Instructions

This exercise will allow you to apply your knowledge of personality theories and build your self-awareness by examining your own personality constructs.  You are required to write a 2,000-word reflective piece framed within the relevant theories of personality.  The assessment contains two parts:

Part 1: Theories of Personality (1000 words)

What distinguishes trait theory from other personality theories? Discuss similarities and/or differences in relation to at least two other theories. Remember to support your answer with evidence from the psychological literature.

Part 2: Reflective Activity (1000 words)

This exercise aims to build both your understanding of personality theory and to increase your self-awareness by requiring you to examine your own personality constructs.

For this reflective activity, you should carry out a personality test on yourself from the International Personality Item Pool.

Using Gibbs (1988) reflective cycle, you should answer the following questions:

Describe which tool you used and your experience of completing the tool (what happened?)
How did you feel when undertaking the test and on receiving the outcome of the test? Did you understand all the questions that were being asked, was it user-friendly?  (What were you thinking and feeling?)
Evaluate your experience of completing a personality test. What was good and bad about it?
Do you think it reflected your personality? Were the questions in line with theories of personality? Did you agree with the findings? Link this to your understanding of your personality traits revealed. (Making sense of this situation)
What have you learned about your personality and how that could impact on your performance in meeting your goals? (Conclusion)
Preparation

“The scientist-practitioner model produces a psychologist who is uniquely educated and trained to generate and integrate scientific and professional knowledge, attitudes, and skills so as to further psychological science, the professional practice of psychology, and human welfare. The graduate of this training model is capable of functioning as an investigator and as a practitioner, and may function as either or both, consistent with the highest standards in psychology.” (Belar & Perry, 1992). 

There are a number of competencies which characterize this model, one of which is that your expert qualities should not remain a mystery and that the ability to reflect on ones actions it critical to engaging in a process of continuous learning.