For your Final Paper, you will identify and synthesize the concepts and constructs of personality theory that you find to be the most accurate and appropriate in explaining personality and development.

Throughout the course, you have engaged, probed, picked apart, and evaluated the thinking of a large number of theorists who wrote during different historical periods from different disciplinary, paradigmatic, and ideological perspectives. Based on different realms of human experience, the theorists moved toward a fundamental understanding of a single topic and fundamental question: What is the human personality, and, more generally, what makes us what we are as individuals and as a species?

You have already begun this task by identifying what you feel are the most compelling concepts in the first four of the seven theoretical models covered in the course during the Week 3 Primary Concepts assignment. You will continue that process in the first part of this Personality Theory Final Paper by identifying what you find to be the most compelling concepts in the remaining three models. Then you will continue that assessment by synthesizing the concepts of personality that

• Best explains the roles of heredity and environment.
• Provide the best means of assessing personality.
• Provide the best theoretical explanation for your personal journey of personality development.
• Provide the most useful applications for you as a scholar and professional.

Your paper should be organized according to the following scheme, with sections organized under the following APA-formatted headings. Address the following specifications for each heading. (For instructions on writing proper headings and other document elements, see the Ashford University Writing Center’s APA Style Elements (Links to an external site.).)

In your paper, include the following:

Introduction

Start your paper with a general, academic introduction to the topic of theories of personality.

• Explain what you plan to cover and the direction your paper will take.

Major Concepts

In Week 3, you identified what you considered to be the most important concepts from the psychodynamic, the neurobiological, the cognitive, and the trait models of personality. In this section of the Final Paper, you will present a concept from each of the remaining three models— behavioral, interpersonal, and self-psychology models.

For each of these three concepts:

• Apply a proper APA heading to separate the section.
• Describe the concept.
• Identify the theorist associated with the concept.
• Provide a rationale for why the selected concept is the most applicable from that model.

Keep in mind that the object of this assignment is to identify and discuss a specific concept from each model and not to focus on just one model or provide overviews of the models per se.

The Roles of Heredity and Environment

In this class, we have explored the roles heredity, the environment, and epigenetics play in the development of personality. In this section,

• Synthesize your views on how heredity and the environment affect personality development.

Assessment in Personality Theory

In this section, reflect on the various methods for assessing personality that has been presented in this course, and select one that you feel is most useful.

• Describe briefly the assessment method that you believe is most useful in assessing personality.
• Justify your selection of this method.

Personal Applications

In this section of the paper, reflect on your personality, and address the following items:

• Identify which of the seven models best explains your developmental journey.
• Provide at least one specific example of an element or elements of your personality that are explained by your selected model.

Career Applications

In this section, consider how you can use the knowledge from this course as a professional, addressing the following item:

• Explain how you can use the knowledge you have gained about personality development to help achieve your career goals.

Conclusion

Provide a brief conclusion, addressing the following:

• Summarize the ideas presented in your synthesis of, and reflection on, personality theory.

The Personality Theory Final Paper

• Must be eight to ten double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and must use proper APA headings with all document and citation formatting according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s APA Style (Links to an external site.)
• Must include a separate title page with the following:
  • Title of paper
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted
• Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.
• Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.
  • For assistance on writing Introductions & Conclusions (Links to an external site.) as well as Writing a Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.), refer to the Ashford Writing Center resources.
• Must use at least six scholarly sources in addition to the course text and other required sources to support your conclusions, including at least one scholarly source for each substantive section.
  • The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
  • To assist you in completing the library research required for this assignment, view this Ashford University Library Quick ‘n’ Dirty (Links to an external site.) tutorial, which introduces the Ashford University Library and the research process and provides some library search tips.
• Must document any information used from sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.)
• Must include a separate reference page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. See the Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the Ashford Writing Center for specifications.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.

I would argue that one of the most important things that you should leave this course knowing is how the two epistemologies (Empiricism and Rationalism) paved the way for the creation of modern psychology and still structures its theories and methods. The image above, with apologies to any fantasy gamers, illustrates (in order) the following differences that you should be mindful of:

The origin of the ideas; where the ideas flourished; associated philosophers and proto-psychologists; early psychological supporters; how the mind is understood; the “flow” of information; and what current/classic aspects of psychology endorse such an epistemology.

To get started, answer the following…

1) When we talk about “tabula rasa,” what are we trying to explain about Locke’s theory of knowledge acquisition? 2) What do you make of Locke’s “basins” demonstration? 3) How would Berkeley answer the question “If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around, does it still make a sound?” 4) Provide a summary of David Hume and his contributions. 5) Provide a summary of British Associationism from David Hartley through Alexander Bain. 6) Would you support Hume, or Hartley, or Bain as the first actual psychologist? Which? And why? or Why not any of them? 7) Explain how Le Mettrie can be understood as saying what Descartes likely meant.

After you’ve read the section on Bentham, watch this clip. Trust me…

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