For this final paper you will write two sections. In the first section, approximately 2-3 pages long, you will write your own autobiography, particularly in terms of how you would describe your personality development – what experiences shaped who you are and why you are this way. Here you should describe your personality from your own perspective, including your main traits, your typical style and manner of interacting with people and in stressful situations, the main features or “quirks” that make you unique, and the ways that others who know you well would describe you. This section of the paper is partly descriptive and partly interpretive. That is, you will be describing yourself as well as reflecting on why you think you are who you are. Try to paint a rich picture of yourself, remembering that you are describing yourself to someone (me) who knows nothing about you but wants to get a very clear idea of how you view yourself, your personality, and your personality development. You can include thoughts and information from other writing assignments and class exercises (e.g., brief assessments in your textbook that I’ve alluded to, your extra credit Personality Assessment as well as Strengths Inventory assignments, and your responses to Think About It questions from your textbook) – what fit or didn’t fit for you, what was and wasn’t accurate, how do those results inform you about yourself further.

Here are some guiding questions to consider in your writing for this section:

How do you think you became the person you are today?

What are some memories, particularly vivid and revealing memories, that you think helped shape who you are today?

What factors or experiences in these following areas do you think have most influenced your personality development?

• Psychological (e.g., any psychological variable that you think impacts your behavior or approach to life – experiences with grief, cognitive problems, panic attacks, learning disability, etc.)
• Social (e.g., particular social situations or events, or your own social characteristics, that impact how you express yourself or your personality)
• Cultural (e.g., ethnic or cultural beliefs, practices, values)
• Genetic (e.g., some attribute or characteristic you think you inherited)
• Physical (e.g., impact of a physical health condition or impact of a salient physical trait or characteristic)
• Situational (e.g., certain situations in which you think you are particularly strong, happy, challenged, anxious, etc.)
• Familial (e.g., certain family dynamics or characteristics that impact you or influence the way you behave)

For the next section of your paper, you will choose two major theories or perspectives we’ve covered in class and apply them to your autobiography. In this section, which should be approximately 5-6 pages long, you are working to understand yourself from two different theoretical viewpoints that we’ve discussed in class.

The overall goal of this final assignment is for you to examine your personality in terms of two different theories or perspectives (trait approach, biological approach, psychoanalytic approach, phenomenological/humanistic approach, and learning/behavioral approach). I am expecting you to incorporate your previous assignments as well as your experiences and thoughts regarding the many informal assessments and exercises we did throughout the semester. I will be looking for references to material we’ve covered in class, material from your textbook (including appropriate citations and references), and material from your own reflections and writings.

In this section of the paper, you may structure it as follows:

• First, you should introduce the section by briefly reviewing the main ideas of the two theories you are choosing to apply (e.g., “The trait approach focuses on individual differences and how these differences might be conceptualized in terms of personality traits…” and “Freud emphasized unconscious conflict as the determinant of behavior…”). In this introduction you may also reference some of the other assessments we’ve done in class - either for your Personality Assessment at the beginning of the semester or any of the short, informal assessments we did throughout the class (e.g., Collectivism/Individualism Scale, Self-Efficacy Scale, Hierarchy of Needs assessment) – that you will also be using to explain your personality.

• Next, you should refer back to your autobiographical section and begin summarizing different parts of it as you proceed with your application of the theories. You should be explaining and analyzing your description of yourself and your characteristics/behaviors/actions throughout your life that you previously described. Your focus should be your personality characteristics and behaviors or actions you think exemplify your personality. You are attempting to answer the question “why are you like the way you are, according to this theory?” In other words, you will be using the theories to explain:

• How you feel in certain situations,
  • Choices you made or did not make,
  • How you think in certain situations,
  • How you acquired certain attitudes or beliefs,
  • Why you do what you do in certain situations,
  • Why you feel, think, and do what you do in certain situations

Be sure to explain any inconsistencies in behavior or in the theories’ explanations of behavior (here you might reference the material we covered in class in terms of what makes behavior and people consistent or inconsistent).

• Finally, you will critically evaluate the theories, stating your own opinion about how well (or poorly) the theories you have used to explain and account for your personality as you described it in your autobiographical section. State your opinions and the reasons behind them. This is your opportunity to have a voice – there are no wrong opinions! Just be sure to provide the reasons for what you think so that I can understand your reasoning. Here you might reference the material we covered for each of the theories that provided criticisms and critiques of any research or theorists’ ideas behind the theory.

Suggestions for Writing Your Paper

• Remember that the main focus of this paper is to explore why you are the way you are – not to continuously retell your autobiography. Identify specific characteristics and actions that you described in your autobiographical section and then explain those same characteristics in terms of the theories.

• Be specific about which theories you are using. Try to be as comprehensive as you can – use several elements of the theory (or the overall main themes of the theory) and not just one or two small aspects of it.

• In the spirit of critical analysis, you may use words like “may” or “possibly,” and of course acknowledge those parts of yourself that you don’t think fit well within the theories.

• Use your own words as much as possible, rather than direct quotes from the book, but always indicate when you are using someone else’s ideas (see below).

• Read it over out loud when you are done and see if it makes sense and if one idea flows into the next. Proofread and check grammar and spelling.

• For proper citations and references: First, after you either quote or paraphrase someone else’s ideas in the body of the paper, put in parentheses the author’s name and year of publication (e.g., Funder, 2013). Second, list the reference at the end of the paper in this format:

• Funder, D.C. (2013). The Personality Puzzle. New York, NY: W.W.

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