Differential Psychology, 15 credits
Differentiell psykologi, 15 hp- Course code
- 2PS005
- Course name
- Differential Psychology
- Credits
- 15 credits
- Form of Education
- Higher Education, study regulation 2007
- Main field of study
- Psychology
- Level
- G2 - First cycle 2
- Grading scale
- Fail (U), pass (G) or pass with distinction (VG)
- Department
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience
- Decided by
- Programnämnden för Psykologprogrammet
- Decision date
- 2008-05-15
- Revised by
- Programme Committee 8
- Last revision
- 2014-05-07
- Course syllabus valid from
- Autumn 2014
Specific entry requirements
Passed results of the first and second semester (30 credits and at least 15 credits, respectively) of the Study Programme in Psychology.
Objectives
Part 1
On completion of this part, the student should be able to:
- describe and account for basic concepts within both classical and modern psychometric theory
- describe and account for statistical methods within the differential psychology
- make own basic psychometric analyses and be able to carry out correlation based statistical calculations
- reflect around own experiences around design and evaluation of psychological tests
Part 2
On completion of this part, the student should be able to:
- define and account for central theoretical models within the differential psychology regarding the concepts of intelligence and personality and discuss these with a critical and reflecting attitudes
- reflect around cultural influences and gender perspectives in relation to intelligence and personality
- understand and reflect around practical usability (and difficulties) with psychological tests of intelligence and personality when they constitute a part of the psychologist's instruments
Part 3
On completion of this part, the student should be able to:
- describe and account for basic concepts within behavioural genetics theory and method.
- give examples of research designs that is used to study the importance for human personality, intelligence and vulnerability of genetic effects for psychopathology.
- account for and reflect critically around the relative importance of genes and Environment influencing individual differences, personality, intelligence and vulnerability for psychopathology
- from a behavioural genetics perspective account for cognitive abnormalities.
Content
The contents of the course include design of psychological instruments and basic psychometric concepts within psychometrics, an overview of statistical methods used within differential psychology and questions about the importance of the heredity and environment for individual differences.
The course is divided in the following three parts:
The statistical methods are based on correlational statistics (i.e. how one analyses associations between different properties of tests) and include regression analysis and factor analysis. The student applies and interpret psychometric analyses (item-analysis and factor analysis). Furthermore, skills in designing psychological tests are communicated and discussions are held around how one can evaluate its reliability and validity critically. With the aim to illustrate the practical usability of psychometric knowledge, the student will apply a differential psychological perspective: to evaluate and revise a test and by studying established tests and discuss its reliability interpretation, psychometrics etc. Intelligence and personality, 4.5 hp Under the second part the student will learn about different concepts of intelligence theories of human intellectual skills and abilities (the g-factor theory and theories of specific dimensions of intelligence). In addition, different traditions to define and measure personality traits are described (including the five factor model of personality). Evidence for the trait model and for its predictive validity is discussed. Current perspectives on personality traits within other traditions (as social-cognitive psychology, humanistic and psychoanalytical theory) will be illustrated. Furthermore, cultural influences and gender perspectives on individual differences in intelligence and personality, will be addressed. Behavioral genetics, 4.5 hp The third part gives the student knowledge about the importance of heritage and environment for differences between people. In this section, knowledge of basic genetic mechanisms is provided, methods to study effects of genes on behaviour, and the relative importance of heredity and environment for differences between people regarding different aspects of intelligence, personality and health behaviours. Further, in a behavioural genetics perspective, the student may take part of knowledge concerning a number of cognitive deviations.
Teaching methods
The teaching consists of teacher-supervised lectures and seminars where the students are encouraged to active participation by discussing and reflect around the themes of the lectures. Further, the teaching consists of laboratory sessions that intend to let the students exercise on statistical analyses and use statistical calculation exercises and analyses to evaluate these and established tests. These exercises are meant to illustrate the practical importance of knowledge of differential psychology and statistics in the psychologist's everyday work.
Seminars and exercise sessions are compulsory. The course director assesses if, absence from a compulsory education element can be replaced. If this is possible, the course director decides how the learning objectives should be achieved. Until the student has participated in the compulsory parts (or compensated any absence with assigned tasks in accordance with instructions from the course director) the final study results can not be reported. Absence from a mandatory education element could mean that the student can not do the part until the next time the course is offered. Compulsory seminars and laboratory sessions are according to the following:
- Part 1: compulsory laboratory sessions and calculation exercises
- Part 2: compulsory seminars
- Part 3: compulsory seminars
Transitional provisions
The transition rules follow KI's local guidelines for examination.
Other directives
Course evaluation takes place according to KI's local guidelines. Results and possible measures are returned to the students on course web.
Literature and other teaching aids
2. ed. : Los Angeles : Sage Publications, cop 2014 - xxiii, 442 p. ISBN:9781452256801 (cloth) LIBRIS-ID:13991309 Library search
6 ed. : New York : Worth Publishers, c2013. - 1 v. (various pagings) ISBN:9781429242158 (hbk.) LIBRIS-ID:14007119 Library search
10. ed. : Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2008 [dvs 2007]
2. ed. : Hoboken, N.J. : Wiley, 2011 - xii, 440 p. ISBN:978-1-4051-9927-8 £32.99 LIBRIS-ID:12277326 Library search
3., [uppdaterade och omarb.] uppl. : Malmö : Liber, 2012 - 552 s. ISBN:978-91-47-09737-1 (korr.) LIBRIS-ID:13434322 Library search
4th ed. : Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. - xi, 454 s. ISBN:978-0-230-59459-3 (pbk.) LIBRIS-ID:11490159 Library search
Stockholm : Statens beredning för medicinskt utvärdering (SBU), 2012 - 603 s. ISBN:9789185413522 LIBRIS-ID:13881533 URL: Fulltext Library search