The primary purpose of personality psychology is to understand human uniqueness--how and why it is that one person differs from others, in terms of the ways he or she thinks, feels, and acts. Students in the course will be exposed to several broad theoretical perspectives, each of which attempts to capture and understand the origins and consequences of individual distinctiveness from a slightly different vantage point. Included among these approaches are the dispositional, psychoanalytic, learning, phenomenological, and cognitive self regulation perspectives. This is a survey course and is intended to provide students with a broad background of theory and research in the area. Class meetings consist primarily of lecture, but there is some discussion too. In addition, classroom exercises will allow students to test their own personalities.
