Where: Logan Hall B15 (basement level)
This new course considers human individual differences, personality traits, and personality disorders. We will focus on psychometrically validated dimensional constructs that show life-course stability, cross-cultural universality, and genetic heritability – especially the ‘Big Five’ traits of openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. This course would be most appropriate for advanced undergraduates, or graduate students in psychology, biology, or anthropology who are interested in individual differences and mental health. The course will emphasize the benefits of including standard personality measures in almost all types of empirical psychology research and clinical assessment.
The course will cover:
The course readings will require about 3 hours per week outside class, and will include selections from the textbook, plus some recent journal papers – which will be available as pdf files from Centennial Science Library electronic reserves.
Required textbook:
Matthews, G., Deary, I. J., & Whiteman, M. C. (2004). Personality traits (2nd Ed.). Cambridge U. Press. [paperback c. $33 from UNM bookstore, amazon.com, half.com, etc.].
Instructors’ contact details:
Dr. Geoffrey Miller, Assistant Professor
Psychology, Logan Hall 160
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-1161, USA
(505) 277-1967 (office)
(505) 277-1394 (dept fax)
http://www.unm.edu/~psych/faculty/gmiller.html
Office hours: Wednesdays, 11 am to noon, Logan Hall 160
If you can’t make office hours and you have a question, please call or email.
o 10% for provisional abstract, outline, and bibliography due February 14
o 20% for revised abstract, detailed outline, and revised bibliography due March 21
o 30% for final draft due May 2 (last day of class)
Each week we will read and discuss material from the textbook, journal papers, and/or other book chapters. Please do not take this course if you cannot commit an average of two or three hours a week to the readings. The course’s educational benefits depend on you doing the readings on time, so you can follow and participate in the class discussion. If you don’t read them, you won’t learn much; if you do read them attentively, you’ll learn a lot. I expect all of each week’s required readings to be completed well before class, so you have time to digest them, think about them, compare and contrast them, and prepare intelligent comments and questions about them. Last-minute reading will not result in good comprehension or good in-class discussion.
One week before each reading is due to be discussed, I will ask 2 to 4 student volunteers to each prepare a one-page set of notes, comments, and questions concerning that reading. I expect each student to volunteer for several such reading analyses throughout the semester. The quality of these analyses will form a substantial portion of your class participation grade, which is 40% of your final course grade.
When it is your week to present a reading, please bring enough copies of your one-page analysis to distribute to everyone else in the class. Assume that the other students have read the paper thoroughly and attentively, and want to know what you think of it. These analyses will serve to initiate class discussion of that reading.
The one-page analyses should have your name at the top, the date, and the APA-format reference for each reading as the header for your comments on that reading. Use numbered lists to identify your specific notes, comments, and questions under each reading. Please make at least three or four substantive comments on each reading – not simply summarizing the reading’s main points, but offering some sort of critical analysis of the reading’s ideas, or comparison to other readings, etc.
This three-step writing assignment determines 60% of your course grade. You can choose any topic related to the course content and course readings. The final paper should be about 4,000 to 6,000 words, plus references. I care more about clarity, insight, research, and the flow of argument than about length per se.
Please plan to submit the final draft in standard APA (American Psychological Association) research paper format. This means computer-printed, double-spaced, single-sided, in 12 point Arial (preferably) or Times Roman font, with a proper title page, abstract, references, and page numbering. Consult the APA Publication Manual (4th Edition) for more details.
My goal is for you to produce a paper that you could turn around and submit to a decent journal as a review or commentary piece to improve your C.V., and that you would be proud to submit in an application for a post-doc, tenure-track job, or clinical internship.
You’ll get extra credit if you actually submit the term paper for publication in a reputable journal. Please provide a copy of your submission cover letter.
To make sure that you are thinking, researching, and writing the paper on a good schedule throughout the semester, I require the following:
1. February 14: Provisional abstract, outline, and bibliography due. A provisional topic statement/abstract (one paragraph), provisional outline of paper (about a page), and provisional bibliography.
The bibliography should list about 10 to 20 references (not all from the syllabus here!), that you have actually read, with brief notes about their relevance to your paper. In the abstract, just let me know what you think you’ll probably write about. If you change your mind, no problem, just tell me in an email later. But I want you to have some topic in mind by this date. Pick a topic that you feel passionate about – you’ll have to live with it for several months! This topic statement/outline will determine 10% of the course grade. Late submissions will be penalized.
After you submit this outline and bibliography, come to our office hours at least once for my feedback. This is very important; I will try to make sure your paper looks viable and will try to give you some useful suggestions and references
2. March 21: Revised abstract, detailed outline, and revised, annotated bibliography due.
This should be a revised abstract based on our discussion of your topic’s viability, plus a much more detailed outline of your term paper, clearly showing its planned structure, and a revised, more complete bibliography. The outline should be a few pages long, and each outline entry should be a clear, detailed, specific statement, not just a short, vague phrase. The flow of your paper’s argument should be apparent.
In the annotated bibliography, use standard APA reference format, and please note each reference’s relevance to your topic. A good annotation would be “This critically reviews 18 recent studies of domain-specific disgust effects, emphasizing the similarities between social disgust and cheater-detection, and between pathogen-avoidance disgust and nausea.” A bad outline entry would be “Reviews disgust research”.
After I get this outline, I will write comments and suggestions on it and return it to you as soon as I can. This should allow you to submit a really good final draft, and I hope it will help you improve your writing generally. Late submissions will be penalized.
3. May 2 (last day of class): Final term paper due.
This should be a highly polished document in correct format with no spelling or grammatical errors. It should represent the culmination of three months of research, thinking, and writing about a topic that passionately interests you. I will try to grade final drafts by the last day of exams. You will get extra credit for your term paper if you present documentary evidence (e.g. copy of an acknowledgement letter or email) that you have submitted it to a reputable journal.
Structure of the term paper: The ideal paper would include the following elements:
1: Jan 17 Introduction to the course
Matthews Ch. 1 (all), pp. 3-38: Introduction to personality traits (36 pp)
2: Jan 24 Introduction to personality traits
Matthews Ch. 11 (all), pp. 294-324: Introduction to personality disorders (31 pp)
Saulsman, L. M., & Page, A. C. (2004). The five-factor model and personality disorder empirical literature: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 23 (8), 1055-1085. (27 pp text)
3: Jan 31 Introduction to personality disorders
Read before class:
Matthews Ch. 6 (all), pp. 135-165: Genetics of personality (31 pp)
4: Feb 7 Genetics of personality traits
Matthews Ch. 3 (all), pp. 58-76: Trait stability across life (19 pp)
Matthews Ch. 4 (all), pp. 77-111: Stable traits and transient states (35 pp)
5: Feb 14 Stable traits vs. transient states
(Valentine’s day!)
Read before class:
Matthews Ch. 2 (all), pp. 39-52: Persons & situations (14 pp)
Matthews Ch. 8 (part), pp. 204-210, 227-237: Social psychology of personality (18 pp)
Miller, G. F. (in press). Sexual selection for moral virtues. Quarterly Review of Biology. (23 pp text)
6: Feb 21 The social and moral psychology of personality
Matthews Ch. 2 (all), pp. 52-57: Cross-cultural universals (5 pp)
Costa, P. T., Terracciano, A., & McCrae, R. R. (2001). Gender differences in personality traits across cultures: Robust and surprising findings. J. of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(2), 322-331. (9 pp text)
7: Feb 28 Personality, culture, and sex differences
Matthews Ch. 10 (all), pp. 273-293: Personality and health (20 pp)
8: March 7 Personality, stress, and physical health
(Spring Break March 12-16: No UNM classes)
9: March 21 Dimensional vs. categorical models of personality disorders
Kendler, K. S., et al. (2006). Dimensional representations of DSM-IV Cluster A personality disorders in a population-based sample of Norwegian twins: a multivariate study. Psychological Medicine, 36(11), 1583-1591. (8 pp text)
Shaner, A., Miller, G. F., & Mintz, J. (2004). Schizophrenia as one extreme of a sexually selected fitness indicator. Schizophrenia Research, 70(1), 101-109. (9 pp)
Nettle, D., & Clegg, H. (2006). Schizotypy, creativity, and mating success in humans. Proc. Royal Soc. London B, 273(1586), 611-615. (5 pp)
Hare, R. F. (2006). Psychopathy: A clinical and forensic overview. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 29(3), 709-724. (13 pp text)
Raine, A. (2002). Biosocial studies of antisocial and violent behavior in children and adults: A review. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 30(4), 311-326. (13 pp text)
Cale, E. M., & Lilienfeld, S. O. (2002). Histrionic personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder: Sex-differentiated manifestations of psychopathy? J. of Personality Disorders, 16(1), 52-72. (18 pp text)
11: April 4 Antisocial Personality Disorder I
Fazel, S., & Danesh, J. (2002). Serious mental disorders in 23,000 prisoners: A systematic review of 62 surveys. Lancet, 359(9306), 545-550. (5 pp text)
Troisi, A. (2005). The concept of alternative strategies and its relevance to psychiatry and clinical psychology. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 29(1), 159-168. (8 pp text)
Carey, G., & Gottesman, I. (2006). Genes and antisocial behavior: Perceived versus real threats to jurisprudence. J. of Law, Medicine, and Ethics, 34(2), 342-352. (9 pp text)
Sapolsky, R. M. (2004). The frontal cortex and the criminal justice system. Phil. Transactions Royal Soc. London B, 359(1451), 1787-1796. (8 pp text)
12: April 11 Antisocial Personality Disorder II
Baumeister, R. F., et al. (2003). Does high self-esteem cause better performance, interpersonal success, happiness, or healthier lifestyles? Psychological Science, Supplement, 1-44 (39 pp text).
Vazire, S., & Funder, D. C. (2006). Impulsivity and the self-defeating behavior of narcissists. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10(2), 154-165. (10 pp text)
Foster, J. D., Shrira, I., & Campbell, W. K. (2006). Theoretical models of narcissism, sexuality, and relationship commitment. J. of Social and Personal Relationships, 23(3), 367-386. (18 pp text)
13: April 18 Narcissistic Personality Disorder
14: April 25 Borderline Personality Disorder
Matthews Ch. 13 (all), pp. 357-390: Personality assessment (34 pp)
Judge, T. A., Heller, D., Mount, M. K. (2002). Five-factor model of personality and job satisfaction: A meta-analysis. J. of Applied Psychology, 87(3): 530-541. (7 pp text).
Ozer, D. J., & Benet-Martinez, V. (2006). Personality and the prediction of consequential outcomes. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 401-421. (16 pp text)
15: May 2 Assessment and prediction
(last class; no exams)