Purpose
Personality refers to the long-standing traits and patterns that propel individuals to consistently think, feel, and behave in specific ways; it is what makes each individual unique. Psychologists study the factors that contribute to personality development. These factors are varied and include biological and social influences. The purpose of this project is to better understand what personality is and how it is influenced.
Directions
For this project, you will be studying one person. You may choose to study yourself or someone you know well, such as a parent or close friend. If you choose to study someone else, share the scope of this project with them and obtain permission to use them as your subject before beginning.
After identifying your subject, consider and/or discuss who your subject is as a person and the factors that have helped to shape their traits, characteristics, and coping mechanisms. It may help to create a list of interview questions based on information from the chapter in order to fully investigate this question. Take notes as you explore the question "Who Am I?" with your subject.
After completing your exploration of personality with your subject, answer the following questions. Your answers should reflect an understanding of your subject's personality as well as an understanding of the key concepts from psychology pertaining to personality and personality development. Use specific information from the chapter to build and support the points you make about who your subject is and the factors that helped to shape them.
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Briefly describe your subject and their personality. In your discussion, specifically describe how your subject sees their real and ideal self. Is there congruence?
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Identity your subject's key cardinal, central, and secondary personality traits. Record them in the following table.
Cardinal traits Central traits Secondary traits (blank) (blank) (blank) (blank) (blank) (blank) (blank) (blank) (blank) (blank) (blank) (blank) -
Describe your subject's social context. How has it influenced their personality and the behaviors they engage in?
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Identify which archetypes have influenced your subject's personality. Discuss the impact these archetypes have had.
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Which, if any, traits does your subject identify as inherited? In other words, how has heritability influenced your subject's temperament?
Materials
None required.