Overview
This course is intended to introduce students to both the foundations (theory) and findings (research) of personality psychology. This course is evidence-based, focusing on what psychologists have discovered about human personality. The course will provide a broad overview of the various domains or perspectives of personality research including dispositional, biological, intrapsychic, cognitive, social/cultural and adjustment domains. This course will also introduce students to personality assessment and re-search methods. Most importantly, there will be a focus on cutting edge research and developments in the understanding of personality, such as the widely accepted "Big Five" approach and gender differences in personality.
Learning Outcomes
- Identify key concepts and commonalities within the six major domains or schools of thought in understanding personality. Through doing this, students will appreciate the complexity of these different approaches.
- Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to understanding personality for describing individual differences in behaviour.
- Compare and contrast the utility of personality concepts and methods based on empirical research literature.
- Describe the scientific approach to personality, and differentiate empirically supported tools for personality assessment from “pop” psychology approaches.
- Debunk common myths about personality disorders and critically evaluate how these disorders are defined.