Self-Insight assignment
Due February 18, 2009 -- worth 25 points
Introduction to Psychological Studies 202 | Dordt College | Dr. Sherri Lantinga
Purpose: As part of the career and calling exploration process, this assignment focuses on gathering information about yourself through personal interviews and a personality test.
Personal Interviews:
(1) Identify a family member, a current or previous Dordt professor (not Dr. Lantinga; your CORE 100 instructor may be a good choice), and a current or recent work supervisor who will be able to honestly identify your strengths/skills and areas of weakness.
(2) Set up a time with each person to talk (in person or by phone - not e-mail, texting, etc.) for about 15 minutes and let them know ahead of time what you'll want to talk about. The conversations should focus on what they each perceive as your top 3-4 specific strengths/skills in the situations where they know you best (e.g., classroom, work setting) and what 2-3 specific skills/areas they believe you could improve in that situation.
(3) During each conversation, keep focused on specific strengths/skills/personality traits and ask for examples. So, rather than talking about "friendly," see if you can get more specific behaviors that demonstrate that strength/trait (e.g., smiles first, makes eye contact, talks easily to others).
Personality testing:
(1) Take the Big 5 Personality test (on the DENIS page for Career Services, click Choosing a Career/Major, click on "assess" in the text, and choose the Big 5)
(2) Print the results of the test to attach to your paper.
Paper: Write a 2-3 page essay in APA style (typed, double-spaced, 12 point-font, 1" margins):
(1) Based on your interviews (make sure to reference these - see APA Manual section 3.102)
- summarize your strengths/skills (synthesize the information by content rather than summarize interview-by-interview)
- summarize areas for improvement
- reflect on how these fit with your self-understanding (e.g., confirmed, expanded, contradicted, etc.)
(2) Summarize your Big 5 Personality test results and reflect on how they relate to what you learned in the interviews.
(3) Reflect on what you learned from this project and what it suggests about specific areas you could further develop.
(4) Attach an APA-style title page and your Big 5 personality test results.
Evaluation criteria: Your paper is worth 25 points, based on its content (synthesis of information, depth of self-reflection), writing quality (e.g., organization, grammar, punctuation), and congruency with format requirements.
page revised February 2009