PERSONALITY
PSYC 30203 (PSY 3113) Fall, 2026

Professor: Dr. Travis Langley              Office: McBrien 301-F
Email: langlet@hsu.edu

Required textbook:
Theories of Personality, by Schultz, Schultz, & Maranges

OVERVIEW:

This course looks at personality, your characteristic pattern of behavior. The course examines the topic from a variety of theoretical perspectives, and explores such topics as personality development, personality factors, traits, gender roles, personality disorders, character types, and related identity issues.

SCHEDULE:

Refer to official schedule for last day to drop with grade of W. After that, the professor will not assign a grade of WP to someone who is failing.

EXAMS

Each unit will conclude with a 40-item multiple-choice exam covering lecture notes, assigned readings, and class discussion. Bring #2 pencils and Scantron sheets for every test. Erase errors completely. Any answer marked wrong due to an incomplete erasure is simply wrong. After all, if you know you can get credit by going up to a professor later and say, “Look, I didn’t erase a couple of errors, and it counted one of them wrong,” that would not motivate you to be careful and responsible in the first place. Making responsible work habits part of your PERSONALITY will benefit you in all areas of life. On every test, put your name and ID# on the front of the answer sheet and the test.

ONE test score will be dropped: either your lowest test score without penalty or one missing test score with an excused absence. There will be NO makeup tests. There’s no such thing as a perfectly fair makeup test, so that’s why your professor simply drops a test instead.

GRADING SCALE

Test questions range in difficulty to get an accurate idea of exactly how much you know and understand about the course material. The scale on the 40+ point tests is simply this:

Your professor reserves the right to subtract any number of points from the grade of someone who disrupts class (which includes monopolizing discussion, talking over the professor, distracting actions), or to assign a course grade of F to someone caught cheating. If you walk into class late, take a seat in the back near the door instead of walking through the class and being a distraction. Keep track of your own grades. If you want to keep up with your grades, write down your numerical scores along the way, not the letter grade for each test.

Writing Across the Curriculum: The last question on every test will be “What else did you learn from the current course material that was not otherwise covered by this test?” The normal maximum credit for this is 3 points, although someone who writes a lot of extra material might earn 3.5 or 4.0. Generally, you get half a point per distinct fact provided in your answer. Do not simply write a name or term. Write complete sentences and tell what you learned about that name or term. For example: Writing Julian Rotter would earn no credit by itself. Writing that Rotter developed the idea of locus control would get you half a point. Defining locus of control would get you another half. Good examples could get another half. To earn full credit on the bonus question, you really need to talk about multiple topics.

INTERNET DAYS

Each week you will be given Internet-based study assignments to be completed by the 10:59, before the beginning of class time Friday, for which you will receive a grade.

There will normally be two assignments listed for each week. The number varies depending on how often we meet in the classroom. You must do certain assignments to be counted present for each day that class will be fully online (meaning most Mondays and some Fridays).

You’ll go to the Canvas page for the class and find those assignments on the course’s discussion forum. If computer difficulties or any other surprises keep you from getting it done on time, well, that means you should have done it earlier because they’ll normally be up for at least three days before they’re due. Assignments MUST be received by their deadlines (10:59 a.m., before class begins that Friday). Your end-of-semester total for these assignments will be equal in value to one test. No late work will be accepted, so do not even ask. If something comes up that interferes with getting the work done, well, you should have done it earlier.

Do NOT email your work to your professor. Emailing it instead of posting it where it’s supposed to go counts as missing the assignment altogether, plus you’ll lose points from your overall grade.

How Those Online Assignments Get Graded: 
http://www.travislangley.info/?page_id=1548

ATTENDANCE

Lectures and tests will normally be held in class on Wednesdays and most Fridays.

The #1 correlate with poor grades in any class is absenteeism. Poor attendance, therefore, punishes itself. The professor reserves the right to drop anyone for profound absenteeism. Unless you miss a test or have a medical statement, do not tell me that you’re going to miss class or why you missed after the fact. If you miss class, you are responsible for getting copies of the notes from fellow students and asking them what you missed.

Because doing Internet assignments counts as attendance, missing an assignment counts as missing class. People who miss three assignments and/or class sessions could be dropped from the class without notice. This is your notice.

ELECTRONICS POLICY

Your phone and other electronic devices must be OFF and OUT OF SIGHT. If your phone is out, you lose a point. If you’re peeking down at your phone, you lose a point. If it keeps happening, the penalty can progressively keep increasing, becoming larger each time. Just don’t do it. Do not let impair your grade or fail the class over a phone habit.

If your phone rings or vibrates loudly enough for your professor to hear it during class, every ring is a classroom disruption and can cost you points. If it rings once, make sure it does not ring a second time. Do not text during class because that is distracting to others. If you need to be on your phone that badly, then you need to be somewhere else. Each time your phone is in sight (yours or mine) during class, you lose a point from your best test grade.

If your phones or notes are visible during a test, that will be treated as cheating because too many students use their phones to cheat. I do not have to confirm what was on your phone. Also, do not wear hats or watches during tests.

Don’t use computers to take classroom notes. Sorry, but too many professors have run into problems with people distracting other students by sitting there surfing the Internet.

A.I. is never permitted. See part II of the syllabus for elaboration.

COMMUNICATION

The best way to contact your professor is via email at langlet@hsu.edu.

If you do not normally use your reddies.hsu.edu email address, you MUST set it up to forward messages to you because if I have to email a message to the class, that’s where the system will send it. You are responsible for making certain you are set up to receive messages from your professor. Every time you email your professor, say who you are and which course and assignment you’re talking about at the beginning of your message (not just in your subject line because that doesn’t immediately show in some apps).

Syllabus Part II: Academic Honesty, Expected Learning Outcomes, Computer Tips, Disability Services

Any information in this syllabus may be subject to change, correction, or other revision.