Introduction to Personality Summer Class 114 S Emily Butler Corinna Löckenhoff

Today’s Class Introductions What is “personality”? How are personality psychologists different from laypeople? What are the main questions that personality psychologists are interested in? What will be covered in this class?

Introductions Name Background –where from? –student status? –previous classes in psychology? What does he/she hope to get out of the class? Interesting fact that illustrates an aspect of his/her personality?

While watching the film, What do Tony’s problems tell us about personality? What does he have too much of? What is he lacking? How does this affect the way he interacts with others and others interact with him?

What is Personality? Enduring traits, or characteristics of a person that account for consistent patterns of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, and their underlying mechanisms Differs from, but interacts with, the situation

Personality Psychologists Attempt to understand why we are the way we are, by looking at the entire person and by using a variety of methods and theoretical approaches Focus on the following aspects of personality: –units - what? –determinants - how? –dynamics - why? –potentials - what if? Follow established procedures to ensure that our observations are accurate and repeatable

Main Issues of Interest What is the basic nature of people? Is human behavior determined by things internal or external to the person? How consistent is your personality across situations and time? Are we aware of our internal states and behavior? Do we have control over our internal states and behavior? To what extent is our present and future behavior determined by our past behavior?

Course Objectives Define personality Understand various theoretical approaches to personality Measure personality variables Evaluate empirical research in personality Appreciate current challenges and re- conceptualizations in personality psychology Describe applications of personality psychology

Expectations Ground rules Participation & Attendance Written exercises Midterm and Final Term paper Special Circumstances

Grading Participation and attendance (10%) Written reactions to readings (15%) Midterm and (noncumulative) final (55%) Term Paper(20%) Extra credit for experiment participation or extra paper (+ 3% of final grade)