Postgraduate Module Descriptor

ERPM007: Personality and Individual Differences

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary over time, it is envisaged that the syllabus will consider a range of issues that relate to the current and historical study of personality and individual differences, drawing on theory, assessment of personality and empirical research. The syllabus will likely include:

A general introduction to personality and individual differences
Psychoanalytic theory
Personality trait theory
Personality type theory
The person-situation debate
Biological and evolutionary approaches
Behaviourist, social learning and cognitive approaches
Humanistic approaches
Intelligence
Personality disorders
Individual differences and psychosis

Learning and Teaching

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
33	117	0

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning and Teaching	33	Combined seminar and lecture sessions
Guided Independent Learning	25	Reading (textbooks, journal articles, web resources and lecture slides) in preparation for taught sessions and for assessment
Guided Independent Learning	65	Work on formative and summative assessment
Guided Independent Learning	10	Collation and review of lecture and seminar materials
Guided Independent Learning	17	Undertaking additional class tasks and activities (e.g. on ELE) and preparing for seminars

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).

Personality and Individual Differences

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

European Journal of Personality

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Journal of Personality Assessment

Intelligence

Other Learning Resources

Module ELE page

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

Burger, J. M. (2019). Personality (10th Ed). Cengage Learning.
Caspi, A., Roberts, B. W., & Shiner, R. L. (2005). Personality development: Stability and change. Annu. Rev. Psychol., 56, 453-484.
Deary, I. J. (2020). Intelligence: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press.
Funder, D. C. (2001). Personality.Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 197-221.
Funder, D. C. (2019). The Personality Puzzle (8^th Ed). W.W. Norton and Company.
Luborsky, L., & Barrett, M. S. (2006). The History and Empirical Status of key psychoanalytic concepts. Annual Review Clinical Psychology, 2, 1–19.
Maltby, J., Day, L., & Macaskill, A. (2017). Personality, individual differences and intelligence (4^th Ed). Pearson Education.