Ocean County College
Professor's Syllabus
PSYC 174 Personality Theory
Fall 2012
E-mail: kmccormick@ocean.edu
Dr. K. McCormick
Office: Bartlett 314
Phone: 732-255-0400 x2212
Catalogue Description: A study of adult personality focusing on
representative theories from the major schools of personality theory
(psychoanalysis, social learning, humanistic, and cognitive) and methods
of studying personality (e.g. case studies, personality tests, empirical
research, etc.) 3 s.h. Prerequisite: PSYC 172.
Text: Personality Theories. 8th Ed. B.Engler. Houghton Mifflin Co., 2009.
ISBN: 978-0-495-75854-9
(Personality Theory texts don’t change a great deal (as many of the
theorists are dead) so if you have an earlier edition, it should be fine. You
also will find used copies of the text may be less expensive.)
Course Outline:
9/7
Introduction: Evaluating Personality Theories (Chp. 1)
9/11-14
Psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud (Chp. 2)
(Film: Freud; Group Project: Dream Analysis – 9/14)
9/18-21
Analytic Psychology: Carl Jung (Chp. 3)
(Personality Test: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator)
9/25-28
Interpsychic Theories: Adler (Chp. 4)
(Group Project: Life Style and Birth Order – 9/28)
10/2
Test 1 (Chps. 1-4; all videos and handouts)
10/5-9
Psychoanalytic Social Psychology: Horney & Fromm (Chp. 5)
10/12-16
Ego Analytic Psychology: Erikson & Anna Freud (Chp. 6)
(Extra Credit Project: Life script/Pychobiography)
10/19-23
Human Relations: Object Relations (Chp. 7)
(Group Project: Case History Analysis – 10/23)
10/26
Test 2 (Chps. 5-7; all handouts)
10/30-11/2
Trait & Personology: Allport (Chp. 10)
11/5
Drop Forms due date (to Professor)
11/7
Last due date for Drop forms (to Admissions)
11/6-9
Factor Analytic Theories: Cattell, the Big 5 Theory (Chp. 11)
(Personality Test: 16 PF Test)
(Extra Credit Project: IPIP-NEO Test)
11/13-16
Biological Traits: Eysenck (Chp. 12)
(Film: The Secret of Life: Who Are You?)
11/20
Experimental Analysis of Behavior: B.F. Skinner (Chp. 8 )
(Film: Interview with B.F. Skinner)
11/21-23
Thanksgiving Break
11/27
Social Cognitive Learning Theory: Bandura, Rotter, etc. (Chp. 9)
(Group Project: Behavior Modification Protocol – 11/27)
11/30
Test 3 (Chps. 8 & 10-12; all films and handouts)
12/4-7
Humanism: Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers (Chp. 13)
Existential Psychoanalysis: Rollo May (Chp. 14)
(Group Project: Prototypes of Self-Actualization – 12/7)
12/7/12
Deadline for submitting extra-credit papers
12/11-14
Personal Constructs: George Kelly (Chp. 15)
(Personality Test: REP Scale)
12/18
Test 4 (Chps. 9 & 13-15; all handouts)
12/21
Group Project & Test Make-ups
Evaluation of:
Students:
Tests (4) + extra credit points
Group Projects (4 required)
50%
50%
See the Extra-credit section below for information on earning extra-credit; a
maximum of 20 extra-credit pts. may be earned. The final date an extracredit project paper will be accepted is 12/7/12; papers may be submitted
on or before that date.
Grading Scale:
A = 90-100
B = 80-86; B+ = 87-89
C = 70-76; C+ = 77-79
D = 60-69
F = below 60
Office Hours: M, T, Th & F 11:00 am – 12:15 pm. Other times can be arranged
by appointment. (See below.)
Contact Information: You also may call (732-255-0400 ext.2212) or e-mail
(kmccormick@ocean.edu) with questions or to arrange an appointment if you
are unable to be on campus; you also may leave a message with the Social
Science Dept. secretary (732-255-0381).
My e-mail address can be found at the top of this syllabus; please identify
yourself in the e-mail (as many e-mail addresses do not do so) and mention
your class (so that I know that you are a student) and indicate the purpose
(e.g. question, need test make-up, etc.) of your e-mail in the topic statement. I
answer messages from students regarding course issues first when I check my
e-mail (usually within 24-48 hrs.). You do not need to request assignment
sheets; they may be downloaded from your Ocean Cruiser class page.
(See the Group Projects section for directions.)
Accommodations: If there is any student in this class who has special
needs because of learning disabilities or any other kinds of disabilities,
please feel free to come and discuss this with me or with a staff member
for Disability Services (at the Center for Academic Services, Library, 2 nd
floor).
Course Requirements:
Complete all reading assignments (see course outline), participate in class
discussions, participate in 4 (out of 5) group projects and complete 4 tests.
Activities: You also will experience a number of techniques used to study
personality (e.g. personality tests) that may help you evaluate theories (see
course outline); these are not required, and, for example, if you miss a class
during which a personality test such as the Myers-Briggs is given, you do not
need to make it up. However, if you wish to, you are welcome to take such tests
at another time (e.g. during one of my office hours).
Tests: There will be 4 tests in essay format during the semester; the last test
covers the material since the previous test and is not a comprehensive final
exam. On tests you will not be asked to merely describe theories; you will be
asked to compare and contrast theories (e.g. Nature vs. Nurture) and constructs,
parts of a theory, such as the unconscious (e.g. Freud’s unconscious vs. Jung’s
unconscious). You will be asked to evaluate and apply theories (e.g. to case
histories). You may be asked to express your opinion or to state your
preferences regarding theories or constructs; when doing this you will need to
offer sound rationales and well-developed explanations for your conclusions.
Since this course focuses on theory, there may be many acceptable answers to a
question so why you selected your position and the arguments or data you offer
to support it will be an important part of your essay. (See make-up policy below.)
Group Projects: Assignments, that may include reserve reading, case history
analysis or data collection to be completed prior to the in-class activity, will be
discussed in class one to two weeks prior to the projects. The assignment
direction sheets will be available on your class page on Ocean Cruiser at
least a week prior to the project date (see course outline). To access them,
go to the OCC website (www.ocean.edu) and click on Ocean Cruiser on the top
tool bar. Log in following the log in instructions; if you don’t know how to use
Ocean Cruiser or have difficulty (e.g. your password doesn’t work) the
Multipurpose Computer Lab staff (Library) can assist you. Clicking on the Log In
button will take you to your Cruiser page where you will see a menu of the
classes you are taking this semester. Click on your class title to see your class
page; scroll down the left margin menu to Assignments. Click on Assignments
to see a menu of Group Project and Extra-credit assignments. Clicking on an
assignment title will take you to a direction page for that assignment (which you
should print) and if the assignment involves Internet resources, a URL link will be
provided. (You will find an electronic copy of your syllabus on your Cruiser
class page under Shared Files.)
You will be given sufficient time to complete group projects activities and
discussions in class; if a group needs more time to finish a discussion or
organize a group paper, you may wish to e-mail each other. You also may
wish to use e-mail in order to write the group paper; each member can
contribute his or her ideas and you can take turns editing the paper. The
editor will cut and paste the group’s paper and perhaps add an introduction
or summary. There will be time for you to work on the group paper in class
after the group activity, but that may not always be sufficient. Class time
should be spent on completing the discussion or activity because the
purpose of a group activity is to compare group members’ different
experiences and ideas. This will be especially helpful when you analyze a
case history as group members will see different things in the case history
based on each person’s life experiences and you will learn from each other.
Five to six students will form a group; you may stay together for the semester
or students may change groups if they choose to at any time during the
semester. You may need to join another group for an assignment if several
members of your chosen group are absent that day; 2 people are not considered
a group and 3 people usually can not provide sufficient data or experience to for
a true group experience. Group projects must be done with a group and
cannot be completed by 1 or 2 students outside of class. Please see me if
you experience problems dealing with other group members and are unable to
resolve the problem.
Each group will produce one group paper per assignment and the
members will receive a group grade. One group member should volunteer to
be recorder for each session and be responsible for taking good notes on the
group’s discussion; the recorder can review these notes with the group for clarity
and additions at the end of the session. Groups in previous years have found
sharing all members’ notes via e-mail to be helpful and you should not rely solely
on the recorder. The purpose of having a recorder is to make sure that at least
one group member is taking notes, but a single set of notes can get lost or may
not reflect the entire group experience. Group members should either work on
the paper to be submitted together or agree to take turns editing the paper from
contributions provided by the group members; it will be easier for the editor if the
group members e-mail their comments to the editor so that he or she can copy
and paste together a rough draft of the paper. The editor can e-mail the draft to
members for additional comments and then polish up the final paper. Each
paper should describe the group’s discussion as well as its conclusions;
the latter sometimes may reflect a consensus, and other times it may need to
express different points of view or interpretations. Your paper should reflect all of
the view points expressed by the group. The paper will be due one week after
the project meeting unless otherwise postponed (e.g. if a test is scheduled
on that date); if additional time is needed, see the professor.
A student may miss only one of the 5 group sessions without affecting this
portion of the grade; additional absences from group discussions may
lower this portion of your grade. However, of the 4 required sessions, one
session may be made up; see the Makeup Policy section for more
information on this.
Participation by all group members in the in-class discussion and
producing the group paper is important. If a group member has participated
in the discussion, but does not participate in producing the paper, this is not full
participation. The group paper should list the names of those who
participated in the in-class discussion and those who participated in
writing the paper. Usually these two lists should be the same and if they are, it
is not necessary to repeat the names a second time. However, if group
members to not participate in the discussion or do not provide his or her
insights or opinions for the paper, it should be noted on the paper. The
group grade may not be assigned to a member who does not fully
participate and lack of participation in either the discussion or producing
the paper may lower an individual’s grade on an assignment.
Extra-Credit: Two extra-credit projects are listed in the Course Outline;
direction sheets will be provided when the appropriate course content has been
covered, and the assignments will be discussed in class at that time. You also
will find articles on the Journal Article List (on your Cruiser page) that provide
background information on both assignments and examples of Life Narratives.
(Both assignments will be posted under Assignments on you Class page
on Ocean Cruiser. A list of journal articles will be posted under Shared
Files.) The Life Narrative project is worth 20 pts. (10 pts. for the Narrative and
10 pts. for the analysis). The personality test is worth 10 pts.
Another alternative is attendance at an appropriate extra-curricular lecture or
program and submission of a reaction paper on the program/lecture (earning 5
pts. @ for on campus programs & 10 @ for off-campus programs (e.g. Georgian
Court U) programs is another alternative). A reaction paper must be submitted in
order to earn extra-credit; signing an attendance list is not sufficient. A reaction
paper describes the program or lecture including what you learned and it
provides a critique of what you did and didn’t like about the program or
presentation.
Journal Articles: You may select and read a journal article on a topic in
personality theory (10 pts. @) from the bibliography posted under Shared Files
on your Class page on Ocean Cruiser; you will find most of the listed articles on
reserve in the OCC library. Many but not all of them also may be available
online. You will then submit a short (2-3 typewritten pgs.) paper
summarizing the article, identifying the most important idea(s) or
construct(s) discussed in the article, and describing what you have learned
from the article and why this is important to an understanding of
personality; your paper also must include the title and author of the article.
Articles that are not in the bibliography may be approved by the professor
IF they (1) deal with personality and (2) come from an academic journal.
Psychology Today and popular magazines such as Newsweek, Time, etc. are
not acceptable sources. Consult the professor if you are unsure of the
suitability of a source. You may find acceptable articles on personality in the
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and the Journal of Personality.
Some other journals that you might use are: American Psychologist, American
Journal of Orthopsychiatry, Child Development, Developmental Psychology,
Journal of Adolescence, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, and
Psychology of Women Quarterly; you will find all of these journals in the OCC
Library. (Not all of the articles in these journals deal with personality so
make sure that the article you select does.) You may peruse copies of such
journals in the Library, do a computer search of a topic or author whose work
interests you or use library data bases to locate a suitable article as many journal
articles appear in full-text online. Article summaries and book reviews are not
acceptable choices. You also may find articles in anthologies (e.g. Handbook
of Personality). Please submit a copy of the article you have selected with
your paper if the article is not on the reading list.
A total of 20 pts. of extra-credit may be applied to the test grade portion of
your grade. Extra-credit papers are due Tues. 12/7/12 by 3 pm. Late papers
will not be accepted.
Course Standards:
W grades: You may drop the course and receive a W grade by submitting
a drop form to the professor prior to completing 60% of the course
(Wednesday 11/7/12). If you feel that you are behind in your work and in danger
of failing the course, please consider asking for a W before this date. After that
date if you wish to drop the course, you will be assigned an F grade rather
than a W; this is College policy. Students with excessive absences can
receive only an F grade after 11/7/12 (date by which all drop requests must be
processed by Admissions) under this policy. A student who does not complete
the course work and does not request a grade of I will be assigned an F grade
automatically; the professor cannot assign a W grade after 11/7/12.
Make-up Policy: A student who misses a test may request a make-up. Do
not call about a make-up if you are out sick; see the professor on your return to
discuss arrangements. Only 1 missed test can be made up without penalty;
a second missed test will result in a deduction of 10 pts. from the second
make-up test grade. Arrangements for make-ups in the Testing Center can
be made during the semester; all tests not completed by 12/14/12 can only
be completed during the make-up session at the end of the semester on
12/21/12.
A student who misses a second in-class group project session may not
submit an individual paper on the topic of that session; however, a missed
session may be made-up in one of two ways. (1) The student may submit a
paper on a journal article to be chosen from the Article list. (See the Journal
Article section in Extra-credit for instructions.) This form of make-up must be
submitted by 12/7/12, and the make-up article must be labeled “Make-up for
Discussion: # __”. (2) A missing group session also may be made-up by
participating in the make-up group session scheduled at the end of the
semester (12/21/12). (See Course Outline.) Only one missing group session
may be made-up; you may choose between the two forms of make-up
described above if you miss a group session.
Final Test: If you will miss the last test and are unable to make it up on the end
of the semester make-up date (e.g. due to a prolonged illness or incapacitating
accident), you must notify the professor to request a grade of I (Incomplete)
in writing. (An e-mail is acceptable.) Your request should include the reason
you require an incomplete and an estimate as to when you expect to be able to
complete the missed work. An Incomplete must be resolved (e.g. make up
missing test, etc.) by early February 2013; at this time I grades
automatically becomes F grades. It is your responsibility to make
arrangements to complete missing work prior to this deadline.
Plagiarism: Please refer to Policy #5180 described in the Student
Handbook. Plagiarism is the presentation of the work of others as your
own; it is not limited to copying the work of another student. Although
copying from Encyclopedias or texts and cutting and pasting the work of
others from Internet sources often are not considered as types of
plagiarism by many students, they are plagiarism. You must paraphrase
such material in your own words. Cutting and pasting the work of others from
Internet sources is plagiarism; again you must paraphrase the content in your
own words. Paraphrase means that you must express the information in your
own words. You also must paraphrase material from a text in an open book
exam; copying portions of a text into an answer also is plagiarism. (Usually test
questions will not ask you for information that you could copy from a text. They
will ask you interpret, apply, evaluate, etc. such material.)
You also must cite the sources you have used in writing a paper. If you repeat
another’s work word for word, that section of a paper must be enclosed in
quotation marks and the source of the quotation cited. You should not include
several direct quotations in your paper; a paper should be an expression of your
ideas, opinions and interpretations rather than a string of quotations from other
people.
Failing to do your share of work in a Group Project while putting your name
on the Project paper also is plagiarism; you are claiming the work of others
as your own. Placing the name of a group member who did not participate
in the project on a group paper is participating in plagiarism, similar to
helping someone to cheat on a test.
Plagiarism can result in a grade of F and disciplinary action by the Dean.
Attendance Policy: See Attendance Policy in the Student Handbook. It
is unnecessary to notify the professor when you will miss one class; however, if
you will be absent for several days, please e-mail or telephone the
professor. (You may leave a voicemail at any time.) There is no need to
request “homework” as your reading assignments are listed in this syllabus (see
course outline) and assignment direction sheets will be posted on your class
page on Ocean Cruiser under Assignments. (See directions for accessing these
in the Extra-credit section.).
Campus Resources
Tutoring is available in the Writing Center (Russell Building rm.124) if you
require help with writing a paper. The Center for Academic Services (second
floor library) provides testing, counseling and disabilities resources and services
if you think that you may have a learning problem. The Multipurpose Computer
Lab (third floor Library) is available for writing papers, researching online and has
many specialized programs (e.g. Text enlargement) as well; you also may use it
for Internet access. If you do not have a computer or your computer crashes
during the semester, you can complete all computer assignments in the
Multipurpose Lab. You also may use the Computer Lab at the Southern
Education Center in Manahawkin if that is closer to you.
More information on campus resources and services, e.g., student success
seminars or tutoring in other subject areas, can be found by using the A-Z index
on the college website (www.ocean.edu).
Online Resources: The OCC web page offers free software. If you need antivirus protection you can download a free version of Kaspersky from the OCC
web page. (Check the Announcements section of your Cruiser page.) You
also can access course materials through Ocean Cruiser and it provides a
free e-mail account for students. Logging on to Ocean Cruiser will take you
to your Cruiser page where you will find all your classes listed. Click on
the course title to go to a course page; you will find a menu on the left side.
For example, clicking on Assignments on this menu will bring up course
assignments. You also may find some items in Shared Files. I will place a
copy of this Syllabus under Shared Files on your course page so that you will
always have access to it. I also will send class-wide messages to your
Cruiser portal addresses (e.g. if I’m going to be out sick).
Class Etiquette
You are expected to attend class unless you are ill or have a family or work
related emergency. It is unnecessary to call me if you miss a class; as you are
adult learners and responsible for your education, I will assume that you have a
good reason for missing a class. However, if you will miss several classes,
please let me know so that I will not think that you have dropped the course.
You also are expected to come to class prepared to discuss the topic of the
day and to take notes; please complete reading assignments prior to class and
bring whatever supplies (e.g. a notebook, pen, pencil, etc.) you will need. Please
staple or clip all multi-page assignments.
Please respect your classmates by: coming to class on time or entering quietly
if you are occasionally a few minutes late; refraining from private conversations
during class; and by turning off you cell phone, pager, etc. or putting them on
voicemail or vibrate. If you receive a message during the class period or
during a test, you may leave class to take an urgent message. If the
message is not an emergency, please let it go to voicemail and respond
after class is over. Text messaging and other forms of communication
should not take place during class; you should concentrate on the course
material and class discussions during class periods.
If you have agreed to be responsible for editing a group paper and will miss
a week or more following the group session, please let me or members of
your group know, so that they will not worry. If you have decided to drop the
course after agreeing to edit a group paper, please give your notes or materials
to me or to a group member so that someone else can complete the assignment.
Remember other classmates are depending on you.
Contrary to popular belief, you really can’t really “multi-task” (i.e. do more
than one thing at a time); instead you are switching channels between two or
more activities very rapidly, but in doing so you miss something from each
activity. This is similar to switching channels with a remote while watching TV;
while you are focused on one channel, you are missing what is happening on the
other channel. You will try to fill in these gaps in attention with what you think
happened (psychologists call this closure), but such guessing frequently doesn’t
work as well as you assume it does. (This is why people are more likely to have
accidents while driving and trying to do something else such as talking on the
phone, texting, or eating. That slight gap in attention can result in a fender
bender that makes you realize you missed something important. Such warnings
usually aren’t as dramatic in other areas of our life.)
Disclaimer: Reasonable changes may be made to the material covered in
this syllabus, exclusive of course requirements, course calendar, and
grading procedures.
Course Learning Objectives
1. Students will be able to compare and contrast the most important
theoretical constructs from the major schools of personality theory
(psychoanalysis, social learning, humanistic, cognitive and trait).
2. Students will be able to evaluate personality theories based on empirical
quantitative and qualitative research.
3. Students will be able to evaluate the usefulness of various methods of
collecting data about personality (e.g. personality tests, dream
interpretation, behavioral analysis, case history, psychobiography, etc.)
4. Students will present and defend their opinions regarding theories and
constructs in writing and verbally within a group format and individually.
5. Students will learn the following skills: to collaborate and interact
effectively on group projects; to apply theoretical constructs in case history
analysis; and to read and analyze academic journal articles.
General Education Goals (from the Official Course Description)
This course addresses the following OCC General Education Goals:
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Communication – Written and Oral
Technological Competency/Info Literacy
Society and Human Behavior
Historical Perspective
Global and Cultural Awareness
Ethical Reasoning and Action
Independent/Critical Thinking