PSYC
335 Applied Personality Project The
Applied Personality Project requires you to critically analyze personality
information found in the popular media in relation to empirical research,
personality theory, and your own life. You will demonstrate that you are an
intelligent consumer of personality research and can think critically about
personality theory, assessment, and research in relation to your daily life.
The
Applied Personality Project consists of four components:
Component
1: Summary and Analysis of Popular
Media Article or Current Event
You
will start by locating a popular media article, video, or current event that is
relevant to personality psychology. Relevant topics may include personality
theory, assessment, use of assessment results, personality disorders, or
personality research. Your article or current event must have been published
(or occurred) within the last six months. For this component of the assignment,
you will use the information found in the popular media. This includes articles or
events distributed via social media, blogs, videos (e.g., Ted Talks),
television shows, newspaper reports, magazines, and similar sources.
For
example, the LA Times published a report of identical triplets separated at
birth in a secret psychology study to understand the relative influence of
nature and nurture in personality development (“The surreal, sad story behind
the acclaimed new documentary, ‘Three Identical Strangers”: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-three-identical-strangers-documentary-20180702-story.html).
An article such as this would be appropriate for your target article/event.
Provide
a two-page summary and analysis of the article/event that addresses the
following questions:
What is the focus of the article/event?
Why is this article/event relevant now?
What is the relationship between this article/event
and personality psychology?
What are the key conclusions, questions, or issues
relevant to this article/event?
What questions remain unanswered in relation to
this article/event?
Your
summary and analysis should be written as a coherent essay (do not format as a
list of answers to these questions). You may include additional insights in
your analysis, but you must address these key issues. In addition, you must
provide a hyperlink to the article/event that you are focusing on; if the
article/event is not online, you must provide a complete citation so that the
instructor can view your article/event.
Component
2: Research Article Application
The
next step is to find an empirical, primary-source journal article that
is directly relevant to your article/event. Empirical, primary-source articles
are original reports of research published in scholarly journals (such as the
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology). You will use the UMGC
library database to find primary-source, empirical research. To
find a relevant article, you will use personality terms, ideas, or theories discussed in your article/event as keywords in your library database search.
It is your responsibility to make sure that the journal article you select is
appropriate. If you are unsure about the relevance of your article, contact
your instructor for approval. Articles must meet the following criteria:
Primary research – Articles should report the results of an original
research study (no meta-analyses, summaries, editorials or theoretical
articles).
Refereed –
Articles must come from peer-reviewed journals found in the UMGC library.
Personality focus – Articles must be relevant to personality psychology.
Recent – Articles
must have been published within the last 10 years.
For
example, the following would be a relevant primary-source, empirical journal
article for investigating Five-Factor Model traits as predictors of stress
experience.
Zacher,
H., & Rudolph, C. W. (2021). Big Five traits as predictors of the perceived
stressfulness of the COVID-19 pandemic. Personality and Individual
Differences, 175, Article e110694. https://doi-org.ezproxy.umgc.edu/10.1016/j.paid.2021.110694
Write
a three-page summary, analysis, and application of the journal article that
addresses the following questions:
What is the purpose of this research?
How did the researchers investigate their research
question?
Are the conclusions of the study appropriate? Has
the author overemphasized or under-emphasized any findings?
What are the key strengths and weaknesses of this
study?
How does this research add to our understanding of
personality or personality theory?
How does this study inform your popular
article/event?
Do the conclusions of this research align with the
message of your article/event?
Your
summary, analysis, and application should be written as a coherent essay (do
not format as a list of answers to these questions). You may include additional
insights in your analysis, but you must address these key issues.
Component
3: Connection to Personality Theory
The
third step is to analyze your popular article/event in relation to three
different theories that we explored throughout the course. For each theory, you
will want to explore the relevance (or lack thereof) for understanding your
article/event.
Write
a one- to two-page analysis for each of your three theories that include the
following information:
A brief overview of theory (up to two paragraphs with
appropriate citations)
Discussion of how the theory either supports and
explains your article/event OR how the theory offers an alternate
understanding of your article/event
Analysis of the value of the theory for
understanding personality in the context of your article/event
Component 4:
Personal Relevance
The
last step is to reflect upon the popular article/event, research, and
personality theory in relation to your own life.
Write
a three-page reflection and analysis that addresses the following questions:
How is the material in this article/event relevant
to your life?
What can you learn from the personality theories or
research relevant to this article/event?
Does the article/event or research challenge any of
your old opinions? Or does it challenge you to form any new opinions?
How can you apply what you have learned about
personality research or theory to better understand your life? What is the
practical value of understanding personality research or theory?
What concerns do you have about the article/event,
personality research, or personality theory?
Your
reflections should be written as a coherent essay (do not format as a list of
answers to these questions). You may include additional insights in your
reflection, but you must address these key issues.
Assignment
Guidelines
Prepare
your assignment according to the following guidelines:
Structure your assignment utilizing APA style; this includes the title page,
heading, subheadings, in-text citations, reference page, and general paper
format (1-inch margins, double-spaced, 12-point font, etc.). An abstract
is not required.
Submit as a single document (do not submit each
component of the paper separately) in either Microsoft Word, PDF, or RTF
format.
Utilize the following subheadings to organize the
body of your paper:
Summary and Analysis
Research Application
Personality Theory
Theory 1: (name the theory)
Theory 2: (name the theory)
Theory 3: (name the theory)
Personal Reflection
Include three to five references (one should be the
research article utilized in your analysis- Hunt,
M. G., Marx, R., Lipson, C., & Young, J. (2018). No more FOMO: Limiting
social media decreases
loneliness and depression. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology,
37(10), 751-768.
https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2018.37.10.751).
Your final paper should be approximately 13 to 16
pages:
Title page (1 page)
Body of paper
Summary and Analysis (2 pages)
Research Application (3 pages)
Personality Theory
Theory 1
(1-2 pages)
Theory 2
(1-2 pages)
Theory 3
(1-2 pages)
Personal Reflection (3 pages)
Reference page (1 page)
