Theories of Personality Review Questions
Course Introduction
Theories of Personality explores the major theoretical perspectives and research developments that explain the structure, development, and dynamics of human personality. Students examine influential theories, including psychoanalytic, trait, humanistic, behavioral, cognitive, and social-cognitive approaches, studying key concepts, major theorists, and supporting empirical evidence. The course encourages critical analysis of how personality theories account for individual differences, predict behavior, and contribute to fields such as clinical, developmental, and industrial/organizational psychology. By the end, students gain a comprehensive understanding of the complexity of personality and its role in psychological functioning.
Recommended Textbook
The Person An Introduction to the Science of Personality Psychology 5th Edition by Dan P. McAdams
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12 Chapters
486 Verified Questions
486 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: Studying the Person
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40 Verified Questions
40 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Today, most personality psychologists tend to regard the concept of a "personality trait" as:
A) Indispensable to the science of personality
B) A useful fiction about the consistency of human lives
C) A deeply flawed idea that has no place in the science of personality
D) Useful for predicting behavior when people are alone but not when they are in social situations
Answer: A
Q2) Which of the following scientific tools is a good theory not likely to provide?
A) Abstract model
B) Hypotheses
C) Conceptual terminology
D) Statistical procedure
Answer: D
Q3) According to Allport,
A) Traits have motivational features
B) Motivation directs traits
C) Behavior determines traits and motivation
D) Unconscious forces shape human individuality
Answer: A
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Chapter 2: Evolution and Human Nature
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40 Verified Questions
40 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Human beings share all of the following features of morality with their nearest primate neighbors except
A) Special treatment of the disabled
B) Concepts of giving, trading, and revenge
C) Peacemaking and avoidance of conflicts
D) Tender feelings for members of other species
Answer: D
Q2) What is the overall behavioral goal of the attachment system according to Bowlby?
A) Mother-infant proximity
B) Sharing of information between mother and baby
C) Physical stimulation of the infant
D) High levels of smiling and eye contact
Answer: A
Q3) Kin selection increases inclusive fitness because it
A) Promotes one's own survival
B) Benefits biological relatives who have similar genes
C) Builds groups solidarity and defense of the group against attack
D) Makes it more likely that one will be helped in return
Answer: B
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Social Learning and Culture
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40 Verified Questions
40 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Internal locus of control has been positively associated with all of the following except
A) Less compliance and conformity
B) Higher levels of extraversion and conscientiousness
C) Greater perceived competence
D) Lessened susceptibility to hypertension and heart attack
Answer: B
Q2) Which of the following has not been identified as a principal component of African-American culture?
A) An American mainstream component, espousing such values as individualism and materialism
B) An emerging majority sense component suggesting expectations of eventual triumph vis-a-vis other groups
C) A minority sense component shared with other disadvantaged minorities in American society
D) A unique blackness component incorporating concepts of "soul" and "style" Answer: B
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Personality Traits: Fundamental Concepts and Issues
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40 Verified Questions
40 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) If a factor analysis of a trait scale shows that the items load on two independent factors, then the psychologist may conclude that
A) The scale measures two different traits
B) The scale measures two separate aspects of the same trait
C) Either a or b
D) Neither a nor b
Q2) In Sheldon's constitutional psychology, which of the following personality types was supposedly associated with a thin, ectomorphic body build in men?
A) Self-conscious introvert
B) Easygoing and affable
C) Dominant and courageous
D) Thoughtful intellectual
Q3) Studies, which see behavior as accounted for by trait, situation, and the interaction of the two, are based on a model of
A) Mechanistic interactionism
B) Reciprocal interactionism
C) Situationism
D) Transactional analysis
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Chapter 5: Five Basic Traits in the Brain and in Behavior
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40 Verified Questions
40 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following characteristics is not associated with the Big Five trait of conscientiousness C)?
A) Responsibility
B) Achievement orientation
C) Empathy
D) Persistence
Q2) Recent cognitive research on introversion and extraversion suggests that
A) Introverts focus on accuracy over speed, while extraverts focus on speed over accuracy
B) Introverts perform better than extraverts on tasks requiring higher-order reasoning
C) Extraverts have better long-term memory for words
D) Extraverts process information at a more shallow level than do introverts
Q3) Pioneers in the arts and sciences tend to score especially high on which of the following traits
A) Authoritarianism
B) Neuroticism
C) Extraversion
D) Openness to experience
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Chapter
Environments, and Time
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40 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following tends to occur regarding differential continuity of traits over the human lifespan?
A) Differential continuity of traits tends to decrease as the length of time between measurement intervals increases
B) Differential continuity of traits tends to increase as measurement intervals increase
C) Differential continuity of traits tends to decrease later in the lifespan
D) Differential continuity of traits tends to be equally high regardless of testing intervals
Q2) Research on stress reactivity analogizes different children to dandelions and orchids. Which of the following statements captures what this line of research suggests?
A) Orchids show a higher sensitivity to context
B) Dandelions show stronger and more consistent behavior patterns
C) Orchids show a lower sensitivity to context
D) Dandelions show weaker and less consistent behavior patterns
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Chapter 7: Motives and Goals: What Do We Want in Life
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40 Verified Questions
40 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Why might we classify motives and goals as "characteristic adaptations" instead of "dispositional traits?"
A) Because motives and goals predict both emotions and behavior, whereas traits predict only behavior
B) Because motives and goals are contextualized in time
C) Because motives and goals are unconscious
D) Because motives and goals are self-chosen whereas traits are outside of our control
Q2) As people move from young adulthood into middle age, their goal pursuits tend to change in which of the following ways?
A) They tend to pursue shorter-term goals
B) They tend to adopt secondary control mechanisms, rather than primary control, to cope with goal loss and their own constraints
C) They move from intimacy and achievement oriented goals to goals associated with power motivation
D) They experience more conflict between different goals
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9
Chapter 8: Self and Other: Social-Cognitive Aspects of Personality
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40 Verified Questions
40 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Why do securely attached individuals show more compassion for others?
A) Because they identify with their attachment objects
B) Because they feel a closer connection to other people
C) Because they have a firmer sense of conscience
D) Because they need to prove themselves worthy of their attachment objects
Q2) Which of the following generalizations about cognitive style is not true?
A) Women are more field-dependent than men
B) Children are more field-dependent than adults
C) Migratory tribes are more field-dependent than agricultural societies
D) Field dependence-independence is unrelated to academic achievement
Q3) In the United States, involvement in a religious tradition is associated with
A) Higher levels of mental health
B) Lower levels of mental health
C) Higher levels of intelligence
D) Lower levels of prejudice against outgroups
Q4) A schema does all of the following except
A) Make information more complex
B) Screen out irrelevant information
C) Fill in gaps when information is missing
D) Convert information into a particular format
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Chapter 9: Developmental Stages and Tasks
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40 Verified Questions
40 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Josselson's longitudinal studies of women suggest that those who as college students ignored the challenges of identity formation tended in midlife to
A) Have a large number of regrets
B) Develop strong convictions about life
C) Have delayed identity crises
D) Express higher levels of warmth and care for others
Q2) Which of the following is not a question directly related to the problem of formulating an identity?
A) Is there a real "me" behind the various roles I play?
B) What might life have been like if I had been born a girl instead of a boy?
C) Should I go into business or become a doctor?
D) How friendly am I?
Q3) In studies of self-recognition, an infant is placed in front of a mirror after a parent has secretly applied lipstick or some other mark to the infant's nose. Infants younger than 15 months of age are likely to respond by
A) Touching their own noses
B) Pointing at their noses in the mirror
C) Refusing to look at themselves in the mirror
D) Showing little if any interest in the mirror
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Page 11
Chapter 10: Life Scripts, Life Stories
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40 Verified Questions
40 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) To say that a narrative identity integrates a life is to say that it
A) Brings happiness and fulfillment to a person's life
B) Brings together different parts of a person's life
C) Offers important life lessons
D) Connects the individual to ultimate truths about life
Q2) Each of the primary emotions in Tomkins's script theory system is linked to all of the following except
A) Characteristic facial expressions
B) Characteristic subjective experience feeling)
C) Particular adaptive significance
D) Particular cognitive representation
Q3) With respect to narrative identity, the years before adolescence function to
A) Provide material for the life story that is constructed later on
B) Shape the basic images, goals, and themes of the story
C) Offer plots and characters that are later rejected or ignored in the story
D) Establish the personality traits out of which the life story is constructed
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Chapter 11: Interpreting Peoples Stories: From Freud to
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46 Verified Questions
46 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Early memories of students who report that they exert effective control in the world emphasize
A) Passive activity
B) Experiences of joy and excitement
C) Strong parental control over behavior
D) Personally causing events to occur
Q2) According to Adler, first-born children should show which of the following characteristics?
A) Being spoiled
B) Skepticism about authority
C) Competitiveness
D) Conservatism
Q3) In psychoanalytic approaches, when a therapist or researcher) projects his or her own feelings and wishes regarding the patient or participant) onto the relationship with the patient or participant), this is an example of
A) Dream work
B) Hermeneutics
C) Transference
D) Countertransference
13
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Chapter 12: Writing Stories of Lives: Biography and the Life Course
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Sample Questions
Q1) In Murray's personology, a pattern of related needs and press plural), derived from infantile experience, which organizes or gives meaning to a large portion of an individual's life, is called a
A) Thema
B) Unity-thema
C) Durance
D) Serial
Q2) According to Jacques, the creative artist before midlife shows which of the following forms of creativity?
A) "Hot-from-the-fire<sup>"</sup>
B) Sculpted and philosophical
C) "The golden mean"
D) Uneven and unfinished
Q3) Allport criticized Freud's case studies for Freud's attempts to
A) Discover new theories in the case
B) Exemplify and prove his own theories through the case
C) Test hypotheses through the case study
D) Evaluate the outcome of therapy through the case study
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