Personality Pedagogy Newsletter Volume 7, Number 7, March, 2013

Hello and welcome to the seventy-seventh Personality Pedagogy newsletter highlighting what’s new at http://personalitypedagogy.arcadia.edu. For more about the links below and approximately 2,752 other interesting links related to personality, please visit: http://personalitypedagogy.arcadia.edu.

One-hundred and eight years ago today psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl was born in Austria. This would be a good time to reflect upon the lessons on finding meaning Frankl presented in his moving book “Man’s Search for Meaning”. Our first link is to a very moving summary of the book in words and pictures by Maria Popova for her “Brain Pickings” blog.

There are two sides to every story, and this month we present you with the pros and cons of a new initiative endorsed by President Obama this month: The Brain Activity Map. The goal is that neuroscientists will join their efforts to map areas of the brain the way scientists decoded the human genome a few years back. But is it even possible to identify all of the areas of brain function, and is localization even the best way to understand brain functioning? See the links below for more on this controversial proposal.

Speaking of the other side to stories, check out the softer side of B. F. Skinner. Thanks to Michael Britt of “The Psych Files” we have links and sound clips of Skinner discussing compassion, music, a love of reading and other topics. Britt argues that Skinner and his theories are more complicated than you might have first thought.

As ever, please pass this newsletter on to interested colleagues and invite them to sign up for future issues and to visit the home of Personality Pedagogy: http://personalitypedagogy.arcadia.edu. Remember, you can view the current newsletter, comment on newsletters, re-read what you missed in previous newsletters, or search all newsletters by checking out our blog at http://personalitypedagogy.wordpress.com and you can even receive Personality Pedagogy newsletters via RSS feed as soon as they are posted, by clicking on the “RSS-posts” button on the bottom right.

Cheers,
Marianne

Marianne Miserandino
miserandino “at” arcadia “dot” edu

1. The Personality Pedagogy Monthly Newsletter

http://personalitypedagogy.arcadia.edu

Sign up here to receive this newsletter delivered to your e-mail inbox once a month! We promise never to share your information with anybody else or to use it for any other purpose than Personality Pedagogy.

2. Happy Birthday, Viktor Frankl: Timeless Wisdom on the Human Search for Meaning

In recognition of Viktor Frankl’s birthday, science writer Maria Popova summarizes Frankl’s theory and how we create meaning out of purposeful work, love, and courage in the face of difficulty, using excerpts from his work and photos of Frankl and others.

3. Brain Activity Map Proponents Explain Goals of Blood Neuroscience

Science writer Stephanie Pappas explains “Neuroscientists are pushing for a major project that would map the activity of the brain, potentially illuminating the causes of depression, schizophrenia and other major mental health disorders” in this article from “LiveScience”, March 7, 2013.

4. What’s Wrong With the Brain Activity Map Proposal

“With the president suggesting a multibillion-dollar neuroscience effort, a leading neuroscientist explains the deep conceptual problems with plans to record all the brain’s neurons” in this article by Partha Mitra in “Scientific American”, from March 5, 2013.

5. What Was B.F. Skinner Really Like?

According to Michael Britt of “The Psych Files” podcast, “Would you be surprised to learn that B.F. Skinner was a very likable guy and that you may actually be very much in agreement with his ideas? Many people who study psychology have a negative impression of Skinner. Well, I’m about to challenge those impressions by presenting a side of Skinner you probably haven’t been exposed to. In these sound bytes you’ll hear his ideas about learning to play music, about discovery, having fun and becoming the most that you can be.” From episode 191 posted March 11, 2013 (runs 32 minutes, 35 seconds).

6. Skinner on Compassionate Behavior

Michael Britt of “The Psych Files” podcast presents this audio clip of B.F. Skinner on compassion: “Listen to B. F. Skinner as he explains how he believes we can get people to be more compassionate as they deal with old people, prisoners, psychiatric patients and the developmentally delayed (which in his day were referred to commonly as ‘retardates’). Note that he is more in favor of rewarding positive behavior than in implementing ‘aversive controls’ also note that he speaks of how important knowledge is in treating people with these needs” (runs 2 minutes, 31 seconds).

7. Skinner on Learning to Love Reading

Michael Britt of “The Psych Files” podcast presents this audio clip of B. F. Skinner talking about reading. “In another surprisingly “humanistic” interview with B.F. Skinner he discusses what he thinks we can do to make learning to read fun. ‘Fun’? and ‘Skinner’? Yup. There are more sides to Skinner than we sometimes think about after we’ve had only a basic course in psychology” (runs 3 minutes and 31 seconds).

8. Skinner on Learning to Play Music

Michael Britt of “The Psych Files” podcast presents this audio clip of B.F. Skinner talking about learning to play music. As Britt explains, Skinner “has, unfortunately, suffered from a bad reputation. Listen to how he explains his own experiences learning to play the piano and his suggestions for how children might come to love playing music if we introduce it into their lives correctly. If you didn’t know it was his voice you probably wouldn’t guess this was him speaking” (runs 1 minute, 40 seconds).

9. Gender Trouble

Summarizes the work of Judith Butler who argues that gender identity is a social construction.

10. The Bechdel Test For Media Bia

According to the Feminist Frequency website by media critic Anita Sarkeesian: “The Bechdel Test is a simple way to gauge the active presence of female characters in Hollywood films and just how well rounded and complete those roles are. It was created by Allison Bechdel in her comic strip ‘Dykes to Watch Out For’ in 1985″. The test is: (1) Does the film have at least two [named or otherwise central character] women in it, (2) who talk to each other, (3) about something besides a man? (runs 2 minutes, 3 seconds). You and your students can use this test to see how popular movies, especially those winning Oscars or other top awards, fare. See here for a discussion of similar tests for other types of bias in the media.

11. Humanistic Theory and Therapy Applied to the Psychotic Individual

Ann Reitan describes how therapy in general, and humanistic therapy in particular, can be helpful to a psychotic person. Focusing on the theory and techniques of Carl Rogers, and especially his notions of conditions of worth and unconditional positive regard, she describes how therapy could help a person with schizophrenia.

12. The Stories That Bind Us

Writer Bruce Feiler describes research which suggests that the stories families tell about themselves inspire resilience in future generations. From “The New York Times”, March 15, 2013.

13. How You Can Be a Better Storyteller

Eric Barker, of the “Barking Up The Wrong Tree” blog presents this interview with UCLA Film School Professor Howard Suber. Along the way, Suber reveals the power of a narrative to define — and change — our lives. Posted March 4, 2013.

14. Can People’s Personalities Change?

“Instead of personality being set in stone at 30, now evidence is emerging that there is some change. In fact people don’t give exactly the same answers to personality questionnaires at different times in their lives” according to research by Boyce et al., published in “Social Indicators Research” and summarized here in “PsyBlog”, February 25, 2013.

15. World of Warcraft: Why People Play is Linked to their Personality

John Grohol reviews research by Graham and Gosling (2013) which found that people play “World of Warcraft” for different reasons linked to their personality and that the experience of playing is different for people depending on their levels of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. Posted March 18, 2013.

16. Favorite Link Revisited: “I Was Not A Lab Rat”

Deborah Skinner’s essay about growing up as the baby in the box.

Personality Pedagogy Newsletter Volume 7, Number 5, January, 2013

Hello and welcome to the seventy-seventh Personality Pedagogy newsletter highlighting what’s new at http://personalitypedagogy.arcadia.edu. For more about the links below and approximately 2,725 other interesting links related to personality, please visit: http://personalitypedagogy.arcadia.edu.

Happy New Year! Happy New Month! And for many of you, Happy New Semester! As much as I hate the darkness of winter here on the East Coast, I do relish the chance to start again with new beginnings. If you are like me, then you will welcome this month’s newsletter filled with new things to refresh and renew your personality psychology classes.

Speaking of happy, we’ve got a bit of a debate of sorts happening in this issue. Check out three of our newest links suggesting that money does buy happiness —  but that there’s more to life than being happy, and judge for yourself.

This month marks 20 years since the first fMRI study was published. To celebrate, the APS journal Perspectives on Psychological Science features a special section in which leading scientists reflect on the contributions this brain scanning technique has made to our understanding of human thought. While not strictly related to personality, the reflections are nonetheless interesting. Check it out here.

Special thanks goes out to Jon Mueller for the link to the Easy Bake Oven controversy (see below). Be sure to check out his newsletter and website if you are interested in teaching social psychology.

As ever, please pass this newsletter on to interested colleagues and invite them to sign up for future issues and to visit the home of Personality Pedagogy: http://personalitypedagogy.arcadia.edu. Remember, you can view the current newsletter, comment on newsletters, re-read what you missed in previous newsletters, or search all newsletters by checking out our blog at http://personalitypedagogy.wordpress.com and you can even receive Personality Pedagogy newsletters via RSS feed as soon as they are posted, by clicking on the “RSS-posts” button on the bottom right.

Cheers,
Marianne

Marianne Miserandino
miserandino “at” arcadia “dot” edu

1. The Personality Pedagogy Monthly Newsletter

http://personalitypedagogy.arcadia.edu

Sign up here to receive this newsletter delivered to your e-mail inbox once a month! We promise never to share your information with anybody else or to use it for any other purpose than Personality Pedagogy.

2. Maslow’s Theory of Self-Actualization, More or Less Actualized

Psychologist Ann Reitan reflects on Abraham Maslow’s notion of self-actualization. First, she explains what it is, then she muses on what it means for different people at different times in their lives, drawing on the work of Eric Erikson. Finally, she suggests that self-actualizing people may find meaning at lower levels of the hierarchy, such as when their needs are being threatened. She gives examples of people who she believed were actualizing while facing death (e.g., Viktor Frankl), fearing for their safety (e.g., Nelson Mandela), losing their freedom (e.g., Ghandi), and experiencing mental illness (e.g., Sylvia Plath). From “Brain Blogger”, January 8, 2013.

3. There’s More to Life Than Being Happy

According to Viktor Frankl, “It is the very pursuit of happiness that thwarts happiness,” and yet Americans and American psychology are obsessed with happiness. Meaningfulness and happiness are not the same thing, and this article draws on new work by Roy Baumeister, Kathleen Vohs, Jennifer Aaker & Emily Garbinsky (2013) to understand the difference. From “The Atlantic”, January 9, 2013. Their forthcoming paper in the “Journal of Positive Psychology” is available here: http://tinyurl.com/b8mbayk (opens in PDF format).

4. Yes, Money Does Buy Happiness: 6 Lessons from the Newest Research on Income and Well-Being

A summary of 6 observations from the paper “The New Stylized Facts about Income and Subjective Well-Being” by Daniel W. Sacks, Betsey Stevenson, and Justin Wolfers. From “The Atlantic,” January 10, 2013.

5. Implicit Assessment of The Five Factors

Researches have hit upon an implicit way of measuring personality, the “semantic misattribution procedure”. “In this initial study, and two more involving nearly 300 participants … participants’ scores on this test for conscientiousness, neuroticism and extraversion correlated with explicit measures of the same traits. The new implicit test also did a better job than explicit measures alone of predicting relevant behaviours, such as church attendance, perseverance on a lab task, and punctuality. The implicit scores for extraversion showed good consistency over 6 months. Finally, the new implicit test showed fewer signs of being influenced by social desirability concerns, as compared with traditional explicit measures.” From “BPS Research Digest”, December 13, 2012.

6. Assessing Personality via Social Media Postings: TruthSerum.com

TruthSerum.com claims to assess personality though people’s social media posts. Users can analyze their own personality and see how they compare to Barak Obama, Mitt Romney, Abraham Lincoln, the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and some 135 other famous people on Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Machiavellianism, Narcissism, and Psychopathy (aka, Psychoticism).

7. You Can’t See It, But You’ll be a Different Person in 10 Years

“No matter how old people are, they seem to believe that who they are today is essentially who they’ll be tomorrow.” according to the End of History Illusion. According to researcher Daniel Gilbert, “Life is a process of growing and changing, and what our results suggest is that growth and change really never stops … despite the fact that at every age from 18 to 68, we think it’s pretty much come to a close.” You can listen to the original segment and comment by Gilbert here, on the NPR website (runs 3 minutes, 58 seconds) or read a more in-depth summary from the “New York Times” here.

8. Sexism-Free Easy Bake Oven On the Way

Due to the protests started by 13-year old McKenna Pope (here) and backed by big-name chefs including Bobby Flay, and the general public, Hasbro, the makers of the class Easy-Bake, oven will launch a new line of gender-neutral ovens that will feature gender-neutral colors and more boys in their advertisements.

9. Activities Guide: Teaching Ethics in the Introduction to Psychology Course

The Office of Teaching Resources in Psychology (OTRP) is pleased to announce this new resource for teachers by Ana Ruiz and Judith Warchal of Alvernia University. “This 23-page guide presents 17 activities related to ethics for each chapter in a typical Introduction to Psychology text as it integrates the APA Learning Goals and Outcomes for ethics into that course.  For each chapter, the activity lists the student learning outcome, instructions for conducting the activity, materials needed, approximate time required, and a method of assessment.” Activities most relevant to the personality class include APA ethics code jeopardy, research methods, personality testing, and debating controversial topics.

10. Who’s Gay On TV? Dads, Journalists, Investigators, And Footmen

Presents an interesting account of the various portrayals of gays and lesbians found on TV today. Though the number of gays and lesbians has increased in recent years, for some, the portrayals may not be as realistic as they could be. Published January 3, 2013. (also available in audio running 7 minutes, 45 seconds).

11. Gorillas, Watermelons and Sperm: The Greatest Genomes Sequenced in 2012

Scientists identified the genetic codes of some of the world’s most fascinating animals and plants. Check out what they found in this online photo gallery of 8 stunning images posted by “Popular Science”, January 2, 2013.

12. The 12 cognitive biases that prevent you from being rational

A good summary of 12 common flaws in our thinking including the confirmation bias, gambler’s fallacy, neglecting probability, the current moment bias, the anchoring effect, and more.

13. A Chart of Emotions that Have No Names in the English Language

Designer Pei-Ying Lin has created interesting conceptual charts of emotions including one for emotions that have no names in the English language and another for new emotions invented by the Internet.

14. Neurotic People Might Have Better Health Outcomes When They are High in Conscientiousness.

People who are high in Neuroticism and Conscientiousness experience lower levels of Interleukin 6 (IL-6), a biomarker for inflammation and chronic disease; lower body-mass index scores; and fewer diagnosed chronic health conditions. From “Prevention News”, November 2012.

15. Darwin Was Wrong About Dating

New research is beginning to question the long-accepted evolutionary explanation for various mating behaviors. Read about some of the alternative explanations and new data on sex differences in mating strategies, selectiveness, and desire for casual sex. From “The New York Times,” January 12, 2013.

16. Favorite Link Revisited: Careers in Psychology

From the website: “Are you preparing yourself for a career in psychology? Well, you’ve come to the right place! We understand your enthusiasm and eagerness to get started in a growing and lucrative field like psychology. However, we also know how difficult it can be to get started in this field, which is exactly why we’re here.” The site features background information on careers, degree paths, programs, internships, licensure information, interviews with psychology professionals, and more.

Personality Pedagogy Newsletter Volume 5, Number 10, June, 2011

Hello and welcome to the fifty-eighth Personality Pedagogy newsletter highlighting what’s new at http://personalitypedagogy.arcadia.edu. For more about the links below and approximately 2,256 other interesting links related to personality, please visit: http://personalitypedagogy.arcadia.edu.

Happy Birthday to Personality Pedagogy! Five years ago this month we started a little wiki mostly to have a repository of all the cool and useful links we needed for our personalty class . . . and now we’ve become the top place on the web for resources for the teaching of personality psychology. We thank you, our loyal readers from all over the world, for your continued support and look forward to many more happy years.

This month, in the spirit of a good circus, we have ”a little something for everyone” as the great showman P. T. Barnum used to say. From evolution to the sensitivity, to longevity and brain myths, we have it all this month — including some videos illustrating the Barnum Effect.

As ever, please pass this newsletter on to interested colleagues and invite them to sign up for future issues and to visit the home of Personality Pedagogy: http://personalitypedagogy.arcadia.edu. Remember, you can read old newsletters, comment on newsletters, view the current newsletter or re-read what you missed in last month’s newsletter by checking out our blog at http://personalitypedagogy.wordpress.com and you can even receive Personality Pedagogy newsletters via RSS feed as soon as they are posted, by clicking on the ”RSS-posts” button on the bottom right.

Cheers,
Marianne

Marianne Miserandino
miserandino ”at” arcadia ”dot” edu

1. The Personality Pedagogy Monthly Newsletter

Sign up here to receive this newsletter delivered to your e-mail inbox once a month! We promise never to share your information with anybody else or to use it for any other purpose than ”Personality Pedagogy”.

2. This is Psychology

The American Psychological Association presents this series of brief videos illustrating how psychological research can be applied to a broad range of issues and challenges such as bullying, children’s mental health, and other issues of concern to the general public.

3. The Secret to Longevity: It’s About Character, Not Just Calisthenics

Science writer Melanie A. Greenberg summarizes the results of Howard Friedman and Leslie Martin’s reanalysis of the Terman data identifying the psychosocial predictors of longevity, including strong social ties. From ”Psychology Today”, April 8, 2011.

4. Top Ten Myths About the Brain

Smithsonian.com asks ”When it comes to this complex, mysterious, fascinating organ, what do — and don’t — we know?” in this article by Laura Helmuth published May 20, 2011.

5. Women Warriors Show Resilience Similar to Men, Psychological Study Shows

”Women service members who experience combat are apparently as resilient as the men they serve alongside, according to a study” by Dawne Vogt and colleagues and summarized in ”Science Daily”, June 7, 2011.

6. When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?

According to Smithsonian.com writer Jeanne Maglaty, ”every generation brings a new definition of masculinity and femininity that manifests itself in children’s dress”. Read about the vicissitudes of gender-appropriate clothing and color and check out the fascinating slide show of examples. Originally posted April 8, 2011.

7. Hi, My Name’s Sarah And I’m An ENTP

Sarah explains what it’s like to find out her Myers-Briggs Type Indicator scores and her interpretation of them in this blog entry from ”3 Daily Quarks”, June 6, 2011.

8. What is Evolutionary Psychology?

Daniel J. Kruger, makes his book Kruger, D.J. (2002). ”What is Evolutionary Psychology?” (Ann Arbor, MI: Altralogical Press) available online. Topics include adaptation, inclusive fitness, kin selection, altruism, sexual selection, parental investment, and more.

9. Viktor Frankl on Behaviorism

Frankl discusses his theory of logotherapy and Skinner’s theory of behaviorism and the impact of each on human behavior. Excerpted from a longer film (6 minutes, 46 seconds).

10. BIS, BAS and the Highly Sensitive Person

Summarizes theory and research on the BIS and the BAS and how these two systems may account for the experience of people who are particularly sensitive to sensory input.

11. The Highly Sensitive Person: A Self-test

Based on the work of Elaine Aron, this self-test helps people to see if they are one of the 15-20% of the population who are particularly sensitive to sensory input related to BAS and BIS functioning.

12. James Randi Explains the Art of Cold Reading

Alleged psychics use the cold reading to impress an audience and gain their trust. However, when put to the test, as skeptic, magician, and challenger of paranormal claims James Randi has done, their abilities are more art than science.

13. The Barnum Effect

John Stossel, co-anchor of the ABC news program 20/20, questions the accuracy of astrology, and amazes an audience with a demonstration of how false astrology readings are believable when they include general statements that could apply to anybody (2 minutes, 24 seconds).

14. Derren Brown on Astrology

The British illusionist, mentalist, and skeptic Derren Brown conducts a demonstration with audiences in the UK, US, and Spain, to illustrate how the Barnum Effect can lead people to believe psychic readings (8 minutes, 24 seconds).

15. The Cold Reading Technique

Denis Dutton explains the cold reading technique, the Barnum Effect, and analyzes a spirit medium’s performance, in this paper originally printed in (1988) ”Experientia”, Volume 44, 326-332.

16. Favorite Link Revisited: The Barnum Effect

An online personality test which gives false, but easily believable feedback, using the Barnum Effect. Take this test to remind yourself why good personality tests should provide specific feedback…and why horoscopes are so much fun!

Personality Pedagogy Newsletter Volume 5, Number 3, November, 2010

Personality Pedagogy Newsletter Volume 5, Number 3, November, 2010

Hello and welcome to the fifty-first Personality Pedagogy newsletter highlighting what’s new at http://personalitypedagogy.arcadia.edu. For more about the links below and approximately 2,148 other interesting links related to personality, please visit: http://personalitypedagogy.arcadia.edu.

This month, in addition to the other things we are grateful for, we are giving thanks to Alan Reifman of Texas Tech University, who created a Questionnaire Compendium. We proudly feature the link to his website below, even as we shamelessly stole links to round out our collection of personality tests.

This month we continue our new feature to the newsletter: Favorite Links from Personality Pedagogy. In this feature we’ll be calling your attention to some of our favorite links from the site that are worthy of a second look.

We wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving and a restful weekend to follow!

As ever, please pass this newsletter on to interested colleagues and invite them to sign up for future issues and to visit the home of Personality Pedagogy: http://personalitypedagogy.arcadia.edu. Remember, you can read old newsletters, comment on newsletters, view the current newsletter or re-read what you missed in last month’s newsletter by checking out our blog at http://personalitypedagogy.wordpress.com and you can even receive Personality Pedagogy newsletters via an RSS (”Really Simple Syndication”) feed as soon as they are posted, by clicking on the ”RSS-posts” button on the bottom right.

Cheers,
Marianne

Marianne Miserandino
miserandino ”at” arcadia ”dot” edu

1. The Personality Pedagogy Monthly Newsletter

Sign up here to receive this newsletter delivered to your e-mail inbox once a month! We promise never to share your information with anybody else or to use it for any other purpose than Personality Pedagogy.

2. Siblings Share Genes, But Rarely Personalities

Excellent summary of the surprising finding that while siblings growing up in the same family are more similar than two kids picked at random, they are ”not much more” similar, according to Robert Plomin. Describes the three current explanations behind this finding: The principle of divergence, non-shared environment, and exaggeration. Story by Alix Spiegel for NPR, November 22, 2010. Also available in audio (8 minutes, 48 seconds).

3. Resurrecting The Czar

Genetic testing of DNA is helping to the solve the mystery of what really happened to Czar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra and their five children. Learn about how science is being used to solve one of history’s enduring mysteries in article from the November 2010 ”Smithsonian” magazine.

4. 3 Core Needs: Satisfy Them and You’ll Be Happy

Joe Robinson summarizes how to achieve happiness according to Rich Ryan and Ed Deci’s Self-Determination Theory. Having our needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness met leads to a host of positive outcomes, including happiness. From ”The Huffington Post”, November 15, 2010.

5. Psychopaths’ Brains Wired to Seek Rewards No Matter the Consequences

”The brains of psychopaths appear to be wired to keep seeking a reward at any cost, new research from Vanderbilt University finds. The research uncovers the role of the brain’s reward system in psychopathy and opens a new area of study for understanding what drives these individuals”, according to research by Francis S. Collins and summarized in this article from ”Science Daily”, March 15, 2010.

6. Loneliness Adds to Rate of Blood Pressure Increase

”Chronic feelings of loneliness take a toll on blood pressure over time, causing a marked increase after four years”, according to a study by Louise Hawkley and summarized in ”Science Daily” March 19, 2010.

7. Mother-Son Relationship Key to Emotional Development

”Children, especially boys, who have insecure attachments to their mothers in the early years have more behaviour problems later in childhood”, according to research by Pasco Fearon and summarized in ”Science Daily”, March 29, 2010.

8. Exploration in Toddlers Activated by Fathers

”Fathers give toddlers more leeway and that allows them to actively explore their environments, according to a new study on parent-child attachment” by Daniel Paquette and summarized in ”Science Daily”, April 1, 2010.

9. Likert Scales: Dispelling the Confusion

John S. Uebersax wrote this overview of the uses and misuses of the term ”Likert Scale” to clear up confusion. Includes examples.

10. Create Your Own Crossword Puzzle

This website lets you enter vocabulary words and definitions which it then arranges into a crossword puzzle. Excellent way to help students review material and have some fun at the same time. Even better: Have students create their own puzzles.

11. Questionnaire Compendium

Alan Reifman, Texas Tech University, created this extensive listing of links to questionnaires used in Social-Personality psychology where ”(a) the full instrument is shown, and (b) the instrument was put on the web by the person who created the instrument, thus ensuring that the instrument was intended to be put into the public domain”.

12. Black Identity

Robert Sellers, director of the African American Racial Identity Lab at the University of Michigan, provides measures used in their research including The Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity (MMRI), The Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity (MIBI) and The Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity-teen (MIBI-t).

13. African American Racial Identity Lab

Provides an overview of the work of Robert Sellers and the African American Racial Identity Lab at the University of Michigan. Includes presentations, publications, measures, and descriptions of current research studies on Identity Development, Racial Socialization, Racial Discrimination, Identity and Well-being and more. Most research reports are available in PDF format on the site.

14. Defense Mechanism Manual

According to researcher Phebe Cramer: ”The Defense Mechanism Manual was developed to assess the use of three defenses—denial, projection, and identification—as revealed in stories told to standard TAT and CAT cards.”

15. Meaning in Life Questionnaire

Michael F. Steger, director of the Laboratory for the Study of Meaning and Quality of Life explains ”The Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ) is a 10-item measure of the Presence of Meaning in Life, and the Search for Meaning in Life.”

16. A Favorite Link Revisited: How the Grinch Stole Psychology Class

After watching the 25 minute video of the classic Christmas story by Dr. Seuss, students analyze the Grinch’s personality and change of heart using theories and terms from personality including Freud, Adler, Horney, Maslow, and Rogers. A great end-of-the-semester review.

17. A Favorite Link Revisited BONUS: The Psych Elves

Michael Britt, of the Psych Files Podcast, had the temerity to turn these three personality psychologists into Elves. Can you identify them?

Personality Pedagogy Newsletter Volume 4, Number 8, April, 2010

Personality Pedagogy Newsletter Volume 4, Number 8, April, 2010

Hello and welcome to the forty-fourth Personality Pedagogy newsletter highlighting what’s new at http://personalitypedagogy.arcadia.edu.

Have you done your spring cleaning yet? Here at Personality Pedagogy, we’ve been doing some cleaning up of our own. This month we have (finally!) posted some interesting links that we’ve been meaning to get to, on all sorts of topics from Narrative Psychology to Neuroscience to Viktor Frankl to Barbie (!). We even found some new links to personality tests to feed what may already be the largest collection of links to legitimate personality tests on the internet! All in all, this is our biggest issue this year.

As ever, please pass this newsletter on to interested colleagues and invite them to sign up for future issues. Remember, you can read old newsletters, comment on newsletters, view the current newsletter or re-read what you missed in last month’s newsletter by checking out our blog: http://personalitypedagogy.wordpress.com/ You can even receive Personality Pedagogy newsletters via an RSS (“Really Simple Syndication”) feed as soon as they are posted.

Cheers,
Marianne

Marianne Miserandino
miserandino “at” arcadia “dot” edu

1. How to Interpret Brain Imaging Studies

The Neuroethics Learning Collaborative, of the Center for Neuroscience and Society at the University of Pennsylvania, created this video on Brain Imaging: Reality and Hype. Jeff Aguirre presents this talk on the basics of neuroimaging, focusing on how scientists go from tracking neural activity to making an inference about human behavior. Describes how PET scans and fMRIs work, and how to interpret results from fMRI studies. The talk was given on March 2, 2010 and runs 47 minutes and 10 seconds.

2. The Voodoo Debate

On the heels of the famous Ed Vul, Nancy Kanwisher and Hal Pashler paper ”Voodoo Correlations in Social Neuroscience,” Matt Lieberman and Piotr Winkielman continued the debate at the annual meeting of the Society of Experimental Social Psychologists (SESP) in 2009. The first link is to the video of their debate; this link to background information about the original paper which started the controversy.

3. Viktor Frankl

Article from the ”MacMillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying” by James W. Ellor (2003) on the life and work of Viktor Frankl.

4. Viktor Frankl ”Man Alive” (1977)

Frankl discusses his theories and his message of hope as an antidote to the problem of meaninglessness in this two-part interview from the 1977 TV program ”Man Alive” in Part 1 (4:28) and Part 2 (4:23).

5. Barbie says: ”Math class is tough”

This video presents the original 1992 Teen Talk Barbie saying the controversial phrase ”Math class is tough”. The company later dropped the phrase and apologized after criticism from the American Association of University Women in its report on how schools shortchange girls. This link is to the original story in The New York Times, October 21, 1992.

6. Gender and Race Equity in Math, Science, and Technology

Patricia B. Campbell, of Campbell-Kibler Associates, does research and evaluation to increase gender and race equity in math, science, and technology education. She has turned her findings into user-friendly reports, brochures, and pamphlets available on their site to view, download, print, and share with parents, educators, and children. Topics include Myths, Stereotypes, and Gender Differences; No Virginia, There is No Math Gene; Making It Happen: Pizza Parties, Chemistry Goddesses and Other Strategies that Work for Girls and Others; and much, much more.

7. The Snyder (1974) Self-Monitoring Scale

Mark A. Whatley, Valdosta State University, has posted selected personality tests for his Self and Identiy class. About the Self-Monitoring Scale he says: ”Developed by Mark Synder (1974), the Self-Monitoring (SM) Scale measures the extent to which you consciously employ impression management strategies in social interactions. Basically, the scale assesses the degree to which you manipulate the nonverbal signals that you send to others and the degree to which you adjust your behavior to situational demands. Some people work harder at managing their public images than do others. ” Scale and scoring instructions available here.

8. Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ; 1978)

Mark A. Whatley, Valdosta State University, has posted selected personality tests for his Self and Identiy class. About the Personal Attributes Questionnaire he says: ”Devised by Janet Spence and Robert Helmreich (1978), the PAQ assesses masculinity and femininity in terms of respondents’ self-perceived possession of various traits that are stereotypically believed to differentiate the sexes. The authors emphasize that the PAQ taps on limited aspects of sex roles: certain self-assertive or instrumental traits traditionally associated with masculinity and certain interpersonal or expressive traits traditionally associated with femininity. Although the PAQ should not be viewed as a global measure of masculinity and femininity, it has been widely used in research to provide a rough classification of participants in terms of their gender-role identity.” Scale and scoring instructions available here.

9. Self-Handicapping Scale

Mark A. Whatley, Valdosta State University, has posted selected personality tests for his Self and Identiy class. About the Self-Handicapping Scale he says: ”Self-handicapping refers to people’s engagement in behaviors that hinder performance in an effort to provide an excuse if they fail. Rhodewalt, Saltzman, & Wittmer (1984) have used this scale to effectively predict the performance of competitive athletes. You and others should find the responses to the items on this scale interesting. Question 4 on the scale must be reverse scored. Higher scores indicate greater self-handicapping. High self-handicappers compared to low self-handicappers are likely to engage in activities that protect themselves from an attribution that they are failures. If they do fail, then they can attribute their failure to the situation and not to their ability. ” Scale and scoring instructions available here.

10. Psychological Tests for Student Use

Ron Okada, York University, Toronto, maintains this handy page for his students conducting research. It contains scales and scoring instructions for many tests relevant for both social and personality psychology. The tests are available in PDF or Word 2002 formats for the downloading. Tests available include the Attitude Towards Women Scale, Authoritarianism-Rebellion Scale, Body Esteem, Loneliness Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Personal Attributes Questionnaire, Procrastination Scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale, Aggression Questionnaire, Trust Scale and much more.

11. Evolution: What Does it Mean to Be Human?

This web page provides background information for the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History’s exhibit ”What Does it Mean to Be Human?” Describes ongoing research projects and evidence on the evolution of human behavior and physical characteristics. The site features a 3D interactive image library of fossils and artifacts, interactive walk-through of the exhibit, and resources for educators including lesson plans for 6-12 on human evolution, genetics, and more.

12. 10 Steps to Conquer Perfectionism

”Here are 10 techniques I use to break out of the prison of perfectionism in order to live and create as freely as I can in an imperfect world” according Therese Borchard, for PsychCentral.

13. Mating Strategies Not Universal

Summarizes the results of a cross-cultural study which found ”that men and women in monogamous societies, such as Pitcairn Islanders, and some polygynous societies, including the Aka in the Central African Republic, have overlapping ranges of number of offspring.” This finding suggests that there is greater variation in reproductive strategies than was once thought, so the tendency for men to be promiscuous and for females to be selective may not be universal. From Science News, May 23, 2009.

14. Genetic Risk for Anxiety Does Not Have to Be Destiny

Gene-by-environment interactions that place some people at risk for depression, anxiety disorders and alcohol abuse may not be the whole story. Monkeys with a gene which puts them at risk for aggression and anxiety were raised either in small or large group cages. While the monkeys raised in small groups were more likely to be aggressive and anxious, monkeys reared in large, social cages were protected from developing these problems. From ”Science Daily”, May 3, 2009.

15. Meditation May Increase Gray Matter

”Certain regions in the brains of long-term meditators were larger than in a similar control group. Specifically, meditators showed significantly larger volumes of the hippocampus and areas within the orbito-frontal cortex, the thalamus and the inferior temporal gyrus — all regions known for regulating emotions”. From ”Science Daily”, May 13, 2009

16. What’s Your Story? The Psychological Science of Life History Research

Jesse Bering describes life history research in which ”how we “spin” our self-narratives can reveal our hidden personalities” in this essay for ”Scientific American”, May 5, 2009.

17. Don’t!

Describes the classic work of Walter Mischel on delay of gratification research, including interviews with the now grown-up participants of the original marshmallow studies. ”Children who are able to pass the marshmallow test enjoy greater success as adults.” ”The New Yorker”, May 18, 2009, by Jonah Lehrer.