AP PSYCHOLOGY
ESSENTIAL UNIT 8 (E08)
(Personality, Testing and Individual Differences)
(JULY 2011)
Unit Statement: The student will learn major theories about how humans develop
enduring patterns of behavior and personal characteristics that influence how others relate
to them. The unit also addresses research methods used to assess personality. Finally the
student will develop an understanding of intelligence and assessment of individual
differences, with an emphasis on test construction and fair use.
Essential Outcomes:
1. The Student Will compare and contrast the major theories and approaches to
explaining personality: psychoanalytic, humanist, cognitive, trait, social learning,
and behavioral.
2. TSW describe and compare research methods (e.g., case studies and surveys) that
psychologists use to investigate personality.
3. TSW identify frequently used assessment strategies (e.g., the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), the Thematic Apperception Test
(TAT)), and evaluate relative test quality based on reliability and validity of
the instruments.
4. TSW speculate how cultural context can facilitate or constrain personality
development, especially as it relates to self-concept (e.g., collectivistic vs.
individualistic cultures).
5. TSW identify key contributors to personality theory (e.g., Alfred Adler, Albert
Bandura, Paul Costa and Robert McCrae, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung,
Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers).
6. TSW define intelligence and list characteristics of how psychologists measure
intelligence: abstract vs. verbal measures, speed of processing.
7. TSW discuss how culture influences the definition of intelligence.
8. TSW compare and contrast historic and contemporary theories of intelligence
(e.g., Charles Spearman, Howard Gardner, Robert Sternberg).
9. TSW explain how psychologists design tests, including standardization strategies
an other techniques to establish reliability and validity.
10. TSW interpret the meaning of scores in terms of the normal curve.
11. TSW describe relevant labels related to intelligence testing (e.g., gifted,
cognitively disabled).
40
QSI AP PSYCHOLOGY SEC E08
Copyright © 1988-2012
12. TSW debate the appropriate testing practices, particularly in relation to culture-fair
test uses.
13. TSW identify key contributers in intelligence research and testing (e.g., Alfred
Binet, Francis Galton, Howard Gardner, Charles Spearman, Robert
Sternberg, Louis Terman, David Wechsler).
Suggested Materials:
1. King, Laura A. “Chapter 10.” The Science of Psychology: Essentials. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 2009. Print.
2. Meyers, David. “Modules 25, 35.” Exploring Psychology in Modules, 7e, E-book
Access Card (Activation code for 365-day access). New York: Worth Publishers,
2008. Print.
3. " Psychology Home ." Teacher Professional Development and Teacher Resources
by Annenberg Media. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2010.
<http://www.learner.org/discoveringpsychology>.
Websites:
Textbook/Content Related
a. King - The Science of Psychology
b. Myers 7e in Modules
c. HippoCampus Psychology - Homework Help
d. Course-notes for Psychology
e. Psychology Home
f. Encyclopedia of Psychology - Psychology Websites
Articles
a. Friends With Benefits | Big Questions Online
b. How Our Brains Respond to Friends and Strangers | Big Questions Online
c. TED Blog | A second opinion on learning disorders: Aditi Shankardass on
TED.com
d. Can We Change Our Personalities? | Big Questions Online
Personality Testing
a. Personality test based on Jung and Briggs Myers typology
b. The Personality Page
c. TypeLogic Home Page
d. JediGirl - The Jedi Girl Internet Community
e. Are you in the 98% or 2% of the population?
f. TESTdex - index of free personality tests and intelligence tests
g. The Big Five Personality Test
h. YouTube - Stereotypes -- Stossel In The Classroom
i. UC Berkeley Psych 150 (Personality) - Full Course - Video
j. Human Intelligence: biographical profiles, current controversies, resources
for teachers
k. The Many Faces of Psychological Research in the 21st Century
l. The Effects Of Birth Order On Personality
41
QSI AP PSYCHOLOGY SEC E08
Copyright © 1988-2012
m. How class affects your brain - The Boston Globe
n. The Smart Set: The Doctors and the Divine - February 15, 2011
o. "PBS: The Presidents:" EDSITEment's Related Lesson Plans and Websites
| EDSITEment
Mandatory Assessments:
1. AP style multiple-choice exams must be used. The majority of the
questions should require students to use higher order thinking skills such as
synthesis and evaluation in which the student must combine knowledge and
skills across the unit.
2. Students must be required to complete the Examination Analysis form that
is contained as an attachment to the Course Outcomes. Students who have
taken the class report the value in helping them properly learn the TSWs.
3. Teacher generated or AP published free-response questions. Free response
questions can be taken directly from the AP Central site with rubrics
already created to use as an assessment tool.
Optional Assessments:
1. Create flash cards for the unit. Students have reported after the AP Exam
that they wish this was mandatory. Teachers may want to take this student
feedback into account in designing their teaching for this and all other
essential units.
2. Students present their approach to a free-response question to the class.
This holds students accountable demonstrating the ability to dissect freeresponse questions and for developing an outline to answer the question.
The focus is on students’ learning to answer the question asked.
3. There are multiple sites to examine personality --use with caution. The
Keirsey Temperament Sorter is fairly good and free at the basic level:
http://www.keirsey.com/ To use this in class, explain the categories and
have students pair up. Reflecting on themselves and then on their partner,
write a few statements about each category. This provides some baseline
information (it may also, however, be suggestive in the testing so it is
recommended you wait a day or two before using the online test.) It is not
recommended that students take online IQ testing as reliability is
questionable at best.
4. Using Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences or Goleman’s Social Emotional
Intelligence (E.Q.) as a guide, have students conduct a 360º assessment of
themselves. Begin with a self-assessment and have them gather a peer,
family member, and teacher assessment as well. Have students report on
the process and the results. What patterns emerged? Is the 360º method of
testing effective?
Teacher to Teacher:
1. There is a lot of controversy embedded in this unit. Don’t shy away from it
but be careful -- know your topic. For example, the most recent research on
intelligence/ability/disability is a paradigm shift. What if we look at
textbooks as disabled and the learner as able? Current work at Harvard
42
QSI AP PSYCHOLOGY SEC E08
Copyright © 1988-2012
(www.cast.org) is exploring “Universal Design for Learning” (UDL) and
how we should look at variance in ability as the norm, rather than judging
ability by a narrow text-based criteria.
2. One way to bring home the issues mentioned in #1 is to examine what it
means to be “able” or “smart” in other cultures. You could even invent a
culture and demonstrate that ability is a judgement in a context.
3. Remind students that, while personality tests are interesting, informative,
and can be fun, there are many impostors and the results of any test are one
piece of the aggregate data. Interpretation and a fully dimensional
assessment are important elements of any view of personality (or
intelligence, for that matter.)
43
QSI AP PSYCHOLOGY SEC E08
Copyright © 1988-2012