Week 12 · Readings & resources

Week 12 — Readings & Resources

Introduction to Psychology Free sample edition

Your primary reading is Chapter 12 (in this module). Everything below is the optional, go-deeper layer — pick what helps, skip the rest.

How to use this page

This page has 11 items (5 readings and 6 videos). Allow 92–113 minutes for everything. Each group points back to the matching chapter section and class-session segment, so use the full menu when you want more practice, or take the quick path below.

Every video here has captions: turn them on with the CC button in the player. The chapter covers the same ideas in text.

Pick-one quick path (19–23 min total)

① What is going on beneath the surface? Freud's id, ego, superego, and defenses

Chapter 12, Section “Look beneath the surface: the psychodynamic family” · Session 1, Segment 2, “The psychodynamic family” · Remember: defense mechanisms are unconscious, so a person using one does not know they are doing it.

Freudian Defense Mechanisms (Intro Psych Tutorial #131) — PsychExamReview — a longer tutorial that walks through the defenses one at a time with everyday examples; pause after repression, denial, rationalization, projection, and displacement and match each to the missed-deadline story. (video, 13 min) (captions: creator)
Defense Mechanisms In Psychology — Simply Psychology — read the opening and the entries for the five defenses this week names, then the critical evaluation for why the ideas are hard to test; keep the chapter's definitions where the wording differs. (reading, 10–15 min)
Rorschach and Freudians: Crash Course Psychology #21 — CrashCourse — the story of Freud's theory of the id, ego, and superego, and of the inkblot test that grew from the idea of hidden motives. (video, 12 min) (captions: creator)

② How do five dials describe everyone? The Big Five

Chapter 12, Section “Turn the dials: the trait family and the Big Five” · Session 1, Segment 4, “The trait family and the Big Five” · Remember: each Big Five dimension is a continuous dial, and most people sit near the middle of most dials.

Measuring Personality: Crash Course Psychology #22 — CrashCourse — a quick tour of how psychologists have tried to describe personality, from old type schemes to the Big Five and the social-cognitive view. (video, 11 min) (captions: creator)
The Big Five Personality Traits — Sprouts — a short animated explainer of the five dimensions; as you watch, read one person you know on each dial and use that reading while completing the Week-12 module overview. (video, 6 min) (captions: creator)
Big 5 Personality Traits: The 5-Factor Model of Personality — Simply Psychology — read the description of each of the five traits and the section on how the model was found, and skim the rest. (reading, 10–15 min)

③ How do beliefs and settings shape a person? The social-cognitive family

Chapter 12, Section “Change the setting: the social-cognitive family” · Session 2, Segment 6, “The social-cognitive family” · Remember: in reciprocal determinism, beliefs, behavior, and the environment each influence the other two.

The Self and Reciprocal Determinism (Intro Psych Tutorial #145) — PsychExamReview — a tutorial on how a person's beliefs, behavior, and environment push on one another, with self-concept along the way. (video, 7 min) (captions: creator)
Albert Bandura, Leading Psychologist of Social Learning Theory, Dies — Association for Psychological Science — a short remembrance of the researcher behind the Bobo doll study and self-efficacy; stop at the end of the personality story, because next week takes up social behavior. (reading, 4–6 min)

④ Which personality tests can you trust? Inventories, inkblots, and type quizzes

Chapter 12, Section “Measure a personality: inventories versus projective tests” · Session 2, Segment 7, “Inventories versus projective tests” · Remember: a test earns trust by giving the same result twice and by measuring what it says it measures.

Rorschach: Psychology’s Most Controversial Test — SciShow Psych — why the inkblot test is still argued over, told through the evidence on its reliability and validity. This builds on Week 9's work with judging intelligence tests for reliability and validity. (video, 6 min) (captions: creator)
Skeptical ‘Deep Dive’ on the Myers-Briggs Test — Association for Psychological Science — read the introduction and the first part of the conversation with a personality researcher about why a famous type test sorts people into boxes. (reading, 8–12 min)

Optional one-stop reference (free online reference)

Big-Five Factor Markers — International Personality Item Pool — a research collection of personality-test items; read the item lists for each of the five factors to see how a self-report inventory turns each dial into statements you agree or disagree with, and skip the longer scales. (reading, 5–10 min)

Heads-up (links rot): these point to outside sites that occasionally move or rename pages. If a link ever fails, tell your instructor and use the reference above in the meantime.

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