Psychology 4101
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THEORIES OF PERSONALITY
Psychology 352, Section 851
Winter 2002-2003
Instructor:
Victor A. Shamas, Ph.D.
520-621-7447 (message phone only)
e-mail: vas@email.arizona.edu
Required Materials: Personality and Personal Growth by James Fadiman & Robert Frager
(textbook)
Lectures: Theories of Personality (audio CD)
Course Overview
Personality theories address basic questions about the factors that make individual unique and
about the process of personal growth and development. This course will explore a wide range of
theories from three sources:
Unit 1: The Vienna Circle
The “Vienna Circle” refers to the members of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, founded by
Sigmund Freud. The first unit of the course will focus on the work of major personality theorists
whose careers were in some way linked to this Society: Freud, Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, Anna
Freud, Melanie Klein, Donald Winnicott, Heinz Kohut, and Karen Horney.
Unit 2: American Academic Psychology
The theorists whose ideas are discussed in this unit emerged from the American university
system, with the exception of Erikson, who began in Vienna but did his most influential work in
the US. We will consider the theories of William James, B. F. Skinner, and George Kelly, as
well as cognitive perspectives on the study of personality.
Unit 3: East Meets West
This unit examines the theories of American psychologists Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.
We will see how their ideas about personal growth and self-actualization relate to the
fundamental notions of two Eastern disciplines: Hinduism and Buddhism.
Course Structure
Although this is a Web-based course, it resembles a traditional lecture course in virtually every
regard. Here are the features of the course:
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
Lectures. A set of three audio CDs entitled Lectures: Theories of Personality will be
available through the campus bookstore. The course material is divided into three units,
and each CD covers one of these units.

Classroom. This course has a virtual classroom that you can access through WebCT
(http://www.webct.arizona.edu). By clicking on the Classroom link from the course
home page, you will be able to access a forum in which you can post questions and
discuss issues with the instructor and with other class members. The instructor will
notify you when the WebCT site becomes accessible.

Handouts. You will be able to download the materials you need from the course Web
site. These materials include this syllabus and a detailed study guide that helps you
navigate through the course readings.

Assignments. The main requirement in this course is that you keep up with the course
readings. These assigned readings are shown in the section entitled “Course Schedule.”

Exams. You will be taking three multiple-choice exams in this course, which are
described in greater detail in the section entitled “Grading Policy.”

Grade Posting. You will be able to look at your exam scores and course grade by clicking
on the Check Grade link from the course home page.

Deadlines. This course has very strict deadlines to which you must adhere. See the
“Course Schedule” section for more information.

Office Hours. You can send private questions to the instructor by clicking on the
Mailbox link from the course home page. Most questions will be answered in less than
24 hours.
The course will proceed as follows: There will be assigned readings for every official class day
of the session. You will be expected to visit the course WebCT site daily. When you enter the
Classroom, you will find course announcements, questions about the material, and discussion of
issues related to the course content. Although you are not required to post to the Classroom
forum, you are strongly encouraged to take advantage of the learning opportunities it affords you.
You should also keep up with the audio lectures, which are designed to clarify and flesh out the
concepts presented in the textbook. You will be taking three exams in the course (see “Grading
Policy” for more information).
Grading Policy
Your grade will be based on three multiple-choice exams. If you are taking the exams in Tucson,
the instructor will provide a University classroom, but you must e-mail the instructor by
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December 16 to reserve a space at these exams. The times and locations of the Tucson exams
will be announced via e-mail before the beginning of Winter Session..
If you are taking the exams outside of Tucson, you will need to make arrangements to find a
proctor in your local area. You will need to provide the instructor with the name and contact
information of your proctor no later than December 16. This is a strictly-enforced deadline;
the session is short and time is needed to mail the exams to each proctor.
The proctor will be expected to administer exams in an appropriate and fair manner and to return
the completed exam promptly to the instructor. Given that postal service is extremely slow
during the winter holiday season, you should expect delays of approximately one week in the
posting of grades for exams taken outside of Tucson.
All grades will be posted confidentially on the course Web site. Only you can access your exam
scores and final grade, and you can do so by clicking on the Check Grades link from the course
home page.
You are required to take the three exams on the following dates:
Midterm 1: Thursday, January 2
Midterm 2: Thursday, January 9
Final Exam: Tuesday, January 14
If you are taking the exams outside of Tucson, you may take the exams anytime on these test
dates, depending on proctor availability. If you are taking the exams on-campus, you will need to
attend the testing sessions at the designated times, which are likely to be in the evenings.
Only certain people are qualified to act as your proctor. To locate a suitable proctor, contact one
of the following offices:
School Superintendent
School Principal
School Counselor
Base Education Officer
Commanding Officer
College Testing Center
Independent Study Office
Library
County Extension Director
You must submit the following information to the instructor NO LATER THAN MONDAY,
DECEMBER 16:
Proctor’s Name:
Proctor’s Title:
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Proctor’s Business Address:(Including City, State and Zip Code)
Proctor’s Business Phone:
Proctor’s Fax Number: (Optional)
Proctor’s E-mail Address: (Optional)
All completed exams should be sent to:
Victor Shamas, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721
There are a total of 120 points for this course, which are distributed as follows:
Midterm 1:
Midterm 2:
Final exam:
TOTAL
30 points
30 points
60 points
120 points
The exams are multiple-choice and each question has five choices. Because the tests are
computer-graded, you will need to bring a Number 2 pencil to the exams and to make sure that
you fill in the accompanying bubble sheet according to the instructions that will be provided.
Each question is worth one point. On the final, approximately 40 questions will cover new
material (Unit 3) and the other 20 will be review (Units 1 and 2).
Your grade will be based on the grade cutoffs shown below:
Grade
A
B
C
D
F
Score___
100
80
60
40
below 40
All of the exams are closed-book and closed-notes tests. You will have one hour to complete
each midterm and two hours for the final. There are no make-up exams in this course. If you
fail to show up for an exam on a scheduled test date, you will be awarded a score of zero. Please
take this policy into account if you are planning on taking your winter vacation before the
completion of this course (an EXTREMELY bad idea, by the way).
There is no extra credit, and no grade of "incomplete" will be awarded.
Course Schedule
Because this is a very short session, you will need to read about 1-2 chapters of your textbook for
each official class day. Please keep up with the readings so that you can post questions to the
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Classroom forum. You can post any question about any of the course material on any day
of the session, and your questions and thoughts are always welcome. But you and your
classmates will get more out of the course if you keep up with the readings and post questions
related to the assigned readings for a given class day.
WEEK 1
12/26- CH.2: FREUD
12/27- CH.4: JUNG
WEEK 2
12/30- CH.5: ADLER
12/31- CH.3: ANNA FREUD & THE POST-FREUDIANS
CH.6: HORNEY
1/1- HOLIDAY
1/2- MIDTERM 1
1/3- CH.8: ERIKSON
WEEK 3
1/6
CH.10: JAMES
1/7- CH.11: SKINNER
1/8- CH.12: COGNITIVE
CH.13: KELLY
1/9- MIDTERM 2
1/10- CH.14: ROGERS
CH.15: MASLOW
1/13- CH.16: HINDUISM
CH.17: BUDDHISM
1/14- FINAL
Please note the following deadlines:
12/1- LAST DAY TO SUBMIT E-MAIL ADDRESS TO INSTRUCTOR
(Students who fail to meet this deadline will be dropped from course)
12/16- LAST DAY TO SUBMIT TEST & PROCTOR INFORMATION TO
INSTRUCTOR
(Students who fail to meet this deadline will be dropped from course)
12/27- LAST DAY TO DROP WITH A DELETION OF RECORD
1/2-
LAST DAY TO DROP WITH A GRADE OF “W”
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Your Instructor
Victor Shamas received his Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Arizona in
1994 and his MS in Chemistry from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1984. He has
taught Introduction to Psychology, Psychological Measurement and Statistics, Child Psychology,
Psychology of Love and Spirituality, Research Methods, Biopsychology, Cognitive Psychology,
Sensation and Perception, Cognitive Development, Theories of Personality, Psychology of
Consciousness, Social Psychology, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Abnormal Psychology,
Health Psychology, Psychology of Death and Loss, Adult Development and Aging, Sleep and
Sleep Disorders, and Thinking Reasoning and Problem-Solving. He has been a member of the
faculty at The Evergreen State College, St. Martin’s College, Green River Community College,
and the University of Arizona.
Dr. Shamas has a strong commitment to interdisciplinary education and has taught courses in the
fields of psychology, chemistry, natural history, counseling, and communications. In 1986, he
was named the first Master Learner in the State of Washington as part of a program coordinated
by the Washington Center for the Advancement of Undergraduate Education. He has been the
recipient of research fellowships from the National Science Foundation and the McDonnell-Pew
Foundation. His research focuses on the role of consciousness in the creative process.
Besides his empirical work, he has co-authored theoretical papers in Behavioral and Brain
Sciences and in the following edited volumes: Implicit Memory and Metacognition by Lynne
Reder (1996), Implicit Cognition by Geoffrey Underwood (1996), and Contemporary Hypnosis
Research by Erika Fromm and Michael Nash (1992). Dr. Shamas is currently completing his
first book, entitled The Hidden Creator.
Required Materials
The textbook for this course is Personality and Personal Growth (Fifth Edition) by Robert
Frager and James Fadiman, published in 2002 by Prentice Hall (ISBN 0-13-040961-8). All
readings listed in the course outline are taken from this book. Also required is a set of audio CDs
featuring the instructor’s lectures on the course material. Key points from each chapter of the
course textbook are addressed in these lectures. The set of CDs, called Lectures: Theories of
Personality, can be obtained through the campus bookstore.