Advanced Seminar in Personality Psychology
PSY 6930
Spring 2014
Instructor:
Ryne Sherman, Ph. D.
Office:
Behavioral Sciences 203
Office Phone:
7-3382
Email:
rsherm13@fau.edu
Class Meetings:
W 9:00–11:50, Behavioral Sciences Room 103 (BS-103)
Office Hours:
M 9:00-11:00 and by appointment
Course Units and Prerequisites
This course is valued at 3 credits and graduate standing is a required prerequisite. This course
involves 50 minutes of class instruction for each credit hour per week, and a minimum of two hours of
out of class assignments each week for 15 weeks. To master the material covered in this course it is
expected that the student will spend a minimum of two hours per week per credit hour on the out of
classroom assignments.
Required Text
John, O. P., Robins, R. W., & Pervin, L. A. (2008). Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research (3rd
ed.). New York: Guilford Press.
Course Description
This course is designed to acquaint students with personality psychology—the scientific study of an
individual’s characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior, together with the psychological
mechanisms—hidden or not—behind those patterns. We will survey and discuss a variety of classic and
contemporary readings in personality psychology. The topics to be discussed include the history of
personality psychology, trait models of personality, personality judgment, the biological and evolutionary
roots of personality, psychoanalytic approaches to personality, personality development, and cognitive
approaches to personality. In addition to these topics, a number of applied topics will also be examined
including, happiness and well-being, personality disorders, and personnel selection.
Course Format and Requirements
Class meetings will be devoted to the discussion of assigned journal articles and book chapters,
which (where applicable) will be made available in .pdf format on blackboard. Students are expected to
read the assigned readings and to post their comments on the readings before each class meeting. A
discussion board will be set up on blackboard so that students can post their own comments and view the
comments of others. These comments will be used to facilitate discussion during the course meetings.
There are no quizzes or exams for this course as the goal of this course is not to memorize facts, but to
enhance your knowledge of the field of personality psychology and to develop your abilities to think
critically and communicate your ideas effectively.
Grading
Your letter grade for this course will be based upon your participation on the discussion board
and during the class meetings. Students are expected to complete the readings for each meeting, post their
comments about the readings on the discussion board, and to bring their thoughts to the class discussion.
Academic Integrity
Plagiarism, cheating and other violations will not be tolerated. Violations will be subject to severe
penalties in accordance with FAU procedures (e.g., receiving an “F” for the course and/or expulsion from
the University). Please see http://www.fau.edu/ctl/AcademicIntegrity.php for more information including
the FAU code of academic integrity: http://www.fau.edu/ctl/4.001_Code_of_Academic_Integrity.pdf.
Students with Disabilities
It is the responsibility of students with disabilities to inform the instructor within the first week of
the session of the need for reasonable accommodation of their disabilities. Students are advised to seek
assistance from the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD) on campus (see http://www.osd.fau.edu/
for more information). As soon as the need for accommodation is determined by OSD and the need is
communicated to the instructor by OSD, reasonable accommodations will be made.
*Subject to Change at Instructor’s Discretion
1
Reading Schedule*
Week 1 – 1/8
Session 1:
Topic: N/A
1) Course Overview, Requirements, and Syllabus
Session 2:
Topic: History of Personality Psychology
1) 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 159-181). New York: Guilford.
Week 2 – 1/15
Session 1:
Topic: Personality Traits: What are Personality Traits?
1) Allport, G. W. (1931). What is a trait of personality? Journal of Abnormal and Social
Psychology, 25, 368-372.
2) Allport, G. W. (1937). The Theory of Traits. In G. W. Allport (Author). Personality a
Psychological Interpretation (pp 286-311). New York: Henry Holt and Company.
3) Allport, G. W. (1937). The Nature of Traits. In G. W. Allport (Author). Personality a
Psychological Interpretation (pp 312-342). New York: Henry Holt and Company.
Session 2:
Topic: Personality Traits: The Big 5
1) Goldberg, L. R. (1993). The structure of phenotypic personality traits. American
Psychologist, 48(1), 26-34.
2) John, O. P. & Srivastava, S. (1999). The big five trait taxonomy: History, measurement,
and theoretical perspectives. In L. A. Pervin & O. P. John (Eds.), Handbook of
Personality: Theory and Research (2nd ed pp 102-138). New York: Guilford.
3) McRae, R. R. & Costa, P. T. Jr. (2008). The five-factor theory of personality. In O. P.
John, R. W. Robins, & L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of Personality: Theory and
Research (3rd ed pp 159-181). New York: Guilford.
Week 3 – 1/22
Session 1:
Topic: Personality Traits: Beyond the Big 5
1) Block, J. (1995). A contrarian view of the five factor approach to personality description.
Psychological Bulletin, 117(2), 187-215.
2) Paunonen, S. V. & Jackson, D. N. (2000). What’s beyond the big five? Plenty! Journal of
Personality, 68(5), 821-835.
3) Ashton, M. C. & Lee, K. (2007). Empirical, theoretical, and practical advantages of the
HEXACO model of personality structure. Personality and Social Psychological Review,
11(2), 150-166.
4) Hirsh, J. B., DeYoung, C. G., Xu, X., & Peterson, J. B. (2010). Compassionate liberals
and polite conservatives: Associations of agreeableness with political ideology and moral
values. Personality and Social Psychological Bulletin, 36(5), 655-664.
Session 2:
Topic: Personality Traits: What do they predict?
1) Ozer, D. J. & Benet-Martinez, V. (2006). Personality and the prediction of consequential
outcomes. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 401-421.
2) Roberts, B. W., Kuncel, N. R., Shiner, R., Caspi, A., & Goldberg, L. R. (2007). The
power of personality: The comparative validity of personality traits, socioeconomic
status, and cognitive ability for predicting important life outcomes. Perspectives on
Psychological Science, 2, 313-345.
*Subject to Change at Instructor’s Discretion
2
Week 4 – 1/29
Session 1:
Topic: Persons vs. Situations – Early Issues
1) Mischel, W. (1968). Consistency and specificity in behavior. In W. Mischel (Author)
Personality and Assessment (pp. 13-39). New York: Wiley.
2) Block, J. (1975). Recognizing the coherence of personality. Unpublished manuscript.1
3) Epstein, S. (1979). The stability of behavior: On predicting most of the people much of
the time. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37(7), 1097-1126.
Session 2:
Topic: Persons vs. Situations – Modern Perspectives
1) Johnson, J. A. (2007). Not so situational. An e-mail to the SPSP list-serve. Received June
26th, 2007.
2) Funder, D. C. (2008). Persons, situations, and person-situation interactions. In O. P. John,
R. W. Robins, and L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research
(3rd ed pp 568-580). New York: Guilford.
3) Fleeson, W. (2012). Perspectives on the person: Rapid growth and opportunities for
integration. In K. Deaux and M. Snyder (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Personality and
Social Psychology (pp 33-63). New York: Oxford University Press.
Week 5 – 2/5
Session 1:
Topic: Personality Judgment – Theoretical Frameworks
1) Allport, G. W. (1937). The ability to judge people. In G. W. Allport (Author). Personality
a Psychological Interpretation (pp 499-522). New York: Henry Holt and Company.
2) Kenny, D. A. (1991). A general model of consensus and accuracy in interpersonal
perception. Psychological Review, 98(2), 155-163.
3) Funder, D. C. (2012). Accurate personality judgment. Current Directions in
Psychological Science, 21(3), 177-182.
Session 2:
Topic: Personality Judgment – Empirical Studies
1) Ambady, N. & Rosenthal, R. (1993). Half a minute: Predicting teacher evaluations from
thin slices of nonverbal behavior physical attractiveness. Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, 64(3), 431-441.
2) Vazire, S. & Mehl, M. (2008). Knowing me, knowing you: The accuracy and unique
predictive validity of self-ratings and other-ratings of daily behavior. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 95(5), 1202-1216.
3) Biesanz, J. C. & Human, L. J. (2010). The cost of forming more accurate impressions:
Accuracy-motivated perceivers see the personality of others more distinctively but less
normatively than perceivers without an explicit goal. Psychological Science, 21(4), 589594.
1
A watered down version of this manuscript was later published as: Block, J. (1977). Advancing the psychology of
personality: Paradigmatic shift or improving the quality of research. In D. Magnusson & N. S. Endler (Eds.),
Personality and the Crossroads: Current issues in interactional psychology. Hillsdale, N. J.: Earlbaum.
*Subject to Change at Instructor’s Discretion
3
Week 6 – 2/12
Session 1:
Topic: Biological Bases of Personality
1) Wells, S. R. (1873). The temperaments. In D. C. Funder & D. J. Ozer (Eds.), Pieces of
the Personality Puzzle (3rd ed. pp. 121-127). New York: Norton.
2) Harris, J. R. (1995). Where is the child’s environment? A group socialization theory of
development. Psychological Review, 102(3), 458-489.
3) Borkenau, P., Riemann, R., Angleitner, A., & Spinath, F. M. (2001). Genetic and
environmental influences on observed personality: Evidence from the German
observational study of adult twins. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(4),
655-668.
Session 2:
Topic: Biological Bases of Personality
1) Caspi, A., Sugden, K., Moffitt, T. E., Taylor, A., Craig, I. W., Harrington, H., McClay, J.,
Mill, J., Martin, J., Braithwaite, A., & Poulton, R. (2003). Influence of life stress on
depression: Moderation by a polymorphism in the 5-HTT gene. Science, 301, 386-389.
2) DeYoung, C. G. (2010). Personality neuroscience and the biology of traits. Social and
Personality Psychology Compass, 4(12), 1165-1180.
3) Krueger, R. F. & Johnson, W. (2008). Behavioral genetics and personality. In O. P. John,
R. W. Robins, and L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research
(3rd ed pp 287-310). New York: Guilford.
Week 7 – 2/19
Session 1:
Topic: Personality and Evolution – Theoretical Views
1) Tooby, J. & Cosmides, L. (1990). On the universality of human nature and the
uniqueness of the individual: The role of genetics and adaptation. Journal of Personality,
58(1), 17-67.
2) Figueredo, A. J., Sefcek, J. A., Vasquez, G., Brumbach, B. H., King, J. E., & Jacobs, W.
J. (2005). Evolutionary personality psychology. In D. M. Buss (Ed.), Handbook of
Evolutionary Psychology (pp. 851-877). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
3) Buss, D. M. (2009). How can evolutionary psychology successfully explain personality
and individual differences? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4(4), 359-366.
Session 2:
Topic: Personality and Evolution – Empirical Studies
1) Nettle, D. (2006). The evolution of personality variation in humans and other animals.
American Psychologist, 61(6), 622-631.
2) Penke, L. & Asendorpf, J. B. (2008). Beyond global sociosexual orientations: A more
differentiated look at sociosexuality and its effects on courtship and romantic
relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(5), 1113-1135.
3) Lukaszewski, A. W. (2013). Testing an adaptationist theory of trait covariation: Relative
bargaining power as a common calibrator of interpersonal syndrome. European Journal
of Personality Psychology, 27(4), 328-345.
*Subject to Change at Instructor’s Discretion
4
Week 8 – 2/26
Session 1:
Topic: Psychoanalysis & Personality
1) Frued, S. (1933). Lecture XXXI: The Dissection of the psychical personality. In D. C.
Funder & D. J. Ozer (Eds.), Pieces of the Personality Puzzle (3rd ed. pp. 248-257). New
York: Norton.
2) Westen, D., Gabbard, G., & Ortigo, K. (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.
Session 2:
Topic: Personality and the Unconscious
1) Kihlstrom, J. F. (2008). The psychological unconscious. In O. P. John, R. W. Robins, and
L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research (3rd ed pp 583-602).
New York: Guilford.
2) Schultheiss, O. C. (2008). Implicit Motives. The psychological unconscious. In O. P.
John, R. W. Robins, and L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of Personality: Theory and
Research (3rd ed pp 603-633). New York: Guilford.
3) Aspendorf, J. B., Banse, R., & Mücke, D. (2002). Double dissociation between implicit
and explicit personality self-concept: The case of shy behavior. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 83(2), 380-393.
Week 9 – 3/5
Session 1:
Topic: N/A
Spring Break – No Class Meeting
Session 2:
Topic: N/A
Spring Break – No Class Meeting
Week 10 – 3/12
Session 1:
Topic: Personality Development – Early Personality
1) Pomerantz, E. M. & Thompson, R. A. (2008). Parents’ role in children’s personality
development: The psychological resource principle. In O. P. John, R. W. Robins, and L.
A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research (3rd ed pp 29-60). New
York: Guilford.
2) Caspi, A. & Shiner, R. L. (2006). Personality development. In N. Eisenberg (Ed.),
Handbook of Child Psychology (6th ed, Volume 3: Social, Emotional, and Personality
Development, pp. 300-365). New York: Wiley.
3) Fraley, R. C., Griffin, B. N., Belsky, J., Roisman, G. I. (2012). Developmental
antecedents of political ideology: A longitudinal investigation from birth to age 18 years.
Psychological Science, 23(11), 1425-1431.
Session 2:
Topic: Personality Development – Adult Personality
1) Srivastava, S., John, O. P., Gosling, S. D., & Potter, J. (2003). Development of
personality in early and middle adulthood: Set like plaster or persistent change? Journal
of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 1041-1053.
2) Roberts, B. W., Wood, D., & Caspi, A. (2008). The development of personality traits in
adulthood. In O. P. John, R. W. Robins, and L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of
Personality: Theory and Research (3rd ed pp 29-60). New York: Guilford.
3) Jackson, J. J., Thoemmes, F., Jonkmann, K., Lüdtke, O., & Trautwein, U. (2012).
Military training and personality trait development: Does the military make the man, or
does the man make the military? Psychological Science, 23(3), 270-277.
*Subject to Change at Instructor’s Discretion
5
Week 11 – 3/19
Session 1:
Topic: Personality & Life Outcomes
1) Gosling, S. D., Ko, S. J., Mannarelli, T., & Morris, M. E. (2002). A room with a cue:
Personality judgments based on offices and bedrooms. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 82(3), 379-398.
2) Back, M. D., Stopfer, J. M., Vazire, S., Gaddis, S., Schmukle, S. C., Egloff, B., &
Gosling, S. D. (2010). Facebook profiles reflect actual personality, not self-idealization.
Psychological Science, 21(3), 372-374.
3) Rentfrow, P. J. (2010). Statewide differences in personality: Toward a psychological
geography of the United States. American Psychologist, 65(6), 548-558.
Session 2:
Topic: Personality & Health
1) Booth-Kewley, S. & Friedman, H. S. (1987). Psychological predictors of heart disease: A
quantitative review. Psychological Bulletin, 101(3), 343-362.
2) Friedman, H. S., Tucker, J. S., Tomlinson-Keasey, C., Schwartz, J. E., Wingard, D. L, &
Criqui, M. H. (1993). Does childhood personality predict longevity? Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 65(1), 176-185.
3) Hampson, S. E., Goldberg, L. R., Vogt, T. M., & Dubanoski, J. P. (2006). Forty years on:
Teachers’ assessments of children’s personality traits predict self-reported health
behaviors and outcomes at midlife. Health Psychology, 25(1), 57-64.
Week 12 – 3/26
Session 1:
Topic: Happiness & Well-Being
1) Lucas, R. E. & Diener, E. (2008). Personality and subjective well-being. In O. P. John, R.
W. Robins, and L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research (3rd
ed pp 795-814). New York: Guilford.
2) Diener, E. (2000). Subjective well-being: The science of happiness and a proposal for a
national index. American Psychologist, 55(1), 34-43.
3) Ryan, R. M. & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of
intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1),
68-78.
Session 2:
Topic: Happiness & Well-Being
1) Lucas, R. E. & Schimmack, U. (2009). Income and well-being: How big is the gap
between the rich and the poor? Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 75-78.
2) Schwartz, B., Ward, A., Monterosso, J., Lyubomirsky, S., White, K., & Lehman, D. R.
(2002). Maximizing versus satisficing: Happiness is a matter of choice. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 83(5), 1178-1197.
3) Lyubomirsky, S., Dickerhoof, R., Boehm, J. K., & Sheldon, K. M. (2011). Becoming
happier takes both a will and a proper way: An experimental longitudinal intervention to
boost well-being. Emotion, 11(2), 391-402.
*Subject to Change at Instructor’s Discretion
6
Week 13 – 4/2
Session 1:
Topic: Personality & Culture
1) Markus, H. R. & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition,
emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98(2), 224-253.
2) Benet-Martinez, V. & Oishi, S. (2008). Culture and personality. In O. P. John, R. W.
Robins, and L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research (3rd ed
pp 542-567). New York: Guilford.
3) Benet-Martinez, V. & Haritatos, J. (2005). Bicultural identity integration (BII):
Components and psychosocial antecedents. Journal of Personality, 73(4), 1015-1050.
Session 2:
Topic: Personality & Culture
1) Ramirez-Esparza, N., Gosling, S. D., Benet-Martinez, V., Potter, J. P., & Pennebaker, J.
W. (2006). Do bilinguals have two personalities? A special case of cultural frame
switching. Journal of Research in Personality, 40, 99-120.
2) Ramirez-Esparza, N., Mehl, M. R., Alvarez-Bermudez, J., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2009).
Are Mexicans more or less sociable than Americans? Insights from a naturalistic
observation study. Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 1-7.
3) Cohen, D., Nisbett, R. E., Bowdle, B. F., Schwarz, N. (1996). Insult, aggression, and the
southern culture of honor: An “experimental ethnography.” Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, 70(5), 945-960.
Week 14 – 4/9
Session 1:
Topic: Personality & Dynamic Systems
1) Cervone, D. & Shoda, Y. (1999). Beyond traits in the study of personality coherence.
Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8(1), 27-32.
2) Nowak, A. & Vallacher, R. R. (2005). The emergence of personality: Dynamic
foundations of individual variation. Developmental Review, 25, 351-385.
3) Mischel, W. & Shoda, Y. (2008). Toward a unified theory of personality: Integrating
dispositions and processing dynamics within the cognitive-affective processing system.
In O. P. John, R. W. Robins, and L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of Personality: Theory
and Research (3rd ed pp 208-241). New York: Guilford.
4) Fleeson, W. (2004). Moving personality beyond the person-situation debate: The
challenge and opportunity of within-person variability. Current Directions in
Psychological Science, 13(2), 83-87.
Session 2:
Topic: The Self
1) Robins, R. W., Tracy, J. L., & Trzesniewski, K. H. (2008). Naturalizing the self: In O. P.
John, R. W. Robins, and L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of Personality: Theory and
Research (3rd ed pp 421-447). New York: Guilford.
2) Klein, S. B., Loftus, J., & Kihlstrom, J. F. (1996). Self-knowledge of an amnesic patient:
Toward a neuropsychology of personality and social psychology. Journal of
Experimental Psychology: General, 125, 250-260.
3) Baumeister, R. F., Bushman, B. J., & Campbell, W. K. (2000). Self-esteem, narcissism,
and aggression: Does violence result from low self-esteem or from threatened egotism?
Psychological Science, 9, 26-29.
4) Donnellan, M. B., Trzesniewski, K. H., Robins, R. W., Moffitt, T. E., & Caspi, A. C.
(2005). Low self-esteem is related to aggression, antisocial behavior, and delinquency.
Psychological Science, 16(4), 328-335.
*Subject to Change at Instructor’s Discretion
7
Week 15 – 4/16
Session 1:
Topic: Personality Disorders
1) Widiger, T. A. & Smith, G. T. (2008). Personality and psychopathology. In O. P. John, R.
W. Robins, and L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research (3rd
ed pp 29-60). New York: Guilford.
2) Clark, L. A. (2005). Temperament as a unifying basis for personality and
psychopathology. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 114(4), 505-521.
Session 2:
Topic: Personality Disorders
1) Oltmanns, T. F. & Turkheimer, E. (2009). Person perception and personality pathology.
Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18(1), 32-36.
2) Krueger, R. F., Schmutte, P. S., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., Campbell, K., & Silva, P. A.
(1994). Personality traits are linked to crime among men and women: Evidence from a
birth cohort. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103(2), 328-338.
3) Paulhus, D. L., & Williams, K. M. (2002). The dark triad of personality: Narcissism,
Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Journal of Research in Personality, 556-563.
Week 16 – 4/23
Session 1:
Topic: Personnel Selection
1) Hogan, R. (2005). In defense of personality measurement: New wine for old whiners.
Human Performance, 18(4), 331-341.
2) Hogan, R. & Kaiser, R. B. (2010). Personality. In: J. C. Scott and D. H. Reynolds (Eds.)
Handbook of Workplace Assessment. New York: Wiley. pp. ?--? (Chapter 4).
Session 2:
Topic: Personnel Selection
1) Barrick, M. R. & Mount, M. K. (1991). The big five personality dimensions and job
performance: A meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology, 44, 1-26.
2) Johnson, M. K., Rowatt, W. C., & Petrini, L. (2011). A new trait on the market: Honestyhumility as a unique predictor of job performance ratings. Personality and Individual
Differences, 50, 857-862.
Week 17 – To Be Announced
Session 1:
Topic: Forward Thinking about Personality
1) Benet-Martinez, V., Donnellen, M. B., Fleeson, W., Fraley, R. C., Gosling, S. D., King,
L. A., Robins, R. W., & Funder, D. C. (in press). Six visions for the future of personality
psychology. In M. L. Cooper & R. Larsen (Eds.), Handbook of Personality Processes
and Individual Differences. Washington, DC: APA Press.
*Subject to Change at Instructor’s Discretion
8