Psychology of Personality, Psychology 4456

Psychology of Personality, Psychology 4456

Dr. Schwartz, Fall 2011

Optional Term Paper Assignment

The following is an outline designed to help you complete your optional term paper for Psychology of Personality, Psych 4456. Please read it carefully and approach me with questions as they arise.

1.  This paper is OPTIONAL.

2.  Papers are worth 15% of your grade. If you choose to do this term paper, the grade you receive on this paper will replace your lowest midterm exam score. If you choose to do the paper you MUST replace one of your exam grades with the grade on this paper even if your grade on this paper is lower than both of your exam scores.

3.  Papers should be about 5 - 8 pages long. Students in the past have lost points because they have not included sufficient detail and information to demonstrate their knowledge of the material. When writing an academic paper it is necessary to define terms.

4.  Papers must be typed. Papers must be turned in as a hard copy. Do not send your paper as an attachment to an email. Handwritten papers will not be accepted.

5.  Papers are due on Tuesday, November 15 at the start of class. You are welcome to turn your paper in early, but you will not be allowed to hand it in late without a 5 point penalty for each day late. I will only give extensions on the paper for dire emergencies (illness, death in the family, etc.). If you experience an emergency contact me as soon as possible after the emergency to set up an extension date. I will be very unlikely to grant an extension if you approach me shortly before or after the due date. If you anticipate difficulty completing the paper on time, please discuss your options with me as much in advance of the due date as is possible given the circumstances. Papers turned in after the start of class on November 15 are late. No papers will be accepted after Friday, November 18. Your paper will be graded by the teaching assistant.

6.  Please choose one of the following autobiographies to read and critique for your

paper:

(a)  Angelou, Maya. (1970). I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. New York: Random House Inc.

(b)  Baker, Russel. (1984). Growing Up. New York: Penguin Books, Ltd.

7.  Please select one personality theory covered in class through which to understand the autobiography of your choice. The point of this assignment is to allow personality theories to become less abstract and to become tools for understanding people. The aim of the assignment is to apply theoretical material to the understanding of specific individual lives.

8.  Your paper should relate a personality theory covered in class to significant aspects of the individual in the autobiography. Be sure to include key features of the theory and apply them to the life of the individual you are analyzing. Some potential questions you might want to think about for each of the following theories include:

a.  Psychoanalytic (Freud): Consider the psychosexual stages of development. Did this person experience over- or under-gratification at any particular stage that has resulted in difficulty resolving the conflicts at this stage? How might this developmental difficulty: (a) explain the resulting personality traits of the adolescent/adult or (b) affect the relative strengths of the id, ego, and superego? In addition, consider the roles of the conscious/unconscious and instincts in this person’s life.

b.  Neo-Freudian perspective (Horney): What developmental factors have contributed to the individual’s experience of basic anxiety? Has the individual coped with basic anxiety using any of the three neurotic trends described by Horney? To what extent do the real and idealized selves coincide with one another? Is there evidence that this individual suffers from the tyranny of the shoulds?

c.  Phenomenological (Rogers): Consider the development of the individual. Were his or her needs for unconditional positive regard met? What have the consequences been for the adolescent/adult based on whether or not these needs were met? To what extent is the individual congruent—does the individual’s self-concept accurately reflect his or her actual experiences? Consider the extent to which the individual is motivated to self-actualize and evaluate whether or not he or she can be characterized as self-actualized.

d.  Trait theory (Costa, McCrae) : Identify one or two traits that most strongly characterize the personality you are studying. You could also choose to place your individual on all five of the “Big Five” personality dimensions and give evidence for each. Consider the development of the big 5 factors in this individual. Have certain environmental factors helped to strengthen trait predispositions that were present early in life? Has this person’s initial predispositions influenced the kinds of environments he or she has chosen?

e.  Learning Theory (Skinner): Describe some aspects of the personality that have been influenced by environmental contingencies. Explain this influence, and speculate about how the personality might have been different if the environment had been different.

f.  Cognitive Theory (Kelly): Describe some of the individual’s core constructs. In what ways are the individual’s constructs based on past experiences? How do the individual’s constructs influence his or her predictions about future events and his or her reactions to those events? Describe the formation of new constructs or significant changes that occur in the constructs of your individual. What events or circumstances contribute to such changes.

g.  Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura): Describe the individual’s self-efficacy expectations in important situations. How do these expectations influence his/her behavior in these situations? What factors influenced the development of these self-efficacy expectations? Consider your character’s evaluative standards. How do they influence his/her behavior and feelings and what factors influenced the development of these standards? Describe the role of observational learning and important models in your character’s life.

9.  There are five general criteria that will guide the grading of your paper.

a.  Thoroughness of the theory as you apply it to the individual. I’d like to see you cover several of the key aspects of the theory as you try to understand the personality in the autobiography. Please see the potential questions listed in item 8 (above) to get an idea of the kind of breadth that your paper should include. A good paper will address most, if not all, of the aspects of the theory discussed in class.

b.  Connections made between different aspects of the theory. Not only should your paper be thorough but it should also be internally consistent. For example, if you are using Freud’s theory and argue that your character was underindulged during the phallic stage, this will have implications for adult personality characteristics and the relative strength of the superego. Do not make arguments about different aspects of the theory that contradict each other.

c.  Use of specific examples to support your ideas. For each aspect of the theory, you must support your claims with specific examples from the text. If you use quotes (which you probably will) be sure to follow your use of any quote with a description in your own words of why this quote is meaningful and how it supports your claim. Whether or not you use a direct quote, please give page numbers from the text for each example you use.

d.  The examples you use to illustrate aspects of the theory must be appropriate, accurate, and explained in detail. That is, if the example you use to illustrate a concept is not directly related to the concept, is not a good example of the concept, or is vaguely described your grade will suffer.

e.  Your paper should attempt not only to describe the individual in terms of your chosen personality theory but should also help explain why that individual is the way he or she is. For example, if you choose to describe an individual in terms of one of Horney’s neurotic trends don’t only describe why this individual fits that trend but also explain why he or she developed that trend (for example, consider his or her past experiences with caretakers).

10.  In general, grading of term papers is stringent. If you are getting “A’s” on the midterm exams that doesn’t necessarily mean you will get an “A” on the term paper. Writing a term paper requires very different skills, and usually a good bit more work, than studying for a multiple-choice exam.

11.  The teaching assistant grades the final papers. If you would like my input during the paper process you are more than welcome to talk to me about your paper ideas while you are formulating them or writing a draft of your paper. However, I do not grade any of the final papers.

12.  Be careful not to engage in plagiarism. Plagiarism is a violation of the academic integrity policy of this institution. According to the Honor Code Booklet, plagiarism is defined as, “portrayal of another’s work or ideas as one’s own.” (p. 9). This means that you must be careful to cite any outside sources that you use in your paper, including the text book or information you obtain from the internet. Any time you copy exactly a set of words from an outside source you must use quotations around the copied text and cite the source and page number. As stated in the honor code, students should be aware that their term papers may be evaluated, at the discretion of the teaching assistant or instructor, through TurnItIn, a plagiarism service, and that this service retains a copy of the submitted work for future comparisons. Students who are found to be in violation of the academic integrity policy will be subject to both academic sanctions from the faculty member and non-academic sanctions (including but not limited to university probation, suspension, or expulsion).

13.  Please read the following four portions selected from outstanding student papers done in previous semesters to get an idea of what would make a good paper. Note that any theory may be used with either of the books, and these are only a few of many possible interpretations.

Theory: 5 factor - Costa and McCrae Book: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

The final factor in Costa and McCrae’s theory is openness to experience, which has also been linked to a measure of intelligence. Words used in developing the idea of openness include fantasy, aesthetics, feelings, ideas, actions, and values (Personality, 261). Maya would rate very high on openness. She is unquestionably extremely intelligent and well read, but, moreover, is very imaginative, and she rarely keeps herself from a new experience when one is offered to her. The most descriptive example of Maya’s openness is her encounter with the junkyard commune. Faced with a prospect that would wither most people of Maya’s age—sheer aloneness—she instead forges an experience unlike that which most young people could ever have. She leaps into the world and never looks back.

“After a month my thinking processes had so changed that I was hardly recognizable to myself. The unquestionable acceptance of my peers had dislodged my familiar insecurity…I was never again to sense myself so solidly outside the pale of the human race. The lack of criticism evidenced by our ad hoc community influenced me, and set a tone of tolerance for my life.” (Angelou, 254)

Maya says it best in her own words; she allows herself to be exposed to an overwhelmingly significant experience, and the freedom of thought this openness brings ensures a similar reaction to future opportunities.

Theory: Psychoanalytic - Freud Book: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Maya also felt inadequate and believed she would have been better off with a penis in competing with Bailey for their mother’s warmth. Bailey was also in the phallic stage at the same time as Maya and saturated himself in the Oedipus complex. Maya believed that her mother was “too beautiful to have children. I had never seen a woman as pretty as she who was called ‘Mother.’ Bailey on his part fell instantly and forever in love…he had forgotten the loneliness and the nights when we had cried together because we were ‘unwanted children’” (Angelou 60). As a result of Maya not having a penis, she had been “left out of their power/love struggles. It would be more correct to say that since neither needed a claque I was forgotten on the sidelines” (Angelou 258). Freud believed that “around age four, children show…increased antagonism toward the parent of the same sex” (Pervin 104), but that the behaviors diminished around age six. Maya had elevated animosity toward her mother for not providing Maya with a penis and for offering more love to Bailey, who did have a penis.

Theory: Carl Rogers Book: Growing Up

The other basic need people have according to Rogers is positive self-regard. This is the feeling of love and respect toward oneself. Russel appeared to have little positive self-regard. He generally thought of himself as timid and unsuccessful. After writing a full novel Russel threw it away and decided it was only useful for practicing typing (p. 328). He did not provide himself with any support in his efforts to become a writer and rather threw his work away as worthless. Furthermore, he did not see himself as worthy of many things. When his mother brought him a new suit he said, "We can't afford it." (p. 203). Russel did not feel he is worth spending a good deal of money on. Rogers stated that positive self-regard is generally supported by receiving unconditional positive regard earlier in life. Therefore, Russel's lack of positive self regard may have been due to his mother's conditional love in his childhood.