Draft dated 2016-01-11; please see cuLearn for possible updatesp.1PSYC 5601:Contemporary Research in Personality

Abstract

This course will provide a survey of current personality research and theorywith an emphasis on recent discussions around methods and scientific reporting. We will consider recent accomplishments, questions, and controversies in personality psychology. This includes significant breadth, but given the potential scope,cannot be comprehensive. We will touch on prominent approaches in personality (i.e., traits, goals, motives, emotions, the self, the unconscious, genetics, physiology, culture, evolution, development and change, etc.). I believe the course content will berelevant to most psychology students, and I encourage students to bring their own lines of research to the course for discussion. There are individual differences in almost everything, and personality is also concerned with how psychological processes ‘come together’ within people. Beyond personality content, it is critical to understand the methods used to generate knowledge about personality. In recent years, meta-research method issues (e.g., reproducibility, open science, etc.) have yielded provocative findings, vigorous discussion, and innovations. This movement will comprise another major theme for the course in 2016. Readings and activities will provide tools that will help you improve your own research practices, and to better interpret the evidencein published reports. The standards, requirements, and values of publishing high quality research in psychology are changing quickly, and we will engage with the very latest developments in ways that will likely increase the quality and impact of your ownwork. We will also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of potential reforms to the way psychologists (and other scientists) conduct and report on research.