Outline

Overview

All of us observe our social worlds and try to understand why people behave, think, and feel as they do. In this unit you will study a number of influential theories, philosophical and empirical approaches in Personality and Social Psychology. You will examine key topics in the scientific assessment of personality, attitudes and emotions, including an introduction to psychometric testing (e. g. , validity and reliability) in Personality and Social Psychology. Specifically, in the Personality component you will be exposed to conceptual analysis and will be expected to examine critically theories from the Psychodynamic, Behaviourist, Humanist, Social Cognitive and Psychometric traditions. In the Social Psychology component you will examine salient social constructs such as social influence, the causes of prejudice and possible reduction strategies, and explore how cognitive processes affect social judgment and behaviour. In this unit you will develop a broad understanding of the leading theories and research in the areas of Personality and Social Psychology.

Unit details and rules

Academic unit	Psychology Academic Operations
Credit points	6
Prerequisites ?	PSYC1001
Corequisites ?	None
Prohibitions ?	PSYC2013 or PSYC2014
Assumed knowledge ?	None
Available to study abroad and exchange students	Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Fiona White, fiona.white@sydney.edu.au

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length
Final exam (Record+)	Final exam Final Exam	50%	Formal exam period	2 hours
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Research report Written assignment	45%	Week 08 Due date: 04 Oct 2021 at 23:59 Closing date: 01 Nov 2021	2000 words
Outcomes assessed:
Participation	Research Participation Lab skills assessment	5%	Week 13	5 hours
Outcomes assessed:
Participation	Tutorial Participation Tutorial participation	0%	Week 13	Ongoing
Outcomes assessed:
= hurdle task ? = Type B final exam ?

Assessment summary

Research Report (45%): The 2000-word written research report is an assignment based on a study conducted in the Week 2 Psyc2017 tutorial. The research report is due on Monday, October 4 (Week 8). Standard late penalties apply to all submissions made after the DUE DATE, unless modified by Special Consideration or a DSU Academic Plan.
Research Participation (5%): Research Participation requires you to sign up to participate in real studies run by researchers in the School of Psychology. You will receive 1 credit point for every 1 hour of research participation, with up to 5 credit points obtainable (i.e. five hours). In addition to participation, a brief survey/quiz component is required – more information about this survey/quiz requirement will be announced on Canvas. Research participation is not compulsory – if you do not complete any or all of your five hours of research participation, you simply will not receive the marks associated with it. If you miss a research participation appointment without cancelling in advance and without excuse, you may be penalised by the researcher, and may be docked credit points – a successful Special Consideration application may result in the penalty being waived. Please note, applying for Special Consideration for this component as a whole implies you were incapacitated for the entire semester in which case you would be advised to discontinue the unit entirely.
Final Exam (50%): The Final Exam is a hurdle task and runs during the exam period and will assess tutorial focus papers and lecture content. Exams are never moved forward so ensure you are available for the entire Central Main exam period. A successful application for Special Consideration or Special Arrangements for the Final Exam will result in you being offered a Replacement Exam during the Central exam period. Please note that the structure and content of the Central Main exam and Replacement exam may differ. Any differences will be noted on the announcements page on the Psyc2017 CANVAS site closer to the exam period.
Detailed information for each assessment can be found on the Psyc2017 Canvas site.

Assessment criteria

The University awards common result grades, set out in the Coursework Policy 2014 (Schedule 1).

As a general guide, a high distinction indicates work of an exceptional standard, a distinction a very high standard, a credit a good standard, and a pass an acceptable standard.

Result name	Mark range	Description
High distinction	85 - 100	At HD level, a student demonstrates a flair for the subject as well as a detailed and comprehensive understanding of the unit material. A ‘High Distinction’ reflects exceptional achievement and is awarded to a student who demonstrates the ability to apply their subject knowledge and understanding to produce original solutions for novel or highly complex problems and/or comprehensive critical discussions of theoretical concepts.
Distinction	75 - 84	At DI level, a student demonstrates an aptitude for the subject and a well-developed understanding of the unit material. A ‘Distinction’ reflects excellent achievement and is awarded to a student who demonstrates an ability to apply their subject knowledge and understanding of the subject to produce good solutions for challenging problems and/or a reasonably well-developed critical analysis of theoretical concepts.
Credit	65 - 74	At CR level, a student demonstrates a good command and knowledge of the unit material. A ‘Credit’ reflects solid achievement and is awarded to a student who has a broad general understanding of the unit material and can solve routine problems and/or identify and superficially discuss theoretical concepts.
Pass	50 - 64	At PS level, a student demonstrates proficiency in the unit material. A ‘Pass’ reflects satisfactory achievement and is awarded to a student who has threshold knowledge.
Fail	0 - 49	When you don’t meet the learning outcomes of the unit to a satisfactory standard.

For more information see guide to grades.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

Academic integrity

The Current Student website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and automated writing tools

You may only use generative AI and automated writing tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator. If you do use these tools, you must acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section. The assessment instructions or unit outline will give guidance of the types of tools that are permitted and how the tools should be used.

Your final submitted work must be your own, original work. You must acknowledge any use of generative AI tools that have been used in the assessment, and any material that forms part of your submission must be appropriately referenced. For guidance on how to acknowledge the use of AI, please refer to the AI in Education Canvas site.

The unapproved use of these tools or unacknowledged use will be considered a breach of the Academic Integrity Policy and penalties may apply.

Studiosity is permitted unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission as detailed on the Learning Hub’s Canvas page.

Outside assessment tasks, generative AI tools may be used to support your learning. The AI in Education Canvas site contains a number of productive ways that students are using AI to improve their learning.

Learning support

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity
Week 01	Introduction to personality and social psychology/ Introduction to Psychometrics 1	Lecture (1 hr)
	Introduction to Psychometrics 2: Validity	Lecture (1 hr)
	Introduction to Psychometrics 3: Reliability	Lecture (1 hr)
	No Tutorial	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 02	Introduction to Psychometrics 4: Factor Analysis	Lecture (1 hr)
	Trait theories of Personality: An Introduction	Lecture (1 hr)
	Trait theories of Personality 1: Allport	Lecture (1 hr)
	Introduction to Psyc2017 and Data collection for Research Report	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 03	Trait theories of Personality 2: The Lexical Approach - Cattell	Lecture (1 hr)
	Trait theories of Personality 3: The Big-5, Part I	Lecture (1 hr)
	Trait theories of Personality 4:The Big-5, Part II	Lecture (1 hr)
	Webinar: Discussion of Research Report Results	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 04	The dark triad of personality	Lecture (1 hr)
	Personality aspects and facets	Lecture (1 hr)
	Personality and gender	Lecture (1 hr)
	Traits 1	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 05	Age-related changes to personality	Lecture (1 hr)
	Theories of emotion 1	Lecture (1 hr)
	Theories of emotion 2	Lecture (1 hr)
	Traits 2	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 06	Emotion regulation	Lecture (1 hr)
	Introduction to positive psychology	Lecture (1 hr)
	The Humanist approach to Personality: Maslow & Rogers	Lecture (1 hr)
	The Dark Side of Personality and Emotions	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 07	Behaviourist approach to Personality: Watson & Skinner	Lecture (1 hr)
	Social Cognitive Theory and Personality 1: Bandura	Lecture (1 hr)
	Social Cognitive Theory and Personality 2: Bandura	Lecture (1 hr)
	Research Report Writing Exercise/Peer Feedback	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 08	No Lecture/Public Holiday (Research report due on Monday, October 4)	Lecture (1 hr)
	The changing form of racial prejudice	Lecture (1 hr)
	Implicit and explicit measures of racial prejudice	Lecture (1 hr)
	No Tutorial (Research Report due this week)	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 09	Theories of the causes of racial prejudice	Lecture (1 hr)
	Strategies to reduce racial prejudice 1	Lecture (1 hr)
	Strategies to reduce racial prejudice 2	Lecture (1 hr)
	Implicit Measures of Prejudice	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 10	Social influence: Reciprocation 1	Lecture (1 hr)
	Social influence: Reciprocation 2	Lecture (1 hr)
	Social influence: Liking 1	Lecture (1 hr)
	The Formation and Reduction of Prejudice	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 11	Social influence: Liking 2	Lecture (1 hr)
	Social influence: Consistency and Commitment	Lecture (1 hr)
	Social influence: Social Validation and Scarcity	Lecture (1 hr)
	Tactics of Manipulation (USS Evaluation)	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 12	Automatic and nonconscious processes, social judgment and behaviour 1	Lecture (1 hr)
	Automatic and nonconscious processes, social judgment and behaviour 2	Lecture (1 hr)
	Controlled processes, social judgment and behaviour 1	Lecture (1 hr)
	Automatic Behaviour	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 13	Controlled processes, social judgment and behaviour 2	Lecture (1 hr)
	Affective processes, social judgment and behaviour 1	Lecture (1 hr)
	Affective processes, social judgment and behaviour 2	Lecture (1 hr)
	Control and Self-Regulation (Research report returned)	Tutorial (1 hr)

Attendance and class requirements

Attendance: Attendance is recorded at all tutorials and some lectures and it is highly recommended you attend all timetabled activities. You will struggle to pass this course if you do not attend more than 80% of timetabled activities. Depending on the reliability of the recording system, all lectures will be recorded, however recordings will be paused occasionally due to sensitive or copyrighted material, or audience interaction.
Tutorial: The expectation for most tutorials is that an hour of prework is completed before your tutorial. Prework usually consists of set focus readings, all available via the Canvas site for this unit.

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

All readings for this unit can be accessed through the Library eReserve, available on Canvas.

Murphy, K. et al. (2010). PSYC2014: personality and intelligence (3rd Ed.,). Pearson Australia.
All of the tutorial focus papers and any readings suggested by lecturers.

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

Outcomes
Graduate qualities

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

LO1. develop an understanding of the key concepts in two foundational areas of psychology – personality and social psychology
LO2. apply key concepts to critique various theories and research practices in personality and social psychology
LO3. demonstrate and use the principles of scientific measurement in personality and social psychology and apply the APA style of scientific writing to the generation of a research report
LO4. construct and create scientific information that can be communicated both orally and through written work
LO5. find, analyse and judge information for its reliability and significance for the disciplines of personality and social psychology
LO6. engage in group discussions to identify, recognise and debate the strengths and limitations in the various approaches used by personality and social psychologists.

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1	Depth of disciplinary expertise Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.
GQ2	Critical thinking and problem solving Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.
GQ3	Oral and written communication Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.
GQ4	Information and digital literacy Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.
GQ5	Inventiveness Generating novel ideas and solutions.
GQ6	Cultural competence Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.
GQ7	Interdisciplinary effectiveness Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.
GQ8	Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.
GQ9	Influence Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes	Graduate qualities
Learning outcomes

Responding to student feedback

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

No changes have been made since this unit was last offered.

Additional information

Work, health and safety

We are governed by the Work Health and Safety Act 2011, Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 and Codes of Practice. Penalties for non-compliance have increased. Everyone has a responsibility for health and safety at work. The University’s Work Health and Safety policy explains the responsibilities and expectations of workers and others, and the procedures for managing WHS risks associated with University activities.

General laboratory safety rules

No eating or drinking is allowed in any laboratory under any circumstances
A laboratory coat and closed-toe shoes are mandatory
Follow safety instructions in your manual and posted in laboratories
In case of fire, follow instructions posted outside the laboratory door
First aid kits, eye wash and fire extinguishers are located in or immediately outside each laboratory

As a precautionary measure, it is recommended that you have a current tetanus immunisation. This can be obtained from University Health Service: unihealth.usyd.edu.au/

Disclaimer

The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.

Current students

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Additional information

Additional information

Work, health and safety

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect

Current students

PSYC2017: Personality and Social Psychology

Semester 2, 2021 [Normal day] - Remote

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Additional information

Additional information

Work, health and safety

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect