Personality Classic Theories and Modern Research

Personality Classic Theories and Modern Research What Is Personality? MULTIPLE CHOICE. Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the question. 1) How might personality psychology best be defined? A) scientific study of the way persons interact in social situations B) scientific study of ways in which people are similar to animals C) scientific study of the theories of Sigmund Freud D) scientific study of what makes a person popular E) scientific study of what it means to be a person Answer: E 2) Which of these questions does personality psychology ask? A) How are we unique as individuals? B) How and why do individuals behave the way they do? C) What psychological forces make people who they are? D) What is the nature of the self? E) All of these Answer: E 3) Which of the following is an accurate way of assessing personality? A) palm reading B) physiognomy C) astrology D) face reading E) none of these Answer: E 4) Of the following, which is NOT a source of personality theory? A) analogy B) induction C) deduction D) conduction E) All of these are sources of personality theory. Answer: D 5) Which of the following would be an inductive approach to the study of personality? A) After you spend time developing a theory about personality and people’s behaviors at parties, you then go to a party to observe people. B) After learning about a theory of social interaction in your Sociology class, you decide to apply this information to your psychological understanding of personality and people’s experiences at parties. C) After reading several journal articles about personality and social interaction, you then collect data on this topic. D) After observing people at a party, you decide that extroverts enjoy parties more than introverts do. E) After reading Freud’s theory, you decide to examine people’s behavior at a party. Answer: D 6) Statistics are useful to personality psychologists A) because they provide concise ways of stating relationships. B) because they help us to quantify large amounts of data. C) because they help us to summarize data. D) because they are tools for understanding associations. E) for of all of these reasons Answer: E 7) Of the eight perspectives discussed in your text, which of the following is NOT true? A) They all provide useful information about personality. B) They each reflect a view of human nature. C) Research has shown some perspectives to be more useful than others. D) Very few of the perspectives are still regarded as useful. E) It is beneficial to learn about the strengths and weaknesses of all eight perspectives. Answer: D Page Ref: 8 8) Roots of personality psychology can be traced to the theater because A) actors often portray “characters” or easily recognizable types of people. B) Shakespeare was Freud’s best (most insightful) disciple. C) actors have always been considered celebrities D) early studies utilized theater-goers as subjects (easily available) . E) drama is an ancient art Answer: A Page Ref: 9 9) An early supporter of psychological testing (and where much testing is still conducted was A) preschools. B) the U.S. armed forces. C) large corporations. D) the existential flower-power movement. E) nurseries. Answer: B Page Ref: 14 10) In the 19th century, an important individual in the origin of personality psychology was A) Spinoza. B) Shakespeare. C) Darwin. D) Descartes. E) Leibnitz. Answer: C Page Ref: 13 11) Which of the following most emphasized the importance of life-span, longitudinal study of personality? A) Lewin B) Allport C) Freud D) Murray E) Kohler Answer: D Page Ref: 16 12) The Gestalt tradition emphasized the idea that A) “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” B) “two heads are better than one.” C) “you can run, but you can’t hide.” D) “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” E) “all the world’s a stage, and all the men and women are merely players.” Answer: A Page Ref: 16 13) If you read of a new “finding” in the newspaper one morning but noticed that only Caucasian subjects from Seattle were used in the experiment you might not give a lot of credibility to the study. This would be because of possible __________ limitations. A) sexual B) generalizability C) computer nerd D) gender-related E) paranormal Answer: B Page Ref: 18 14) Advances in the field of biological science A) have demonstrated that there really is no such thing as personality. B) have drawn attention away from the field of psychology. C) have enabled modern researchers to disprove all of Freud’s theories. D) have localized personality to a single specific brain region. E) have helped researchers to think more clearly about what personality is. Answer: E Page Ref: 12 15) Gestalt psychologists hold a fundamental belief that A) personality is static after the age of six. B) mental illness is rooted in childhood trauma. C) everyone is inherently good. D) people are more than the sum of their parts. E) life is what you make it. Answer: D Page Ref: 16 16) The Barnum effect refers to the tendency to A) be conditioned through rewards and punishments. B) show off about one’s good qualities. C) exploit the good qualities of others. D) view changing situations as a kind of circus. E) believe vague generalities about one’s own personality. Answer: E 1 17) A nomothetic approach to personality A) studies pathetic aesthetics. B) is the study of what makes each of us unique. C) seeks to formulate general laws. D) involves the study of the “no mother” theories of S. Freud. E) studies ways in which people are similar to animals. Answer: C Page Ref: 18 18) If you read your horoscope in the morning newspaper and feel strongly that it is a personal message about how to conduct your day, you may be experiencing the A) Barnum effect. B) tendency toward critical thinking. C) Zodiac Intervention. D) context of personality. E) Gullibility Effect. Answer: A 1 19) Nomothetic and idiographic approaches to the study of personality are different in that A) nomothetic approaches rely on experimental methods, while idiographic rely on correlational methods. B) nomothetic approaches rely on correlational methods, while idiographic rely on experimental methods. C) nomothetic approaches are seldom used in research, while idiographic approaches are always used. D) nomothetic approaches tend to be more general, while idiographic focus on the unique aspects of the individual. E) nomothetic approaches focus on unique aspects of the individual, while idiographic approaches are more general. Answer: D Page Ref: 18 20) If we ask everyone in the class to describe the personalities of everyone else they know in the class, and then use these data to form a theory about the personality of college students, we are using A) conduction. B) analogy. C) reductio ad absurdum. D) induction. E) deduction. Answer: D Page Ref: 5 21) Which of the following does NOT describe a good theory? A) comprehensive B) productive C) falsifiable D) tautological E) parsimonious Answer: D Page Ref: 6 22) The roots of modern personality psychology can be traced to developments in the 19th century biological sciences based on the work of A) R. Descartes. B) M. Mead. C) C. Darwin. D) T. Roosevelt. E) I. Newton. Answer: C Page Ref: 13 23) Personality psychology that is focused on the study of individual cases is termed A) idiomatic. B) autopathic. C) automatic. D) idiopathic. E) idiographic. Answer: E Page Ref: 18 24) When personality psychology uses the term “ego forces,” this refers to A) the need to maintain an inflated sense of self-worth. B) the sense of identity or self. C) the desire to dominate others. D) the need to focus on infantile needs. E) none of these Answer: B 25) A correlation coefficient is a mathematical index of A) the degree to which one variable causes another. B) the degree of genetic relatedness of two family members. C) the degree of agreement (or association) between two measures. D) the degree to which a variable is a reliable measure. E) none of these options Answer: C 26) When two personality measures are negatively correlated, this indicates A) that the two measures reflect unrelated underlying traits. B) that a high value on one measure is causally related to a low value on the other measure. C) that the measures are most suitable for measuring negative traits. D) that low values on one measure correspond to low values on the other. E) none of these Answer: E 27) A high, negative correlation between sleep deprivation and anxiety would indicate that A) the more sleep deprived a person is, the more likely he/she is to be anxious. B) the less sleep deprived a person is, the less likely he/she is to be anxious. C) the more sleep deprived a person is, the less likely he/she is to be anxious. D) anxiety leads to sleep deprivation. E) sleep deprivation prevents anxiety. Answer: C 28) The term temperament, as used in personality psychology, refers to A) an individual’s characteristic emotional and motivational nature. B) the patterns of behavior that are considered appropriate within a cultural group. C) the extent to which an individual is warm vs. cool towards others. D) the extent to which an individual is moody or overly sensitive. E) none of these Answer: A Page Ref: 8 29) The notion that there are personality “types,” clusters of characteristics that tend to occur together, A) can be traced back to the ancient Greeks, at least. B) cannot, in principle, be empirically tested. C) is central to a learning-theory perspective. D) is a very recent idea that first arose in the 20th century. E) has been shown to be incorrect Answer: A Page Ref: 9 30) Darwin’s evolutionary theory influenced the development of the field of personality psychology through A) its focus on how a species on an isolated island may differ from its mainland counterpart. B) its focus on divine intervention as a mechanism of population change. C) the idea that people are subject to the laws of nature, like other animals. D) the introduction of fossil evidence as a source of data. E) the idea that extinct populations can provide important data. Answer: C Page Ref: 12 31) Margaret Mead’s view on the role of culture in personality was influenced by her findings from several different cultures that A) in none of the cultures did the females have the characteristics that our culture identifies as “masculine.” B) in every culture, strong maternal characteristics were seen in all women. C) sexual aggressiveness is a dominant feature of behavior across cultures. D) in some cultures, both the males and the females had the characteristics that our culture identifies as “masculine.” E) in every culture, the males had the characteristics that our culture identifies as “masculine.” Answer: D Page Ref: 16–17 32) With respect to unconscious forces, personality psychology as a field A) ignores unconscious forces, focusing only on the conscious forces that people can describe and report. B) focuses on unconscious forces, because conscious forces are subject to bias in self-report. C) has developed a clear understanding of the ways in which unconscious forces influence people. D) struggles to understand how and to what extent unconscious forces play a role in human behavior. E) explains unconscious forces as showing the hand of God in humankind Answer: D Page Ref: 17 33) An approach to personality would be called nomothetic if A) it focuses on characterizing the life-course of individuals. B) it emphasizes a historical perspective. C) it seeks to formulate laws that hold across individuals. D) it seeks to characterize the uniqueness of each individual. E) it is based on detailed and reliable testing systems. Answer: C Page Ref: 18 34) If a theory is classified as “falsifiable,” this means that the theory A) could be claimed to be true based on misleading or counterfeit data. B) has been stolen from another researcher. C) represents the null hypothesis. D) could be shown to be false by some type(s) of data. E) has been shown to be false. Answer: D Page Ref: 6 35) Research suggests that pets A) have personalities only their owners can detect. B) have personalities that different people may agree on. C) do not have personalities. D) cannot in any valid way be described in terms of personality traits. E) may have personalities, but they are not reliably assessed. Answer: B Page Ref: 13 36) What is the definition of the inductive approach? A) Reasoning from data obtained by observation to theory B) Reasoning from theory to empirical observation C) Reasoning from data to empirical testing D) Reasoning from empirical observation to experimental data E) Reasoning from theory to data Answer: A Page Ref: 5 37) An early representation of personality psychology can be traced back to what? A) Early eastern societies B) Theater C) Wihelm Wundt D) The American Indians E) The British colonists Answer: B Page Ref: 9 38) Which of the following statements is true of the unconscious? A) It has been scientifically proven that the unconscious doesn’t exist. B) The unconscious is a complete mystery, nothing is known about it. C) Every approach to psychology ignores the unconscious. D) Personality psychology struggles to understand how and to what extent the unconscious plays a role in behavior. E) Personality psychology struggles to prove that the unconscious plays a role in behavior. Answer: D Page Ref: 17 39) According to Allport, what is the method by which personality should be studied? A) Nomothetic B) Idiographic C) Inductive D) Deductive E) Allport argued against the study of personality Answer: B Page Ref: 18 40) In personality psychology, why are males and females often studied as separate groups? A) To find and understand differences in personality between males and females B) To understand the biological differences between males and females C) To determine whether males or females have more desirable characteristics D) To reduce sample sizes in a group E) To increase random variance Answer: A Page Ref: 18 41) Which term applies to the tendency to believe that vague generalities are a good description of one’s personality? A) The gullibility effect B) The passive effect C) The believability effect D) The active effect E) The Barnum effect Answer: E 1 SHORT ANSWER. Write the word or phrase that best completes each statement or answers the question. 42) Personality psychology is the __________ study of psychological forces that make people unique. Answer: scientific 43) An approach to psychology in which the conclusions follow logically from premises or assumptions is called a(n) __________ approach. Answer: deductive Page Ref: 5 44) An approach to psychology in which concepts are developed based on carefully collected observations is called a(n) __________ approach. Answer: inductive Page Ref: 5 45) __________, neo-analytic/ego, biological, behaviorist, cognitive, trait, humanistic/existential, and interactionist are the eight __________ on personality. Answer: Psychoanalytic; perspectives Page Ref: 7 46) __________ theory was historically important to personality psychology because it freed thinking from assumptions of divine control. Answer: Darwinian evolutionary Page Ref: 12 47) __________ science searches for universal laws that can be applied to all people. Answer: Nomothetic Page Ref: 18 48) __________ science involves the study of individual cases. Answer: Idiographic Page Ref: 18 49) The tendency to believe vague generalities about one’s personality is called the __________ effect. Answer: Barnum 1 50) One of the basic issues in personality psychology is the fact that there are inconsistencies in every person’s behaviors. Attempts to understand these inconsistencies usually focus on the importance of the person versus the __________. Answer: situation Page Ref: 18–19 51) During World War I, the __________ began widespread use of personality assessments. Answer: Army (military) Page Ref: 14 ESSAY. Write your answer in the space provided or on a separate sheet of paper. 52) Describe one way in which religious beliefs and one way in which theater influenced the development of personality theory. Answer: 53) How does Darwin’s theory of evolution help to explain the presence of personality characteristics? Answer: 54) Describe Margaret Mead’s contribution to the field of personality psychology. Answer: 55) Discuss the sources of theories about personality. Define two primary sources discussed in the text and use an example to illustrate your understanding of each. Answer: 56) Provide a definition of personality psychology. What are the central questions this field attempts to answer? Answer: 57) Discuss the usefulness of studying eight perspectives of personality psychology. Which personality theory is correct and why? Answer: