This exercise is meant to encourage you to think about your own personality in terms of several of the approaches we've considered during the summer. It's natural when studying personality, indeed when studying psychology in general, to think about how the concepts and theories apply to you. In the case of personality, this is especially likely, because we understand most personality constructs in terms of our own experience. So here is your chance and your challenge: Think back across the course, considering as many of the chapters and approaches as seem relevant to analyzing yourself, and write a 4- to 5-page self-analysis. If possible, do this in a serious way, as if you were a psychologist or psychiatrist who has been given the professional job of trying to understand a particular person, you, as thoroughly as possible.
In doing so, consider the following issues, although you probably can't include them all: (1) the Big Five personality traits (where do you fall along each of the five dimensions?); (2) the joint determination of personality by genes and social experiences, especially experiences in your family; (3) major motives, goals, and conflicts (viewed in terms of the concepts in Chapter 16 or the ones in the psychodynamic chapters or both); (4) attachment style (where do you probably fall in terms of the three attachment styles?); (5) personal constructs (major categories or constructs you use to perceive, categorize, and understand yourself and other people in your life); (6) major attributional tendencies (are you an entity theorist or an incremental theorist, as discussed in Chapter 16, when it comes to understanding the causes of your successes and failures?); (7) cultural background (does this seem to affect your personality and self-conception?); (8) other aspects of your "self," as discussed in Chapter 17 (e.g., self-esteem, self-efficacy); (9) major problems or shortcomings (any tendencies toward particular personality disorders discussed in Chapter 18?); (10) anything you'd like to change if you were to undertake a long-term self-improvement project.
This is a big job, and it would take a one- or two-year psychoanalysis to accomplish it in detail. But see how far you can get in 4 or 5 pages. One helpful starting point might be to write at the top of a piece of lined paper "Who am I?" and then answer the question in as many ways as come to mind. With that list of characteristics and identities before you, use some of the concepts covered in this course to probe deeper into the nature of "you" (life's most interesting phenomenon, right?). Remember, this is a GE writing course, so you should follow good writing practices, and we should grade you on all aspects of your paper: content, astute use of concepts from this course, and professional writing style. Consult our Writing Tips guide if you have writing questions or problems. And as always, feel free to ask for assistance if you have questions or get stuck.