PSYCH 311 – Theories of Personality

DETAILS Semester-hour credits: 3 Tuition: $448.50 Methods: DESCRIPTION The purpose of the course is to provide a general understanding of the major personality theories that are fundamental to psychology. You will be covering nine personality theories in this course. These theories can be useful tools in helping you understand not only yourself better, but also the lives of those around you as well as humanity more generally. A major objective of the course is to enhance critical thinking skills as well as written communication skills. In an attempt to meet these objectives (as well as make learning about theories as engaging as possible), you will be asked to bridge the gap from theory to application in several short writing assignments. You will be writing a variety of short papers in which you will: Provide your opinion on the building blocks of personality theory Apply theories through case studies of hypothetical lives Apply theories to your life and to humanity more generally Compare and contrast two of the three major perspectives in psychology REQUIRED MATERIALS & TEXTBOOKS Feist, J. & Feist, G. J. (2002). Theories of Personality 6th Edition. McGraw-Hill: Boston. COURSE REQUIREMENTS Two Exams: Both exams will cover 5 chapters. Both exams will be all objective (multiple-choice and maybe some true/false questions). You will be allowed 90 minutes to complete each exam. The exams are closed book and require a proctor. Written Assignments: The writing assignments serve multiple goals. One purpose is to assess college level writing ability. Another purpose of the writing assignments is to assist you in your comprehension of the material. You will be given a number of different types of writing assignments, hopefully keeping them interesting. Several will ask for your own personal perspective. Lastly, the writing assignments should also help you become better prepared for the exams, as you will be utilizing critical thinking skills to answer the questions provided. DISCLAIMER: Tuition, credits, medium, description, instructors, books, materials, homework assignments, grading scale, and availability are subject to change without notice. For the most up-to-date status, please contact the Continuing Education staff.