I am teaching Personality for the first time this semester at a rural community college. I asked similar questions about the value of spending a lot of time on older theories. The textbook I am using doesn’t help much, throwing in theory after theory in just one chapter. I would love to hear what some authors of textbooks think.
What seems important to me at this point is: What do students need to know to be well-rounded? What do they need to know to understand themselves? What they need to know to understand the rest of the world? The history of personality is full of fascinating theories. To know a field it is useful to understand the origins, of course. Freudian, Jungian, and Object Relations theories still influence current thinking in therapy, policy, and public discourse. A historical overview is useful for seeing the range of aspects of personality, each one gets at a piece of the construct. Students begin to see all the various ways we can catalog individual difference. My personal take on what remains relevant follows: Cross-cultural views. Issues of generalizability. Views of the self. Situational/Interactionist views Mischel Humanistic/existential theories Allow a conversation about meaning and purpose and segue into Positive psychology constructs (Diener, Seligmann). Cognitive processes How we become who we are and how we understand ourselves and others. This can be broadened to include motivation and needs theories as well as Kahneman (fast and slow), Dweck (self-theories, mindset), Biology/evolution Brain structure, neurochemistry, behavioral genetics, temperament, mating behavior. Assessment What are the different ways we do this? What validity do they have? Trait: Big Five Is this really a theory of personality? Validity? It’s like prunes, “Is four enough, six too many?” (for those who don’t know this reference see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaD4qT_wNIk) How it is being used, Interpersonal perception testing. Finally discussing criteria for judging a theory help with critical thinking. Clinical value, Comprehensiveness, precision, etc. Steve Steven Hall Butte College Oroville, CA [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=43434 or send a blank email to leave-43434-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
