Please note the following credit values:
BSc Course: 4.5 ECTS*
BSc Seminar Course: 9 ECTS
MSc Course: 5 ECTS
MBA Course: 3 ECTS
MBA Workshop: 1 ECTS
Language course: 5 ECTS
*The following BSc courses have a different credit value:
Business Communication: Theory & Practice: 3 ECTS
Managing your personal performance holistically: 3 ECTS
Harmonizing Leadership with Personal Development: 3 ECTS
Mental Health First Aid: 1,5 ECTS
Understanding your personal performance base: 1,5 ECTS
Workshop Body Language for Women: 1,5 ECTS
Intercultural Competence - Fit for International Collaboration: 1,5 ECTS
Perform Yourself! Media and Presentation Coaching: Personal Presence!: 1,5 ECTS
Personality and Motivational Psychology - Q4
Participation Prerequisites
The course supports discussion-based learning, so class attendance on campus is required.
The course requires self-study time, which includes preparation time for the next session. If there are tasks for the next session (e.g., reading, reflection), students are required to come to class prepared.
Please bring a name tent to class.
Course Content
- Technical terms, theories, and applications of personality and motivational psychology, incl.
- approaches to personality, e.g,. the Big Five
- personality in the workplace: leadership and vocational fit
- approaches to motivation, e.g., intrinsic motivation and flow, expectancies, attributions, goals...
- motivation in the workplace
- Measuring motivation and personality
- (Critically) reflecting on and applying motivation and personality theory, especially in business
Intended Learning Outcomes and Competencies
In this course, we will cover the topics of personality psychology and motivational psychology. After completing this course, you will have acquired important technical terms and the subject matter of personality and motivation (e.g., What is psychology and motivation from a scientific point of view?), knowledge of theory (e.g., the Big Five and different theories conceptualizing motivation), as well as possible applications (e.g., how can we use personality and motivational psychology in the work context? How can we motivate our employees?). You will know different methodological approaches of personality and motivation and be able to critically classify, evaluate, and assess their scope. You will also be able to evaluate and practically apply some standardized psychometric measurement instruments. Further, you will have practised applying personality and motivational psychology and have understood its relevance for business. You will have further enhanced your reflective skills, creativity, and ethical thinking in the process of examining personality and motivation concepts.
Instruction Type
in-class
Form of Examination
| Form of Assessment | Weighting (in %) |
Duration of written exam in minutes |
| Written Exam | ||
| Oral Examination | - | |
| Written Work (Individual) | - | |
| Written Work (Group) | - | |
| Presentation (Individual) | - | |
| Presentation (Group) | - | |
| Business Simulation | - | |
| Class Participation | - | |
| Answer-Choice-Exam | - | |
| Other assessment format (please specify): | - |
Literature
Required reading will be made available to you in Moodle. The following books can give you deeper insights and help you clarify the contents we cover:
- Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2016). Personality and Individual Differences. Wiley.
- Haslam, N., & Smillie, L. (2022). An Introduction to Personality, Individual Differences, and Intelligence (3. Aufl.). Sage.
- Maltby, J., Day, L., & Macaskill, A. (2023). Personality, Individual Differences and Intelligence. Pearson.
Next events
| 1/6 | Lecture | Mo, 09.03.2026 | 15:30 Uhr | 18:45 Uhr | D-001 Hörsaal / Lecture Hall |
| 2/6 | Lecture | Mo, 16.03.2026 | 15:30 Uhr | 18:45 Uhr | D-001 Hörsaal / Lecture Hall |
| 3/6 | Lecture | Tu, 24.03.2026 | 15:30 Uhr | 18:45 Uhr | D-001 Hörsaal / Lecture Hall |
| 4/6 | Lecture | Mo, 30.03.2026 | 15:30 Uhr | 18:45 Uhr | D-001 Hörsaal / Lecture Hall |
| 5/6 | Lecture | Tu, 07.04.2026 | 15:30 Uhr | 18:45 Uhr | D-001 Hörsaal / Lecture Hall |
| 6/6 | Lecture | Mo, 13.04.2026 | 15:30 Uhr | 18:45 Uhr | D-001 Hörsaal / Lecture Hall |
Lecturers
Schürmann, Linda
Lecturer
Indicative Student Workload
| Self-Study | 64 h |
| Contact Time | 24 h |
| Examination | 2 h |
Esc