapter 14
PRF
04/11 (Wed)
The Learning Approach: Behaviorism and Social Learning
Chapter 15
PANAS
04/16 (Mon)
The Cognitive Approach I: Cognition, Motivation, Emotion
Chapter 16
SES
04/18 (Wed)
The Cognitive Approach II: The Self
Chapter 17
04/23 (Mon)
Experience Personality: My Personal Life Story
04/25 (Wed)
The Clinical Approach: Personality Disorders
Chapter 18
04/30 (Mon)
Course Summary, Review, and Integration
Chapter 19
05/02 (Wed)
EXAM #4 (Review Session TBA)
Optimism
Shyness
BIS-BAS
Chapter 8
Sensation
Seeking
Chapter 9
Chapter 10 & 11
INDV
NPI
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