PERSONALITY THEORY (PSY 211) – ONLINE COURSE

The case study should be one page, single-spaced and must apply concepts from the unit 7 to explain the behavior of a person in a manner similar to that required in the term paper.

TEXT BOOK: Friedman & Schustack, Personality: Classic theories and modern research. Sixth edition. Pearson.

Be careful about using fictional characters for your case studies. Many fictional characters are deliberately written to be unrealistic, contradictory and complex for dramatic purposes, which can make them very difficult to explain.

PLEASE DO NOT USE OUTSIDE SOURCES BESIDES THE REQUIRED TEXT BOOK

A common application of personality theory is a case study of a single individual that applies one or more theoretical views to understanding a person. A good case study explains the causes of a person’s current behavior, makes predictions about their future behavior, and provides the information required for interventions designed to change the person. For example, a case study may be used to assist psychotherapy, personnel decisions, legal decisions, educational placements, etc.

For this assignment, you will write a brief case study that addresses the issues below.

The case study should be one page in which you apply some of the concepts from this unit to explain the behavior of a person you know, or someone you know about (historic or fictional characters are acceptable). This paragraph should:

1) Describe an important example of the person’s attitudes or behavior, which defines his/her personality.

2) Describe exactly how certain concepts from one of the theories for this unit explain the creation of the person’s attitudes and/or behavior described above. Highlight the key terms for the concepts used in your explanation.

3) Based on the concepts above, predict how the person’s attitudes and/or behavior will or will not change over time, and explain your expectation.

4) Apply research evidence to evaluate the strengths and/or weaknesses of the theory in explaining the person’s attitudes or behavior. Cite and describe a particular study from the text that provides scientific evidence, and explain how it supports or refutes the explanation above. You may need to find a study outside the text, such as those posted in some of the Canvas modules.

5) Describe how the explanation of the case above differs from that of another theory covered in another text chapter. Also, describe how the explanation is similar to that of another theory in another chapter. Explain how this second theory explains something not explained, or not explained as well by the first theory used above.