I describe an assignment for personality psychology or introduction to psychology classes in which students used the Five Factor Model of personality to analyze the personality of entertainer Johnny Carson through his The New York Times obituary. Students evaluated this assignment highly: A majority indicated that the assignment was interesting, enjoyable, and useful in helping them to understand and apply the Five Factor Model, and all agreed that the assignment was thought-provoking.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BotwinM. D.BussD. M.ShackelfordT. K. (1997). Personality and mate preferences: Five factors in mate selection and marital satisfaction. Journal of Personality, 65, 107–136.
2.
CarlsonJ. F. (1992). From Metropolis to Never-neverland: Analyzing fictional characters in a personality theory course. Teaching of Psychology, 19, 153–155.
3.
CostaP. T.Jr.McCraeR. R. (1992). Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI—R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO—FFI). Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
4.
DunnD. S. (1997). Identifying imagoes: A personality exercise on myth, self, and identity. Teaching of Psychology, 24, 193–195.
5.
GerrigR. J.ZimbardoP. G. (2005). Psychology and life (17th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
6.
GleitmanH.FridlundA. J.ReisbergD. (2004). Psychology (6th ed.). New York: Norton.
7.
GoslingS. D.KoS. J.MannarelliT.MorrisM. E. (2002). A room with a cue: Personality judgments based on offices and bedrooms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 379–398.
8.
HughesR. L. (1984). Teaching concepts of personal adjustment using popular music. Teaching of Psychology, 11, 115.
9.
KellyE. L.ConleyJ. J. (1987). Personality and compatibility: A prospective analysis of marital stability and marital satisfaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 27–40.
10.
KirshS. J. (1998). Using animated films to teach social and personality development. Teaching of Psychology, 25, 49–51.
11.
LarsenR. J.BussD. M. (2005). Personality psychology: Domains of knowledge about human nature (2nd ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
12.
LevineR. V. (1983). An interdisciplinary course studying psychological issues through literature. Teaching of Psychology, 10, 214–216.
13.
McCraeR. R.CostaP. T.Jr. (1997). Personality trait structure as a human universal. American Psychologist, 52, 509–516.
14.
McCraeR. R.CostaP. T.Jr. (1999). A Five-factor theory of personality. In PervinL. A.JohnO. P. (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (2nd ed., pp. 139–153). New York: Guilford.
15.
MuellerS. C. (1985). Persons in the personality theory course: Student papers based on biographies. Teaching of Psychology, 12, 74–78.
16.
PaddockJ. R.TerranovaS.GilesL. (2001). SASB goes Hollywood: Teaching personality theories through movies. Teaching of Psychology, 28, 117–120.
17.
PervinL. A.CervoneD.JohnO. P. (2005). Personality: Theory and research (9th ed.). New York: Wiley.
18.
PolysonJ. A. (1983). Student essays about TV characters: A tool for understanding personality theories. Teaching of Psychology, 10, 103–105.
19.
RentfrowP. J.GoslingS. D. (2003). The do re mi's of everyday life: The structure and personality correlates of music preferences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 1236–1256.
20.
RubenzerS. J.FaschingbauerT. R.OnesD. S. (2000). Assessing the U.S. presidents using the Revised NEO Personalty Inventory. Assessment, 7, 403–420.
21.
SeveroR.CarterB. (2005, January 24). Johnny Carson, low-key king of late-night TV, dies at 79. The New York Times, p. A1.
22.
WhiteR. W. (1974). Teaching personality through life histories. Teaching of Psychology, 1, 69–71.
23.
YikM. S.BondM. H. (1993). Exploring the dimensions of Chinese person perception with indigenous and imported constructs: Creating a culturally balanced scale. International Journal of Psychology, 28, 75–95.