The course aims to encourage students to familiarize themselves with most common personality theories, by exploring its common ground, core arguments, and real-life evidences. Students are therefore provided with opportunity to obtain the idea how personality is measured and evaluated.
By the end of this course, students should be capable of:
- Identifying core assumptions of several notable personality theories (inner psychic and trait paradigm)
- Corroborating personality theories to the real context through text (autobiography) and scientific evidences
- Being familiar to a limited range of options to measure personality
Schedule updated 10⁄03
Reading Materials
Lecture slides
- Week 1: Defining personality
- Week 2: Research, personality testing, and human nature
- Week 3: Freud’s Psychoanalysis
- Week 4: Jung’s Psychoanalysis
- Week 5: Horney’s Feminist Psychoanalysis
- Week 6: Allport’s Trait Theory
- Week 7: Five Factor Model and HEXACO
- Week 8: Maslow’s Humanistic Approach
- Week 9: The Limited-Domain Approach
Assignments
Short essay (recalling and reconstructing): After each session, the students will be asked to write a short 100-word take on the topic that is discussed that day. Students will be given 20 minutes to write the short essay and are allowed to ask questions to the lecturers, while writing up their essay. The assignment starts on week 4.
NB: I’m aware that some of you might have difficulties in adjusting your daily life during the pandemic and it’s quite unrealistic to expect you finishing the short essay a day after the lecture. I will then ease the deadline by allowing you submitting the short essay whenever you have time, as long as by the end of this semester (Saturday, 22/05/2020 (EXTENDED)), you have completed your short essay for each topic in this course.
Click here to submit the assignment
Dream notes: Students are required to take notes of their most vivid dreams and analyze its content using Freudian theories. Dream notes is approximately 800 words and should be submitted as a final exam. The note is due on Saturday, 22/05/2020 (EXTENDED).
Click here to submit the assignment
Lecture Videos
As we moved our classes online, I decided to pre-record the lectures and posted those on YouTube. You are very welcome to finish this course at your own pace. But please be reminded that assignments deadline are fixed and non-negotiable.
Freud’s Classical Psychoanalysis (Zoom Video Conference)
Jung’s Analytical Psychoanalysis
a. Part 1: The Psychic Energy
b. Part 2: The Psyche - The Ego (1), Extra-Intraversion (2), Psychological Functions (3), Psychological Types (4), and Collective vs Personal Unconsciousness
c. Part 3: The Psyche - Complexes (6) and Archetypes (7)
d. Part 4: the personality development, individuation, and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
Karen Horney’s Feminist Psychoanalysis
a. Part 1: Basic Anxiety
b. Part 2: Neurotic Needs
c. Part 3: Neurotic Trends and Personality Types
d. Part 4: Self-Image
e. Part 5: Horney’s Feminist Views on Psychoanalysis
Trait Approach: Gordon Allport
a. Part 1: Allport’s views on Human Personality
b. Part 2: The Traits
c. Part 3: Motivations and Healthy Adult Personality
d. Part 4: 6 Criteria of Healthy Personality, Coping & Expressive Behavior, and Personality Assessments
Trait Approach: The Five Factor Model and HEXACO Model
a. The Five Factor Model
b. HEXACO Model
Humanistic Approach: Abraham Maslow
a. Part 1: Hierarchical Model of Needs
b. Part 2: Self-Actualizations
c. Part 3: Self-Determination and Personality Assessments
The Limited-Domain Approach
a. Locus of Control
b. Sensation Seeking
c. Learned-Helplessness, Explanatory Style, and Happiness
Questions
If you have any questions at all and are reluctant or hesitant to personally reach me, please do so anonymously through a Google Spreadsheet (click here). Just drop your questions there, and I will answer your questions there so other students might benefit from your questions too.
Google Classroom
If you haven’t had access to our Google Classroom page, you can use a free Gmail account (or a G-Suite/university student account) to join the class. After you’re logging in to your Gmail/G-Suite account, go to Google Classroom page and search for join class option. After that, enter the class code (cyhrwcw) and you should then be able to access the class.