Course Syllabus
2130 Personality Psychology, January 2011
“Know Thyself”
Section M, Mondays 7:00-10:00, Vari Hall B
Section N, Tuesdays 8:30-11:30, Curtis Lecture Hall E
Prerequisite: PSYC 1010 6.0 with the minimum grade of C
Course Website: http://www.yorku.ca/ianmc/psyc2130/Syllabus2130MNJanuary2011.htm
Teaching Assistants’ Email and Office Hours:
Email queries about course content, missed tests, doctor’s notes, and make-up test rescheduling to Lauren Campbell (email: lc15@yorku.ca).
In-person office hours by Dean Hodge (email: dhodge@yorku.ca), Monday, 4:30-6:30, (Room 007a, Central Square).
For anything to do with your SONA sign-ups or your research participation: Chelsea Ferriday (email: chelsea.ferriday@gmail.com).
Instructor
Prof. Ian McGregor, PhD: ianmc@yorku.ca, 240 BSB
http://www.yorku.ca/ianmc/
Email Protocol: When sending email to TAs or the Instructor, always indicate the course code “2130” and your specific section letter (i.e., M or N) in the title of your email. Please also be sure to indicate your full name and York ID#.
Readings: There is no textbook. Readings are free at: http://www.yorku.ca/ianmc/psyc2130/readings.doc or http://www.yorku.ca/ianmc/psyc2130/readings.pdf
Readings should be done before the corresponding week’s lecture. For each quiz, you are responsible for material in the readings corresponding to the previous week’s lectures.
Research Participation: 5% of your grade will come from research participation (mostly online). See below for details.
Course Objectives:
1. Learn about historical roots and theories of personality processes and individual differences.
2. Gain appreciation for why personality science is necessary and how it is conducted.
3. Understand the evolving relation between theory and scientific research
4. Appreciate how personality psychology can inform your life and world events.
WEEKLY SCHEDULE
Week 0 (for Section N)
Jan 4: History and Perspective
Research: Get 2130 SONA account and start participating in PSYCH-2130 studies. See the Research Participation section below for details.
Week 1
Jan 10, 11: Greek Foundations of Personality Processes and Individual Differences
Reading: Plato’s Cave Allegory, The Ancient Greeks, Freud and Jung Lectures
Week 2
Jan 17, 18: Freud and Jung
Reading: Freud and Jung Biographies and Theories
Week 3 (Guest Lecturer Eric Oosenbrug)
Jan 24, 25: Motives and Traits (after Quiz 1 worth 19%)
Reading: Needs and Motives, Traits
**Research Participation Deadline 1: 2130 Personality Study 1, 2a, and 2b must be complete by Tuesday, February 1st
Week 4
Jan 31, Feb. 1: Research Methods
Reading: Correlations, Experiments
**Research Participation Deadline 2: 2130 Personality Studies 3a and 3b must be complete by Tuesday, February 8th
Week 5
Feb 7, 8: Goal Dynamics (after Quiz 2 worth 19%)
Reading: Pavlov
**Research Participation Deadline 3: 2130 Personality Studies 4a, and 4b must be complete by midnight on Sunday, February 13th
Week 6
Feb 14, 15: Goal Dynamics and Well-Being
Reading: Rogers and Maslow
**Research Participation Deadline 4: 2130 Personality Study 5 must be complete by Tuesday, February 22nd (but sign up ASAP to reserve the time-slot that suits you best).
Reading Week: Feb. 21, 22
Week 7
Feb. 28, March 1: Neo-Analytic Theories (after Quiz 3 worth 19%)
Reading: Erikson, Adler
Week 8
March 7, 8: Self-Esteem, Narcissism, Attachment Style, and Repression
Reading: Learning, Horney
Week 9
March 14, 15: Threat and Defense (after Quiz 4 worth 19%)
Reading: Fromm
http://courseevaluations.yorku.ca/
Week 10
March 21, 22: Culture, Religion, and Politics
Reading: Buddhism and Meditation, World Religions, William James’ Varieties of Religious Experience.
Week 11
March 28, 29: Quiz 5 (19%)
Optional session after quiz for review of results of personality research you participated in during the course.
Week 0 (for section M)
April 4: History and Perspective
Make up session for Quizzes 3, 4, or 5 is on April 4, 2:30-3:30, in Curtis Lecture Hall H. Only students who have provided Lauren Campbell with a medical note in advance will be permitted to write a make-up quiz.
No Final Exam
Lecture Timing: Lectures will begin 5 minutes after the scheduled start time, and end at least five minutes before the scheduled end time. Lectures will have a 10 minute break somewhere near the middle.
Lecture Attendance: Lecture attendance is vital because much of the material you will be tested on is not in the readings. It is highly recommended that you exchange contact information with a few classmates at the beginning of the course for sharing notes if one of you has to miss a lecture.
Technology Regulations: Please step outside the lecture hall to call, text, or check your phones, Blackberries, and other messaging devices. Laptops are discouraged, but if you insist on using yours, then please use them for note-taking only. Using laptops during class time for other work, email, face-book, video-games, or surfing is forbidden (too distracting for you, professor, and other students). Students who use laptops typically get significantly lower grades in the class. Further, if you choose to take notes on your laptops please sit near the back of the class so that other students and I won’t be distracted by your clicking and your screen. Thanks.
Readings: Readings listed for quiz days will not be included on that day’s quiz.
Research Participation: 5% of your grade will come from participation in research directly related to the course material. The instructor and the TAs will have access to aggregated, anonymous data, only, and will not be able to match your identifying information to your responses. (A researcher who is not involved in other aspects of grading, TBA will administer your grade out of 5% for research participation). The research participation is designed to give you hands-on experience with aspects of contemporary personality research that will be discussed in lecture. You will also be given the opportunity to see where your personality scores stand in relation to those of the other students taking the course.
The research studies will be administered by the on-line SONA system and overseen by a TA dedicated to managing student research participation, TBA. If you have any questions about your research participation, you can email TBA. Most of you will have used the SONA system last year for URPP participation when you took introductory psychology at York University. You can sign up on the SONA system at http://yorku.sona-systems.com/default.asp. You must indicate that you are enrolled in one of the 2130 sections, and then you must complete the online pre-test in order to have full access to the research participation. In particular, you must complete the one question in pre-test that asks you for the last digit of your student number. Make sure to know this number when you are completing the SONA pre-test. You will see dozens of other studies that the Introductory Psychology students have access to. Please ignore those, and just complete the studies for your 2130 course that will all have titles that begin with “2130 Personality Study.” There will be 5 of these studies, Studies 1 and 5 (in lab), and Studies 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 4a, 4b that can be completed over the internet at any online computer of your convenience.
2130 Personality Study 1 (In-Lab)
2130 Personality Study 2A (Online)
2130 Personality Study 2B (Online)
2130 Personality Study 3A (Online)
2130 Personality Study 3B (Online)
2130 Personality Study 4A (Online)
2130 Personality Study 4B (Online)
2130 Personality Study 5 (In-Lab)
The lab studies are an hour long, and each of the internet studies is under 30 minutes long, for a total of 5 hours of participation. Make sure to sign up early for the lab studies to get a time for participation that suits you best. All of the studies must be completed before the deadlines indicated above. This will allow time for us to analyze the data and present your personality results to you in a review session at the end of the course.
As an alternative to research participation, students may choose to write an eight page essay (double spaced, normal font and margins) integrating course themes related to how goals relate to both classic personality theory and to contemporary research. Students wishing to take this essay option must declare their intention to do so before the start of your February 3rd or 4th lecture. Essays must be handed in before the beginning of your final, March 28th or 29th quiz.
Quizzes: Questions will be drawn from readings and lectures. 11 of the 19 marks on all quizzes will come from 22 multiple-choice questions. The other 8 will be based on two short essay answers (two double-spaced pages each). It is vital that you arrive on time for quizzes and exams because no one will be allowed to write a test once any other student has left the testing room (for security reasons). About half of the marks on quizzes 3-5 will come from questions that require some integration of key ideas from previous weeks.
Each quiz will be 55 minutes long. To do well on the quizzes it is recommended that you compose and rehearse your answers to the short essay questions ahead of time when you are studying so that you can simply reproduce your answer from memory during the quiz. Otherwise, you may find that you run out of time.
Missed Quizzes: Due to the number of students enrolled and limited administrative resources, we are able to offer make-up tests under extraordinary circumstances only (see below). If you miss a test, you will receive a grade of zero unless you comply with the following regulations:
1. You must either email Lauren Campbell <lc15@yorku.ca> (preferable) or call my secretary, Jannies Le (416-736-2100 ext. 66253), before the exam, stating why you are unable to write it.
2. Then within two days (i.e., weekdays) of the missed test you must arrange to give documentation supporting your reason for missing the test to Lauren Campbell <lc15@yorku.ca>, or to Jannies Le (Room 283 BSB).
a) If you miss a test for medical reasons, you must have a valid medical document, signed by a medical doctor. The note must explicitly state that you were *medically* unable to take the test at the scheduled time. It is not sufficient to simply have a note saying you had a doctor’s appointment.
b) If you miss a test for non-medical reasons, you still must produce supporting documentation (e.g., a relative’s death certificate or obituary notice, or a police report). Missing a test for a vacation or a work commitment is not an acceptable reason.
3. Students with valid reasons for missing an exam must be prepared to write the make-up test within one week or less of the missed test. You must contact the TA to find out the date and time for the make-up test. Again due to limited administrative resources, the TA can not accommodate individual, special requests for make-up test timing. The date and time of the make-up test will be determined by the TA.
Drop Date: If you wish to drop the course without receiving a grade, you must do so before TBA.
End of Course Requests for Grade Bump-Ups: Every year dozens of students come to me after the course is over and say something like, “I missed my B by .3%, please bump me up—my whole life depends on it!!!” Because one in six students are always in the position of missing a higher grade category by a fraction of a mark, indulging all such requests would result in unacceptable grade inflation. Accordingly, I am sorry that I will not agree to bump you up.
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