Psychology 3580F 650 FW24
Research in Personality Assessment
If there is a discrepancy between the outline posted below and the outline posted on the OWL course website, the latter shall prevail.
Western University
London Canada
Department of Psychology
Fall/Winter 2024
Psychology 3580F Section 650
Research in Personality Assessment
1 Calendar Description
Addresses reliability and validity issues as well as several contemporary topics in assessment such as multitrait-multimethod analysis, personality testing in personnel selection, and control of dissimulation or "faking" of personality test responses. The course includes a hands-on research component.
Antirequisites: N/A
Prerequisites: Both Psychology 2801F/G (or one of Health Sciences 2801A/B, Psychology 2840F/G, Psychology 2855F/G) and Psychology 2811A/B (or one of Biology 2244A/B, Economics 2122A/B, Economics 2222A/B, Geography 2210A/B, Health Sciences 3801A/B, MOS 2242A/B, Psychology 2830A/B, Psychology 2850A/B, Sociology 2205A/B, Statistical Sciences 2035, Statistical Sciences 2141A/B, Statistical Sciences 2143A/B, Statistical Sciences 2244A/B, Statistical Sciences 2858A/B, the former Social Work 2207A/B), or both the former Psychology 2800E and the former Psychology 2810, PLUS registration in third or fourth year Honours Specialization in Psychology or Honours Specialization in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. Third or fourth year Psychology Majors and Psychology Special Students who earn 70% or higher in both Psychology 2801F/G (or 70% or higher in one of Health Sciences 2801A/B, Psychology 2840F/G, Psychology 2855F/G) and Psychology 2811A/B (or 70% or higher in one of Biology 2244A/B, Economics 2122A/B, Economics 2222A/B, Geography 2210A/B, Health Sciences 3801A/B, MOS 2242A/B, Psychology 2830A/B, Psychology 2850A/B, Sociology 2205A/B, Statistical Sciences 2035, Statistical Sciences 2141A/B, Statistical Sciences 2143A/B, Statistical Sciences 2244A/B, Statistical Sciences 2858A/B, the former Social Work 2207A/B), or 70% or higher in the former Psychology 2820E (or 60% or higher in the former Psychology 2800E and the former Psychology 2810) also may enrol in this course.
2 lecture hours asynchronous online, 2 lab hours combined synchronous presentations and online discussion forum.
Course Weight: Online/distance studies, 0.5 course.
Unless you have either the prerequisites for this course or written special permission from your Dean to enrol in it, you may be removed from this course and it will be deleted from your record. This decision may not be appealed. You will receive no adjustment to your fees in the event that you are dropped from a course for failing to have the necessary prerequisites.
2 Course Information
Instructor: Bruno Bonfá Araujo
Office & Phone: via Zoom
Office Hours: By appointment (please email)
Email: bbonfaar@uwo.ca
Teaching Assistant: TBA
Office: TBA
Office Hours: TBA
Email: TBA
Time and Location of Classes: Asynchronous – lectures posted weekly
Delivery Method: Virtual (via OWL)
For courses that include an online component, students must have a reliable internet connection and computer that are compatible with online learning system requirements.
3 Course Materials
No specific textbook is required but readings will be assigned on a weekly basis in accordance with the lecture schedule in this document.
4 Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes
This course familiarizes the student with research on several key topics in the assessment of individual differences such as the use of personality assessment in pre-employment testing; “faking” of personality test responses and control of “faking” of personality test responses; multitrait-multimethod analysis. In so doing, this course will improve skills in evaluating research in the assessment of individual differences and developing research ideas. The hands-on component of the course is designed to develop applied and conceptual skills relevant to the assessment of individual differences.
Learning Outcome |
Learning Activity |
Assessment |
describe and explain important personality traits that underlie performance in a variety of jobs |
Lecture Content, Readings, Participation Activities, Forum Discussions, Presentation |
Test, Essay, Assignments, Participation Activities, Presentation. |
generate new testable hypotheses regarding the assessment of personality |
Lecture Content, Readings, Participation Activities, Research for Essay and Presentation |
Essay, Assignments, Participation Activities, Presentation. |
design research to test hypotheses regarding the assessment of personality |
Lecture Content, Readings, Participation Activities, Research for Essay and Presentation |
Test, Essay, Assignments, Participation Activities, Presentation. |
identify and describe important measurement issues relevant to the assessment of personality |
Lecture Content, Readings, Participation Activities |
Test, Participation Activities, Assignments. |
apply concepts and theories from personality assessment to real world problems |
Lecture Content, Readings, Participation Activities, Research for Essay |
Test, Essay, Participation Activities, Assignments. |
5 Evaluation
The evaluation and testing formats for this course were created to assess the learning objectives as listed in section 4 and are necessary for meeting these learning objectives
Test. There will be one test of up to 2 hours in length, consisting of questions varying in length from short answer or multiple-choice to essay. The test will cover all the reading, lecture and other material covered up to that point. The test will be worth 20% of the final course grade and it will be a “closed book” test (no books, notes, electronic devices, or aids of any type will be allowed).
Essay. An APA-formatted essay of 2500 words (not counting references, tables, figures, and
appendices) must be completed by each student. More details on the content, structure, and
grading of the essay, will be provided early in the semester. The research proposal for the
essay topic will be worth 5% of the final course grade. The final essay will be worth 25% of the final course grade. Aside from accepted accommodations (see Section 9.0), submitting your essay after the deadline will result in a deduction of 5 percentage points per day. In other words, a paper that would have received a grade of 85% if handed in by the deadline, will only receive a grade of 80% if handed in one day late.
Presentation. Students in this course will be expected to deliver one presentation based on
their research essay, worth 10% of the final course grade. Presentations will take place towards the end of the semester. Additional details about the structure of this presentation will be provided early in the semester.
Assignments. There will be three assignments throughout the course that involve applications of the course content, worth 30% of the final course grade in total (Assignment 1 = 5%, Assignment 2 = 10%, Assignment 3 = 15%). Additional details about each assignment will be provided early in the semester.
Participation. The lecture component of this course is asynchronous, but the presentation component is synchronous. Participation marks will generally be obtained from actively participating in the forum. A total of 10% of the final course grade will be accounted for by participation.
Course component |
% of Final Grade |
Exam |
20% |
Research Essay |
30% |
… Proposal |
5% |
… Final Essay |
25% |
Assignments |
30% |
… Assignment 1 |
5% |
… Assignment 2 |
10% |
… Assignment 3 |
15% |
Presentation |
10% |
Participation |
10% |
Policy on Missing Coursework
Test. Unless accommodation is granted (as per Section 9.0), students who do not complete
the test will receive a grade of zero on this component of the course. If accommodation is
granted, the student will be expected to complete the makeup test. There will be one, and only one, makeup test, and it will be scheduled 7-12 days after the original test. Students who have received accommodation to complete the makeup test but fail to complete the makeup test, will receive a grade of zero on this component of the course, unless further accommodation is granted.
Essay. Unless accommodation is granted (as per Section 9.0), students who do not submit an essay will receive a grade of zero on this component of the course. If accommodation is
granted, the deadline for submitting the essay will be extended.
Assignments. Unless accommodation is granted (as per Section 9.0), students who do not submit an assignment will receive a grade of zero on that assignment. If accommodation is granted, the deadline for submission of the assignment will be extended for a maximum of 2 weeks. If an extension of longer than two weeks is granted, rather than submitting the assignment, the student’s final grade in the laboratory component will be reweighted accordingly. This is because the graded assignments will ordinarily be returned to the rest of the class 2 weeks after the deadline.
Presentations. Unless accommodation is granted (as per Section 9.0), students do not
deliver a presentation will receive a grade of zero on that presentation.
PLEASE NOTE: Because this is an essay course, as per Senate Regulations, you must pass the essay component to pass the course. That is, the average mark for your written assignments must be at least 50%.
This course is exempt from the Senate requirement that students receive assessment of their work accounting for at least 15% of their final grade at least three full days before the date of the deadline for withdrawal from a course without academic penalty.
The Psychology Department follows Western’s grading guidelines: https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/general/grades_undergrad.pdf
The expectation for course grades within the Psychology Department is that they will be distributed around the following averages:
70% 1000-level to 2099-level courses
72% 2100-2999-level courses
75% 3000-level courses
80% 4000-level courses
In the event that course grades are significantly higher or lower than these averages, instructors may be required to make adjustments to course grades. Such adjustment might include the normalization of one or more course components and/or the re-weighting of various course components.
Policy on Grade Rounding
Please note that although course grades within the Psychology Department are rounded to the nearest whole number, no further grade rounding will be done. No additional assignments will be offered to enhance a final grade; nor will requests to change a grade because it is needed for a future program be considered.
6 Assessment/Evaluation Schedule
Test. The test will take place on October 21 from 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM.
Essay. The essay must be submitted through the “assignments” section of the OWL site by
November 29 at 11:55 p.m.
Assignments. All assignments must be submitted through the “assignments” section of the
OWL site. Assignment 1 will be due October 7th at 11:55 p.m. Assignment 2 will be due
October 28th at 11:55 p.m. Assignment 3 will be due November 12th at 11:55 p.m.
Presentations. Presentations will take place from on November 12th, 14th, and 18th.
7 Class Schedule
The list and order of topics follows. Readings for each topic are indicated but may be
modified as necessary on an ongoing basis. Some of the listed readings may be designated as optional by the Instructor in advance of the respective class. Any modifications to the lecture schedule will be announced via. Unless otherwise indicated by the instructor or TA, all readings are available through Resources/Readings in OWL.
- September 9 to 13: Course Overview
- September 16 to 20: Essential Measurement Issues in Personality Assessment: Reliability
Murphy, K.R., & Davidshofer, C. O. (2005). Psychological testing: Principles and Applications (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Chapters 6 and 7 (pp. 116-152). Note: Do not bother to read the sections on “Reliability of Difference Scores,” “Reliability of Composite Scores,” and “Reliability of Criterion-Referenced Tests.”
- September 23 to 27: Essential Measurement Issues in Personality Assessment: Validity
Murphy, K.R., & Davidshofer, C. O. (2005). Psychological testing: Principles and Applications
(6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Chapters 8 and 9 (pp. 153-201). Note: Do not bother to read the section on “Tests and Decisions” or the material on pages 192-198.
- September 30 to October 4: Personality Assessment and Pre-employment Testing: Basic Issues
Hughes, D.J., & Batey, M. (2017). Using personality questionnaires for selection. In Goldstein, H.W., Pulakos, E.E., Passmore, J. & Semedo, C. (Eds.) The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of the Psychology of Recruitment, Selection and Employee Retention. Malden, MA: Wiley. pp. 151-181.
Raymark, P. H., Schmit, M. J., & Guion, R. M. (1997). Identifying potentially useful personality
constructs for employee selection. Personnel Psychology, 50, 723-736.
Tett, R. P., Jackson, D. N., & Rothstein, M., (1991). Personality measures as predictors of job
performance: A meta-analytic review. Personnel Psychology, 44, 703-742.
- October 7-11: Personality Assessment and Pre-employment Testing: The “Faking” of Personality Test Responses
Blasberg, S.A., Rogers, K.H., & Paulhus, D.L. (2013). The Bidimensional Impression Management Index (BIMI): Measuring agentic and communal forms of impression management. Journal of Personality Assessment, 96, 523-531.
Christiansen, N. D., Goffin, R.D., Johnston, N. G., & Rothstein, M. G. (1994). Correcting the 16PF for faking: Effects on criterion-related validity and individual hiring decisions. Personnel Psychology, 47, 847-860.
Dwight, S.A., & Donovan, J.J. (2003). Do warnings not to fake reduce faking? Human
Performance, 16, 1-23.
Fan, J., Gao, D., Carroll, S. A., Lopez, F. J., Tian, T. S., & Meng, H. (2012). Testing the efficacy of a new procedure for reducing faking on personality tests within selection contexts. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(4), 866–80.
Goffin. R.D., & Boyd, A.C. (2009). Faking and personality assessment in personnel selection:
Advancing models of faking. Canadian Psychology, 50, 151-160.
Goffin, R.D., Jang, I., & Skinner, E. (2011). Forced-choice and conventional personality
assessment: Each may have unique value in pre-employment testing. Personality and
Individual Differences, 51, 840-844.
Jackson, D. N., Wroblewski,V. R., & Ashton, M. C. (2000). The impact of faking on employment tests: Does forced choice offer a solution? Human Performance, 13, 371-388.
Jeong, Y. R., Christiansen, N. D., Robie, C., Kung, M.-C., & Kinney, T. B. (2017). Comparing
applicants and incumbents: Effects of response distortion on mean scores and validity of
personality measures. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 25(3), 311–315.
Rosse, J. G., Stecher, M. D., Miller, J. L., & Levin, R. A. (1998). The impact of response distortion on preemployment personality testing and hiring decisions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 634-644.
- October 14 to October 18: Fall Reading Week
- October 21 to 25: Midterm Exam Review – No Readings (synchronous)
- October 28 to November 1: Conclusion of Personality Assessment & Pre-Employment Testing
- November 4 to November 8: Personality Testing within the Broader Range of Pre-Employment Testing Methods
Goffin, R. D. (2016). Intelligence in the Workplace. In V. Zeigler-Hill and T.K. Shackelford (Eds). Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. N. Y.: Springer.
Schmidt, F.l., & Hunter, J.E. (1998). The validity and utility of selection methods in personnel
psychology: Practical and theoretical implications of 85 years of research findings.
Psychological Bulletin, 124, 262-274.
Sackett, P. R., Zhang, C., Berry, C. M., & Lievens, F. (2022). Revisiting meta-analytic estimates of validity in personnel selection: Addressing systematic overcorrection for restriction of range. Journal of Applied Psychology, 107(11), 2040–2068.
- November 11 to 15: Project presentations (synchronous)
- November 18 to 22: Project presentations (synchronous)
- November 25 to 29: Essays Due
- December 2 to 6: Final Review and end-of-term wrap-up
8 Academic Integrity
Scholastic offences are taken seriously, and students are directed to read the appropriate policy, specifically, the definition of what constitutes a Scholastic Offence, at the following Web site: https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/scholastic_discipline_undergrad.pdf.
Possible penalties for a scholastic offence include failure of the assignment/exam, failure of the course, suspension from the University, and expulsion from the University.
Statement on Use of Electronic Devices
All electronic devices, including phones and laptops, will need to be put away during midterms, final exams, and presentations.
Plagiarism Detection Software
All required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to the commercial plagiarism detection software under license to the University for the detection of plagiarism. All papers submitted for such checking will be included as source documents in the reference database for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of papers subsequently submitted to the system. Use of the service is subject to the licensing agreement, currently between Western and Turnitin.com.
Use of AI
The use of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT to produce written work is not permitted unless permission is granted by the instructor for specific circumstances. Any work submitted must be the work of the student in its entirety unless otherwise disclosed. When used, AI tools should be used ethically and responsibly, and students must cite or credit the tools used in line with the expectation to use AI as a tool to learn, not to produce content.
Multiple Choice Exams
Computer-marked multiple-choice tests and/or exams will be subject to submission for similarity review by software that will check for unusual coincidences in answer patterns that may indicate cheating.
Exam Proctoring Software
Tests and examinations for online courses may be conducted using a remote proctoring service. More information about this remote proctoring service, including technical requirements, is available on Western’s Remote
Proctoring website at: https://remoteproctoring.uwo.ca.
Personal Response Systems (“Clickers”)
In classes that involve the use of a personal response system, data collected will only be used in a manner consistent to that described in this outline. It is the instructor’s responsibility to make every effort to ensure that data remain confidential. However, students should be aware that as with all forms of electronic communication, privacy is not guaranteed.
9 Academic Accommodations and Accessible Education
View Western’s policy on academic accommodations for student with disabilities at this link.
Accessible Education provides supports and services to students with disabilities at Western.
If you think you may qualify for ongoing accommodation that will be recognized in all your courses, visit Accessible Education for more information. Email: aew@uwo.ca Phone: 519 661-2147
10 Absence & Academic Consideration
View Western’s policy on academic consideration for medical illnesses this link
Find your academic counsellor here: https://www.registrar.uwo.ca/faculty_academic_counselling.html
Students must see the Academic Counsellor and submit all required documentation in order to be approved for certain academic considerations. Students must communicate with their instructors no later than 24 hours after the end of the period covered SMC, or immediately upon their return following a documented absence.
Medical Absences
Submit a Student Medical Certificate (SMC) signed by a licensed medical or mental health practitioner to Academic Counselling in your Faculty of registration to be eligible for Academic Consideration.
Nonmedical Absences
Submit appropriate documentation (e.g., obituary, police report, accident report, court order, etc.) to Academic Counselling in your Faculty of registration to be eligible for academic consideration. Students are encouraged to contact their Academic Counselling unit to clarify what documentation is appropriate.
Religious Consideration
Students seeking accommodation for religious purposes are advised to contact Academic Counselling at least three weeks prior to the religious event and as soon as possible after the start of the term.
11 Other Information
- Office of the Registrar: https://registrar.uwo.ca
- Student Development Services: sdc.uwo.ca
- Psychology Undergraduate Program: https://www.psychology.uwo.ca/undergraduate/index.html
Students who are in emotional/mental distress should refer to Health and Wellness@Western https://www.uwo.ca/health/ for a complete list of options about how to obtain help.
Please contact the course instructor if you require material in an alternate format or if you require any other arrangements to make this course more accessible to you.
If you wish to appeal a grade, please read the policy documentation at: https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/appealsundergrad.pdf. Please first contact the course instructor. If your issue is not resolved, you may make your appeal in writing to the Undergraduate Chair in Psychology (psyugrd@uwo.ca).
Copyright Statement
Lectures and course materials, including power point presentations, outlines, videos and similar materials, are protected by copyright. You may take notes and make copies of course materials for your own educational use. You may not record lectures, reproduce (or allow others to reproduce), post or distribute any course materials publicly and/or for commercial purposes without the instructor’s written consent.
12 Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that Western University is located on the traditional territories of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak, and Chonnonton. Nations, on lands connected with the London Township and Sombra Treaties of 1796 and the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum. This land continues to be home to diverse Indigenous Peoples (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) whom we recognize as contemporary stewards of the land and vital contributors of our society.