| CODE | PLC5712 | ||||||||
| TITLE | Personality and Life Planning | ||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | ||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 5 | ||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Pastoral Theology, Liturgy and Canon Law | ||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit will provide students with the opportunity to correlate the insights on personality with the decisions people take to plan and give meaning to their own life. Participants will engage with the main theories regarding the study of personality including those addressing different life stages. Building on these insights, this study-unit will explore the connection with a persons鈥� decision making process in relation to one鈥檚 life and career opportunities. This theme will also be explored in relation to different life stages including young, middle and late adulthood. Finally, participants will explore ways of applying this knowledge to accompaniment of people in the context of pastoral counselling and/or spiritual direction. Study-unit Aims: This study-unit aims to enable pastoral functionaries to differentiate between different personalities, analyse different developmental stages and evaluate the impact on life planning and career choices. Moreover, this study-unit will equip pastoral functionaries with the necessary tools to facilitate wise decision making processes for people through different life stages and/or refer to competent professionals. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: 鈥� Discuss how different personalities address the task of career choice; 鈥� Indicate the psychological dynamics marking different life-stages and their relation to life-planning and meaning making; 鈥� Give examples of how psychological dynamics explored in this study unity enhance pastoral counselling and/or spiritual direction. 2. Skills By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: 鈥� Illustrate how personality theories support pastoral functionaries when they accompany people in the process of taking decisions about their lives and careers; 鈥� Connect theories on life-stages with people鈥檚 search for meaning in their life-choices and work commitments; 鈥� Propose ways of applying relevant theory on personality and life stages to different pastoral settings; 鈥� Assess their own motivations as persons opting to commit themselves as pastoral functionaries. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: MAIN TEXT: - Cahalan, Kathleen A. and Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore, Calling all Years Good. Christian Vocation Throughout Life鈥檚 Seasons (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2017.) - Canfield J., Wells H.C., 101 Ways to Enhance Self-Esteem and Responsibility (USA: Allyn and Bacon, 1996). - Erikson, Erik H., Identity and the Life-Cycle (New York: International Universities Press, 1959). - Frankl V., Man鈥檚 Search for Meaning (New York: Pocket Books, 1959). SUPPLEMENTARY READING: - Bloom, Matt, Amy E. Colbert, and Jordan D. Nielsen. 鈥淪tories of Calling: How Called Professionals Construct Narrative Identities,鈥� Administrative Science Quarterly 66/2 (2021): 298-338. - Cahalan, Kathleen A. and Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore, Calling all Years Good: Christian Vocation Throughout Life's Seasons (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2017) - Levinson, D. J., The Seasons of a Man鈥檚 life (New York: Random House Digital, Inc., 1978). - Levinson, D. J., The Seasons of a Woman鈥檚 Life: A Fascinating Exploration of the Events: Thoughts, and Life Experiences that All Women Share (New York: Ballantine Books, 2011). - Schlegel, Rebecca J., Joshua A. Hicks, Laura A. King, and Jamie Arndt, 鈥淔eeling Like You Know Who You are: Perceived True Self-Knowledge and Meaning in Life,鈥� Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin; Pers Soc Psychol Bull 37/6 (2011): 745-756. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture and Independent Study | ||||||||
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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