270176 Theory & Research in Personality Psychology (S) (SoSe 2011)

This course provides a generally accessible overview of the major theories and research in personality psychology, beginning historically with Freud and the psychodynamic approaches, then covering Rogers’ self-psychology and the humanistic approaches (including self-actualization), temperament and trait theories (the Big Five taxonomy), Kelly’s personal-construct theory and related cognitive approaches, Pavlov’s and Skinner’s learning theories, and finally Bandura’s and Mischel’s social-cognitive theories. In addition to discussing the core ideas that define each of these approaches to personality, we will also discuss recent research studies and relevant findings (e.g., can we perceive ourselves accurately?) In addition to class time, students will also have access to a series of web exercises on personality asessment that provide hands-on experience of how personality is measured and how the various approaches are operationalized in research. Students may access these web exercises individually from their own computers and at their own time.

This course will cover the same content and the same learning components as the one that Professor John has been teaching each year to about 400 students at the University of California, Berkeley, and thus offers the students at Bielefeld University the opportunity to have the same learning experience as the students at a large research-oriented university in the US. Participation in this class would allow students to assess whether they might be interested in studying in the US and how well-prepared they are for such an exchange program (e.g., in terms of language skills). It is in this spirit of self-assessment that we will offer a mid-term exam and a final exam. Note that these are the same exams that students take at Berkeley; taking them now in Bielefeld should be helpful because such exams are the standard ways in which mastery of the course material is „tested“ in the US college system. Note that „grades“ will not be important for passing this course but may provide useful information about each student’s readiness for studying in the US. To keep costs minimal, Professor John will provide free web access to the textbook he uses for his Berkeley course „Personality: Theory and research“ (Pervin, Cervone, & John, 2005). However, some students may want to purchase their own paper copy of this book which is also widely available as a used book (e.g., try Amazon in the US).

Professor John encourages questions and class interaction. Because he has studied both in Germany and the US (he holds a German Diplom in Psychology and a US Ph.D.), he understands both the German and the US educational systems and will spend some class time explaining differences between them, answer questions about studying in the US, and generally try to serve as a resource for students interested in personality psychology and studying abroad.

Requirements for participation, required level

Der Kurs richtet sich primär an Studierende der BSc-, MSc- und Diplomstudiengänge der Psychologie, die an einer originalen und grundlegenden Veranstaltung der amerikanischen Universität Berkeley im Bereich der Persönlichkeitspsychologie teilnehmen möchten, um etwa ihren zukünftigen USA-Aufenthalt vorzubereiten, ihre Kenntnisse im Bereich der Persönlichkeitspsychologie auf den aktuellen Stand der internationalen, englischsprachigen Forschung zu bringen, oder auch nur, um ihre Englischkenntnisse zu verbessern.

Der Kurs findet im Juni 2011 als dreistündige Blockveranstaltung in Form einer Kombination von Vorlesungs-, Seminar- und Übungeinheiten an den folgenden Tagen statt:

Donnerstag, 09.06.2011
Freitag, 10. 06. 2011
Dienstag, 14. 06. – Freitag, 17. 06. 2011
Montag, 20. 06. – Mittwoch, 22. 06. 2011

Der Ort und die genaue Zeiten werden in Kürze bekanntgegeben.

Pro Tag ist eine zweistündige Lehreinheit von zwei Stunden plus einer individuellen Übung von einer Stunde geplant.

Im Falle freier Kapazitäten können Studierende aller anderer Studiengänge gerne teilnehmen, insbesondere solche, die Leistungspunkte im Rahmen ihres individuellen Ergänzungsstudiums oder aber einen Leistungsnachweis erwerben möchten.

Wünschenswerte Vorkenntnisse: Elementare Kenntnisse der Korrelationsrechnung.

Bibliography

Pervin, L. A., Cervone, D. & John, O. P. (2005). Personality: Theory and Research. 9th edition. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Link zu den Übungen:
To be announced.

Link zu den zu lesenden Texten (Textbook):
To be announced.

Die Internet-Adressen für den Zugang zum Textbook und den Personality Assessment Web Exercises werden nach der verbindlichen Anmeldung zur Veranstaltung mitgeteilt. Ihre verbindliche Anmeldung senden Sie bitte an das Sekretariat der Arbeitseinheit 4 der Abteilung Psychologie, Frau Heintze, mailto: sekretariat04@uni-bielefeld.de