APSK15727U Elective course - Psychology of Self - SUMMER COURSE 2023
Kandidatuddannelsen i Psykologi 2015 – studieordningen
Full-degree students enrolled at the Faculty of Social Science, UCPH
- Bachelor and Master Programmes in Psychology
- Master Programme in Social Data Science
- Master programme in Political Science
The self-concept (or simply „the self“) subsumes peoples thoughts and feelings towards their own person. One classic test to measure the self simply asks people to provide 20 answers to the question “Who am I?”. Typical answers include “I am nice,” “I am competent,” “I am proud of myself,” and sometimes “I am the greatest!” To conduct research on the self it is necessary to divide the global self into more manageable parts (i.e., to sort the answer to the Who-am-I? test into categories and research each of those categories). A popular division distinguishes three parts: (1) the content of the self (e.g., “I am nice,” “I am competent”), (2) the valence of the self (e.g., “I am proud of myself,” “I dislike myself”), and (3) biases of the self (e.g., “I have a very high IQ” even though the person actually has an average IQ). This summer course will provide a detailed introduction into quantitative social and personality psychology on the self and, in particular, its three parts. We will spend much of our time in the course with comparing and discussing different, rival theories of self-content, self-valance, and self-bias (all from the quantitative tradition in social and personality psychology). The summer course will take place in two weeks in August (weeks 33-34). We will meet three times per week (Mo., Wed., Fr.) each time from 10:00 to 16:00. Meetings 1-2 will concern the content of the self (i.e., self-concept semantics), meetings 3-4 will concern the valence of the self (i.e., self-esteem), and meetings 5-6 will concern the biases of the self (i.e., self-enhancement). Each course attendee will prepare a presentation before our meetings and we will listen to those presentations, hear additional presentations from myself, and—most of all—discuss each presentation in detail. The language of the course is English.
The purpose of these modules is to expand knowledge or put the psychological subject area into perspective through theoretical or empirical specialisation within subject areas within or related to psychology. Upon completion of the elective subject module within the Department of Psychology, students are able to:
- describe and account for relevant concepts and themes within the elective subject: The self and its content, valence, and biases
- describe and account for relevant methodological approaches in relation to the subject matter for the elective subject: Quantitative approaches to understand the origin, nature, structure, and consequences of self-views
- explain contexts, analyse and/or conduct procedures relevant to the elective subject under supervision: Context sensitivity of the self as well as its stability across contexts and ensuing methods to examine self processes, mainly experimentation and longitudinal change.
- Category
- Hours
- Class Instruction
- 36
- Total
- 36
Registration period May 15 - June 1
International students can find information on course registration and deadlines at New exchange and guest students – Faculty of Social Sciences - University of Copenhagen (ku.dk)
- Credit
- 7,5 ECTS
- Type of assessment
- Written assignment
- Type of assessment details
- Set assignment with options - prepared at beginning of the
course and submitted in Digital Eksamen 6 weeks after the course
have ended.
Exact date will be published in Digital Eksamen at the beginning of the course.
The exam paper can be written in groups of maximum 3 students.
1 student max 12 pages, 2 students max 15 pages and 3 students max 18 pages - Exam registration requirements
For all elective subjects, a minimum of 75% of alle classes must be attended as a prerequisite for submitting the final exam. However, the teaching is based on full participation.
- Aid
- All aids allowed
- Marking scale
- 7-point grading scale
- Censorship form
- No external censorship
Criteria for exam assesment
See Learning Outcome.
Course information
- Language
- English
- Course code
- APSK15727U
- Credit
- 7,5 ECTS
- Level
- Full Degree MasterFull Degree Master choice
- Duration
- 1 semester
2 weeks
- Placement
- Summer
- Schedule
- Monday, Wednesday and Friday in week 33 and 34.
10am to 4pm all days. - Course capacity
- About 30 students per class
Study board
- Department of Psychology, Study Council
Contracting departments
- Department of Psychology
- Department of Political Science
- Social Data Science
Contracting faculty
- Faculty of Social Sciences
Course Coordinators
- Jochen Eberhard Gebauer (9-71356e6c69687c6c7947777a8035727c356b72)