Introduction to Personality

(85-251)

•  I N T R O D U C T I O N O F C O U R S E S TA F F
•  C O U R S E C O N T E N T
•  L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E S
•  T E X T B O O K
•  S T U D E N T R E S P O N S E S Y S T E M ( C L I C K E R S )
•  T E S T S / AT T E N D A N C E / E X T R A C R E D I T
•  S U M M A R Y O F G R A D I N G P R O C E S S
•  S E L F - A S S E S S M E N T
•  C O U R S E P O L I C Y A N D P R O C E D U R E S
•  R E S O U R C E S E X T E R N A L T O C L A S S
•  I M P O R TA N T D AT E S
 Introductions

!  Instructor: Michael Scheier

!  Grad TA: Charles Wu

!  Undergrad TA’s: Christine Kim/Ida Chow/Zeyneb

Majid

!  Graders: Chloe Kwon/Toni Miller/Yoobin Chee

 Course Content

!  Personality psychology = study of human uniqueness and

identity
!  Capture the structure that characterizes personality
!  The intrapersonal processes that drive it
!  Will consider personality from several different vantage
points or perspectives
!  Trait (dispositional) Psychosocial
!  Motive Learning
!  Evolutionary Humanistic/Phenomenological
!  Biological Cognitive
!  Psychoanalytic Self-regulation
!  Explicit attempt to integrate theory and research (in
textbook and class presentations)
 Course Content

!  Recurring Question: How does personality connect

to physical health
!  Who stays healthy and who doesn’t
!  Who lives and who dies

!  Beginning level class—no prior knowledge

!  Primarily lecture—some demonstrations and class
participation
!  Provisions to assess your own personality
!  There is a Canvas site devoted to the class
!  Class information found there
!  Updates/changes posted there
 What This Course Is Not

!  Not a course on abnormal or clinical psychology

!  But topics covered will have implications for problems in
behavior
!  Some sections will have more to say than others

!  Not a self-help course

!  But topics covered will have implications for issues that may
assist students manage their lives more successfully
!  Real focus is on “normal” personality and personality
functioning
!  More empirically based than what might have been the case in
last few years
 Learning Objectives

!  Define personality
!  Describe how psychologists think about personality,
measure it, and do research in the area (will show
data tables from original articles throughout)
!  Identify and explain the features the characterize the
major perspectives that organize current theories of
personality
!  Describe and explain the major theories of
personality and personality functioning
!  Communicate what is known about personality
research to others
 Learning Objectives

!  Understand some of the origins of personality

!  Evaluate evidence that links personality
characteristics and functioning to physical health
(e.g. mortality)
!  Apply theories of personality to inform a more
complete understanding of human behavior
!  Identify some of your own personality characteristics
and understand how they might impact your
experience the world
 PowerPoint Lecture Slides

!  Michael Bridges

!  Erin Dunne

!  Connection to me and the course

 Textbook (Required)

!  Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. (2018). Perspectives

on personality (8th Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Pearson Education

!  Print versus eBook

!  7th versus 8th edition

 Student Response System (Required)

!  Student response system (i.e., clickers) will be used on

regular basis in class
!  Buy at bookstore (don’t need advanced clicker)
!  Need to register your clickers to get credit for responding
!  Go to: https://www1.iclicker.com/register-clicker/
!  Enter name/Andrew ID
!  Remote ID number (found on clicker)
!  $7 fee to register
!  Bring to class everyday (won’t get credit for attendance without it)
!  App for iPhone for clicker DOES NOT work
!  If response received, green light will come on
 Grades

!  Tests
!  4 non-cumulative equally weighted tests
"  Can reintroduce material if mentioned again in class
!  Tests roughly evenly distributed (longer 1st part)
!  Nature of questions
"  Mainly multiple choice/true false
"  Some short answer questions
"  Will get choice (e.g., ask 5 questions need to answer 4)
 Grades

!  Optional final
!  If happy with scores on 4 tests, don’t need to take

!  If not, can take final

"  Cumulative (entire semester covered)
"  Can use score on final to replace your lowest semester score
"  Same format as regular tests during semester
"  Same scoring procedure

!  Given during regularly scheduled final time

 Grades

!  Grading tests
!  Uses percentage wrong, adjusted for class performance

!  Each test worth 100 points

!  Top score is used to curve test

"  Differencecomputed between top score and 100
"  That amount is added to each person’s test score
"  Using these adjusted grades: 100—90 A, 89—80 B, 79—70 C, 69
—60 D, 59 and below R
!  Overall test grade computed by adding scores and cutoffs
together across 4 tests
!  Reserve right to use different scoring system, if class
performance is poor
 Grades

!  Class attendance (required)

!  Will use clickers to determine class attendance
!  15 randomly selected “attendance” days
!  On attendance day will ask at least 1 question

!  No clicker, no response, not in class

!  May ask more questions during class

!  Need to answer 75% of questions to be marked as present

!  Can miss 2 classes without penalty

!  Miss 3 or more and get 3 points deducted from final
grade for each class over 2 that you miss
 Grades

!  Extra credit (optional)

!  Important goal to apply knowledge to understand world
!  Earn extra credit through personality log
!  Template for log and example entry on Canvas
!  Use log to document interesting happenings in the world to which the
course relates
!  Each entry
"  Date of observation
"  What happened
"  How it relates to course content (be specific)

!  Extra credit for up to 5 episodes each test period (1 point

for each episode)
!  Printed copies of log handed in on day test is
administered
 Grades

!  Missing class
!  You’re responsible for class material, including announcements

!  If you miss class

"  Download class notes from Canvas (more later)
"  Get notes from friend in class
"  See TA if something not clear (we won’t review entire lecture)

!  Missing tests
!  If you must miss a test, need to notify instructor ahead of time
(unless emergency makes that impossible)
!  Must provide documentation of conflict conflict

!  Make-up will consist of only objective questions, which will be

used to impute overall score
 Grades

!  Summary of grading

!  4 tests plus optional final (400 points)

!  Attendance (from zero to 39 points deducted from test score)

!  Extra credit (up to 20 extra credit points added to test score)

!  Updates will be posted on Canvas after each testing

period
 Research Participation Requirement

!  If haven’t fulfilled requirement previously, need to

complete research participation requirement

!  Failure to complete results in incomplete for course

!  Designed to help better understand material in class

!  More about this in class: Tuesday, Jan 23, please

plan to attend
 Self-Assessment (Strongly Recommended)

!  Self-assessment provision: Provides opportunity to

assess (15) aspects of your own personality
!  Will provide information about the nature of your own
personality characteristics/tendencies
!  Help you understand course content

!  Assessment known only to you, not to other students

or instructor (REMEMBER YOUR SELF-
GENERATED CODE)
!  Access self-assessment packet and get feedback on
your scores via Self-Assessment Module in Canvas
!  Feedback tab not posted yet
 Self-Assessment (Strongly Recommended)

!  Need to complete by Tuesday, Jan 30

!  Will have 1 week to complete once you start
!  Qualtrics program will automatically save your work
and allow you to continue when you go back online
!  Must use same computer for all the work
!  Self-assessment will take about 45 to 60 minutes to
complete
!  Please only complete if you are interested
!  Other student responses will provide context to interpret individual
responses
!  REMEMBER YOUR SELF-GENERATED CODE NUMBER
 Course Policy
(What I Expect of You)

!  Attend class and arrive on time (you are responsible for

all material presented in class (including announcements
made)

!  Pay attention in class, ask questions, and take notes

!  Be tolerant of the questions that other students ask and

ask your questions in good faith (don’t try to be
disruptive)

!  Read assigned material before class

 Course Policy
(What I Expect of You)

!  Contact me or the TAs if you need help

!  Contact me or the TAs immediately if you anticipate

missing or have missed a test

!  Not to use a laptop, cell phone, or other electronic

device during class (you can use them during class
break). LAPTOP COMPUTERS/IPADS/TABLETS
ARE NOT PERMITTED IN CLASS
 Why Computers are Bad for Note Taking

!  They make it tempting to do other things which are

distracting
!  Email
!  Look this up on web

!  Research shows that using laptop to take notes

leads top poorer learning
Why Computers are Bad for Note Taking
 Lecture Notes on Canvas

!  A skeleton outline of lecture notes posted on Canvas in

“Lecture Outline” module
!  Notes will provide framework to which you can add your
own modifications/elaborations/summaries
!  Graphs/tables might be presented depending how
complex they are
!  Contains information about concepts/issues that I think is
important
!  Your responsibility to format and print notes out, bring to
class, and use to aid in note taking
!  Meant to facilitate note taking, not replace it
!  Lecture notes will correspond to assigned chapters
!  Will be posted a few days prior to when notes are needed for class
 Course Policy
(What You Can Expect From Me)

!  Provide skeleton outline for note taking

!  Start and stop class on time
!  Provide a brief 3-5 minute break during class
!  Give exams that reflect the class lectures and text
!  Grade and return tests within 1 week (unless there is
an intervening school holiday)
!  Provide feedback on exams
!  Respond to email within 24 hours unless I am out of
town
!  Be generally available to discuss any aspect of the
course or other matters as you might wish
 Odds and Ends

!  You are bound by CMU’s standards of academic

integrity: http://www.cmu.edu/academic-integrity/
!  Examples of cheating:
"  Using someone’s clicker to respond in her/his absence is cheating
"  Using someone else’s work on tests, providing answers to someone
else is cheating
"  Using someone else’s personality log for extra credit

!  Minimum penalty for cheating on test: Zero on test/one

grade reduction on final course grade
!  Recording of class: Not allowed without my permission
!  Equal Opportunity Accommodations: Need to contact me
and staff at Disabilities Resources Office:
access@andrew.cmu.edu
 Resources External to Class

!  Take care of yourself (and I will try to do the same)

!  If you are experiencing psychological distress:
!  Contact me/or one of the TA’s
!  Contact Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS)
"  412-268-2922
"  http://www.cmu.edu/counseling/

!  If you are feeling suicidal:

!  Go to the ER
!  Use one of following resources:
"  Diagnostic Emergency Center (DEC) at Western Psychiatric Institute
and Clinic: 412-624-2000. The clinic is located at 3811 O'Hara St.
"  re:solve Crisis Network (24/7): 1-888-796-8226
"  Carnegie Mellon University Police: 412-268-2323
Important Dates