Psychology 365 - The Study of the Person – Winter 2016
Professor Tim Kasser - x7283, tkasser@knox.edu, SMAC E-119
Meets Tuesdays & Thursdays from 9:00-10:30 a.m. in SMAC A-107
Texts:
Uncovering lives - Alan C. Elms
The life voyage of a solo circumnavigator –
Nasby & Read - leased from professor and/or in
Open Class Dropbox (O)
John Lennon library on Open Reserve in Seymour Library
Other materials in Open Class Dropbox (O) & on Open
reserve (R) in Seymour library
Overview of the course:
Two questions form the essence of this course: “What is a
person? How can we know who an individual person is?”
Throughout the course we will explore some ways that personality
psychologists attempt to answer these questions.
In the first portion of the course, our focus will be on the
analysis of historical individuals, and in particular John
Lennon. We will explore ways to objectively look at the lives of
individuals via their life experiences and what they produced.
Emphasis will be placed on grounding our questions and answers in
good psychological theory and on increasing the objectivity of
our analyses.
In the second portion of the course we will conduct an in-depth
study of one contemporary individual. As a group, the class will
select a class subject and then prepare a plan to gather data
about this individual, using a variety of methods (e.g., surveys,
interviews, diaries, observations, projective tests, etc.). The
class members will then collect and share data about the
individual and discuss his/her personality in case conferences.
As before, theoretical perspective and objectivity will be
emphasized.
For both parts of the course, we will follow a similar rhythm in
terms of what we do in class and what assignments students are
expected to complete. We will begin by reading personality
research using the methods we are currently exploring. We will
then practice these methods in class. Next, students will begin
their project by making a proposal. These proposals will be
critiqued (by both the professor and other students) and
discussed in an open class before the commencement of the
project. Finally, after data collection and analysis, students
will turn in final research papers presenting their hypotheses
and the evidence for and against their predictions.
Overview of Assignments:
Grading in this class is derived from two major projects and your
class participation. Each of the two projects has multiple subparts that must be completed.
Project I – John Lennon - 225 points
1.
2.
3.
Proposal for paper - 15 points
Review of another student’s proposal - 10 points
Paper - 200 points
Project II – Class Subject - 325 points
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Proposal for data collection - 25 points
Collection, entering, and analysis of data – 75 points
Proposal for paper – 15 points
Review of another student’s proposal – 10 points
Paper - 200 points
Participation - 150 points
Detailed descriptions of assignments:
Proposals – Altogether there are three proposals in this class.
For the two paper proposals, students will place in the Open
Class Drop Box 2-4 page papers in which they describe the ideas
they are developing, the theories and background research they
are thinking about using and applying, the hypotheses they are
thinking about testing, and the evidence they are thinking about
using to support these hypotheses for their papers. I want to
emphasize that I do NOT expect these proposals to show your
final, completely polished ideas. Instead, they are to be
thought of as opportunities to receive feedback from me and the
class about the ideas you are developing before you set to work
on each paper; they are a means to the end of developing your
thinking about each of your main papers. Thus, my expectation is
not that you will have fully fleshed out your ideas at the time
of your proposal, but rather that you will have done some work
and are looking for feedback in the refining process. I do
expect, however, that these proposals will be well-organized and
free of grammatical and typographical errors. When placing the
files in the Open Drop Box, name your files “lastname_prop1.doc”
and “lastname_prop2.doc”.
The data collection proposal will involve explaining the type of
data that you intend to collect during your time with the case
subject, as well as your plan for analyzing those data. This
proposal will develop from the earlier conversations the entire
class had about the basic plan of data collection with the
subject. I will expect you to present full information about
what exactly you are going to do with the subject (i.e., actual
interview protocols, actual survey instruments, etc.) as well as
detailed explanations of the types of analyses (e.g., coding
systems, scoring procedures, comparison to normative data) that
you plan to implement on those data. When placing the files in
the Open Drop Box, name your files “lastname_dataprop.doc”.
Proposal reviews - After placing a “paper proposal” into the drop
box, each student will in turn review the proposal of one other
student. The purpose for the “proposers” is to receive feedback
from another pair of eyes to hopefully improve the quality of
your eventual paper. The purpose for the “reviewers” is to use
the skills they have been learning in that section of the course
to help other students improve their projects. Reviews should be
written in 1-2 page papers; bring two hard copies to class on the
specified due date – one for the “proposer” and one for me.
Reviews will be graded primarily on the basis of the clarity and
comprehensiveness with which comments and critiques are
presented. Proposers and reviewers will meet together during
class to discuss the proposal and to generate ideas for improving
the eventual final paper.
Data Collection and analysis - For project II, students will
place in the Open Class Drop Box the results of the data they
collected from the class subject so that all students will have
access to these data. Students should submit both the “raw” data
that classmates can use as they please and the “analyzed” data
that might involve the application of coding systems, scoring
systems, etc., to the raw data in order to highlight important
themes or indices. The primary goal here is to provide useful
information to the class, as everyone will rely on the quality of
what you provide. Your raw and analyzed data will be due at 9
a.m. three days after the acquisition of your data. So, for
example, if you obtain your data on Wednesday, the data should be
in the drop box by Saturday at 9 a.m. This assignment will be
graded largely on the basis of the clarity and comprehensiveness
with which the data and subsequent analyses are presented. When
placing the files in the Open Drop Box, name your files
“lastname_dataanal.doc”.
Papers - Place both papers in the Closed Drop Box. You may
choose to write a Qualitative Psychobiography (a la Elms), a
Quantitative psychobiography (a la Pennebaker, etc.), or a
psychobiography that uses both types of methods. Stronger papers
will typically use both qualitative and quantitative approaches.
When placing the files in the Closed Drop Box, name your files
“lastname_pap1.doc” and “lastname_pap2.doc”.
Paper I: Studying a historical individual. Ask an
interesting question about John Lennon and use relevant data and
theory to support your ideas.
Paper II: Case study. Ask an interesting question about the
class subject and use relevant data and theory to support your
ideas.
In addition to the main body of the papers, both papers
should contain a title page, an abstract of 140 words or less,
and references; methods, results, tables and appendices may also
be necessary. APA format is expected. The paper may not exceed
3000 words in length (not counting title page, abstract,
references, appendices and tables).
Participation - The success of this course hinges in large part
on the willingness of students to discuss in a sophisticated
manner the material we are engaging, to critique it, to ask
questions when confused, and to answer questions when you think
you know the answers. Throughout our discussions, each student
will be expected to show kindness, consideration and care when
others are talking, while still being able to disagree and
discuss constructively. In your contributions, I expect to see
evidence that your thoughts and understandings are being informed
by the readings and by previous discussions. I will assess your
participation comments, questions, examples, reflections, etc.,
by noting their relevance to the topic at hand, the clarity with
which your present them, and their usefulness for moving the
class “forward” in its discussions. A good participant is also a
good listener, disagrees in a non-attacking way, and doesn’t
“hog” the floor. Attendance at, and promptness for, all class
sessions is encouraged and the consistency of your attendance
will, obviously, also have an impact on your participation grade.
Around halfway through the term I will give each student a
tentative participation grade so that you will each know
approximately where you stand on this important aspect of class.
Other Important Issues:
Plagiarism - Please be sure all sentences are in your own
words or fully paraphrased or quoted if you are using
someone else’s ideas. If three or more words are in the
same order as in the original text they must be in quotation
marks and cited. Failure to put quotes in quotation marks
(even if the source is cited) is a violation of the honor
code. The following examples show what is and is not
acceptable.
Original Sentence: In brief, gender differences are
modest in magnitude, consistent with gender stereotypes, and
replicable across cultures.
Plagiarized Sentence: Gender differences are
consistent with gender stereotypes, replicable across
cultures, and modest in magnitude.
Plagiarized Sentence: Gender differences are moderate
in magnitude, compatible with gender stereotypes, and
consistent across cultures.
Acceptable Sentence: Differences between genders were
not very large, but did fit common stereotypes and were
similar across the 26 cultures.
Accommodations for assignments - Students with disabilities
who believe that they may need accommodations in this class
are encouraged to contact Stephanie Grimes in the Center for
Teaching and Learning (CTL) as soon as possible to ensure
that such accommodations are implemented in a timely
fashion. No accommodations can be given until the CTL has
contacted the professor and approved the accommodation.
Late assignments - Assignments are due on the assigned date,
unless otherwise announced. If they are handed in later that
day, 5% of the total possible points available on that assignment
will be deducted from your grade on that assignment. If they are
handed in the next day, 10% of the total points available on that
assignment will be deducted, and so on. Only excused absences
from the Dean are valid excuses for late papers.
There are several points in the course when each student’s
effort and punctuality will affect everyone else in the class.
For example, data collection for Project II cannot begin until
each student has proposed how s/he will collect data with the
class subject. At each point that a class project must proceed
and you are late or woefully unprepared, I will lower your FINAL
CLASS GRADE a step (e.g., from a B to a B-). The due dates of
the projects for which this policy applies are signified with a *
on the Course Schedule.
Writing quality - The Psychology Department writing policy
applies to every paper written for this class. The policy
can be found at:
http://departments.knox.edu/psychdept/Psych_Writing_Policy.h
tml
The Policy will NOT apply to direct transcriptions of the
words of the class subjects. Stated word lengths for the
two major papers in this class are firm, and your grade will
be reduced by 10% if you exceed them by even a single word.
The 6th edition of the APA publication manual should be used
for all papers - manuals are on reserve in the libraries if
you do not have your own.
Naming files - If your file is not named following the examples
presented in this syllabus, 5% will be taken off your grade for
that assignment.
Partnering - All class projects except the proposal reviews may
be done alone or with a group of up to three students. I highly
encourage working with a partner, as you will probably find it
useful to have someone with whom to share the work and your
ideas. If you choose to work with a partner, you must keep that
partner for both the proposal and the paper within that
particular project. You need not work with that same partner on
both projects, however. Also, you may team up for the data
collection for Project II without necessarily writing the same
final paper for that project. Students in a group will receive
the same grade for that assignment, unless it comes to my
attention that the share of work between the partners has been
inequitable. When naming files for the drop box, just use the
name of one group member, but make sure that all group members’
names are inside the document.
Open Reserve - Some of the materials that can be used in this
class, particularly for the first assignment on John Lennon, are
on Open Reserve in Seymour Library. This makes them accessible
to all students and helps promote a sense of cooperation and
sharing. In the past, however, a couple of students have removed
some of these books from Open Reserve, taking them out of the
library (without checking them out), thus making them
inaccessible to other students. As such, it is important to note
that ANY MATERIALS THAT ARE ON OPEN RESERVE FOR THIS CLASS MUST
REMAIN IN THE LIBRARY AND MUST BE RETURNED TO THE OPEN RESERVE
SHELF BEFORE THE LIBRARY CLOSES EACH NIGHT. If a student
violates this policy, I will file an Honor Board case; students
who have violated this policy in the past have been found guilty
by the Honor Board.
General Grading - Students often wonder what I am “looking for”
in their assignments. The following list is neither complete nor
in any particular order, but it should give you some ideas:
Coherent, clear writing that is well-organized.
Ideas and hypotheses that are well-grounded in theory
and empirical literature.
Creative, non-obvious hypotheses, methods, and insights.
Interesting questions.
Strong, well-developed arguments supported by evidence.
Objectivity and a scientific attitude.
APA format.
Accuracy and validity in the presentation of information.
Comprehensiveness of presentation - i.e., don’t leave
things out, including contradictory information.
Evidence of effort.
Comfort and accuracy with statistics.
Independence, initiative, and ambition.
Sophisticated, valid, and reliable methodologies.
Doing the assignment I asked you to do, not some other
assignment.
Final grades - There are 700 points available in this class. I
will take the number of points you earn on your assignments and
divide it by 700 to determine your final grade. For example, if
you earn 658 points in the term, you would have a 94%, or an A.
I use a standard grading scale and give plusses and minuses.
Relevance to Departmental Learning Goals - The Psychology
Department at Knox has seven primary learning goals around which
its curriculum is organized. The Study of the Person is
particularly relevant to four of these goals, namely:
a) Applying the scientific method to studying the mind,
the brain, and behavior.
b) Successfully searching the scientific psychological
literature to find existing work that can inform the
specific claims students are making.
c) Effectively communicating with clear, grammaticallycorrect writing that conforms to APA style.
d) Empathically communicating a reasonably accurate
understanding of another person’s experience.
1/27
Course Schedule
Topic
Reading
Course business
Elms, Chs. 1 & 2
Studying a Person
Analyzing historical
Elms, Chs. 3, 6,
people - Qualitative 7, & 13
Practice analyzing
Runyan on VG (O)
historical people
Elms, Ch. 15
Analyzing historical
Demorest (O),
people – Quant.
Espin (O),
Pennebaker (R),
Practice analyzing
Erikson – Coding
historical people
Manual (O)
Plan for recruitment
None
of case subject
Individual meetings
None
with professor
N/A
N/A
1/28
2/2
2/4
Discuss proposals
Choose Case Subject
Intensive case
2/9
Intensive case
2/11
Plan case methods
2/15
N/A
2/16
2/18
Case Data proposals
Prepare for Data
collection –
interviewing
N/A
Case Proposals
Compas & Gotlib,
pgs. 163-174 (R)
Case Conference
Plan Follow-up
Case Conference
Individual meetings
with professor
N/A
Case Data
Case Data
Case Data
None
Discuss Project II
proposals
N/A
None
Proposal II* 9 a.m.
Review II*
N/A
Paper II due
Date
1/5
1/7
1/12
1/14
1/19
1/21
1/26
2/212/26
2/23
2/25
3/1
3/3
3/7
3/8
FINALS
Proposals
Parts of N&R,
Chs. 1-4 (O)
Parts of N&R,
Chs. 5-8 (O)
Runyan on method
(O)
N/A
N/A
N/A
Assignment Due
Proposal I* –
9 a.m.
Review I*
Paper I Due
Case Data
Proposal*
- 9 a.m.
None
Case Data* - 9
a.m., 3 days
after collected