Advanced Personality Theory

"There are thousands of personality tests out there, but not many are about personality", my professor at Stockholm University said when he supervised my dissertation for the MSc (Fil Mag) in psychology.

Personality theory has both critics and supporters - indeed, many concepts are too limited to be of much use. Like IQ and EQ, personality develops over time; and it takes more than test results to say anything.

In this course you will learn how to look for the whole person  ("thick description"). This is the base for understanding how we become what we are. We are of course much more than four letter abbreviations.

Using the "River of Life" exercise you will explore how you have become what you are, from temperament and genes via social conditions to habits, interests and interactions with yourself, others and the world. 

You will learn how to use a crucial tool, Holland Interest Scales, as a proxy for personality in interviews, group facilitation, mentoring and coaching. If you're on one of our masterminds, you will be using this knowledge.

You will learn some central concepts for modern group psychology and how personality plays a huge role - such as the difference between 'helping extroverts' and 'selling extroverts'. 

And you will definitely appreciate our action research with case studies and Holland based team allocations with more than 300 non-executive directors. You'll be fascinated!

If you want to build a solid ground and are are interested to find out what actually works, this course is for you. We are not teaching the history of psychology from Freudian ideas to statistical models - instead we simply take the most accepted, widespread and valid personality theory (Big Five) and build an existential framework around it. 

This course features a Q&A sessions. You may also ask the author questions by e-mail or in the comment area for each module.