Individual Differences
Textbook Exam Questions
Course Introduction
This course explores the psychological foundations and significance of individual differences among humans, with attention to varying aspects such as intelligence, personality, motivation, and creativity. Students will examine major theories and research findings related to the origins and development of these differences, considering both genetic and environmental influences. Topics include the assessment and measurement of individual traits, the stability of such traits across the lifespan, and their implications for educational, occupational, and social outcomes. Through critical analysis of contemporary research, students will gain a nuanced understanding of how individual variability shapes human experience and behavior.
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) Which of the following is generally not a central point of emphasis in personality psychology per se?
A) Individual differences in persons
B) Continuity and stability in the person over time
C) Focus on the adult years
D) Psychotherapy technique
Answer: D
Q2) If a scientist obtained a +.75 correlation coefficient between intelligence and height in a sample of 125 male chimpanzees, this means that in the particular sample
A) Taller chimpanzees are always more intelligent than shorter ones
B) Taller chimpanzees tend to be more intelligent than shorter ones
C) 75% of the chimpanzees who are tall are also very intelligent
D) Taller chimpanzees tend to be less intelligent than shorter ones
Answer: B
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Chapter 2: Evolution and Human Nature
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is not a distinction between character structure CS) and role structure RS) according to Hogan's socioanalytic theory?
A) CS is unconscious; RS is conscious
B) CS stems from childhood; RS from adulthood
C) CS involves a relatively small audience; RS involves a larger audience
D) CS concerns spontaneous behavior; RS concerns social rituals
Answer: D
Q2) What is sociosexuality?
A) The extent to which a person is "choosy<sup>"</sup> when it comes to engaging in sexual relations with another person
B) The fact that sexual experiences are strongly shaped by social and cultural norms
C) The tendency for sexual partners to insist that their own sexual feelings are beyond their own control
D) The way in which a person encourages another to become involved in a relationship that may ultimately result in sexual relations
Answer: A
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Chapter 3: Social Learning and Culture
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to Bandura,
A) Reinforcement promotes learning but observation promotes performance
B) Reinforcement promotes performance but observation promotes learning
C) Reinforcement and observation promote learning but neither promotes performance
D) Reinforcement and observation promote performance but neither promotes learning
Answer: B
Q2) All behaviorist approaches to psychology show a very high regard for all of the following except
A) Objectivity in observation
B) Hypothetical constructs
C) Experimental rigor
D) The role of learning in behavior
Answer: B
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Chapter 4: Personality Traits: Fundamental Concepts and Issues
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40 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) All of the following are true about personality traits except that traits
A) Refer to internal dispositions
B) Are linear and usually) bipolar
C) Are assumed to be stable over time
D) Usually emphasize cognitive dimensions
Q2) Mischel's critique of personality psychology maintained that personality traits are
A) Mere summary categories for behavioral acts
B) Hypothetical constructs
C) Illogical and inconsistent
D) Categories in the minds of the observer
Q3) Mischel's critique of personality psychology maintained that A) There was no such thing as personality
B) Personality trait measures were poor predictors of behavior
C) Psychological measurement was unreliable
D) Behavior was cross-situationally consistent
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Chapter 5: Five Basic Traits in the Brain and in Behavior
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Sample Questions
Q1) Between the 1950s and the 1990s in the United States, scores on measures of anxiety and neuroticism tended to
A) Decrease steadily
B) Increase steadily
C) Remain relatively stable
D) Increase during Democratic administrations and decrease during Republican administrations
Q2) Recent revisions of Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory link the experience of intense fear to which of the following systems?
A) Behavioral Activation System
B) Behavioral Inhibition System
C) Fight-Flight-Freeze System
D) Affect Modulation System
Q3) Which of the following Big Five traits captures best the idea of social dominance?
A) Agreeableness
B) Openness to Experience
C) Conscientiousness
D) Extraversion
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Chapter
Time
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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) Studies examining the mean scores of the Big Five personality traits over time and across different cohorts suggest that as people get older
A) A agreeableness) declines but C and N increase
B) N decline slightly, but A and C increase
C) 0 increases throughout the lifespan
D) No mean differences in scores were reported
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8
Chapter 7: Motives and Goals: What Do We Want in Life
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Sample Questions
Q1) When people high in intimacy motivation spend time with their friends, they tend to engage in high levels of
A) Large-group activities
B) Self-disclosure
C) Helping behavior
D) Playing games
Q2) High achievement motivation has proven an asset in certain business contexts because it is correlated with
A) A stronger drive to compete
B) Entrepreneurship
C) Leadership
D) Positive mental attitude
Q3) Research on intrinsic motivation contradicts certain tenets of behaviorism because it shows that in certain cases
A) People do not seek rewards
B) Rewards lead to decrease in performance
C) Punishment is more effective than rewards in promoting positive behavior
D) Non-contingent rewards are superior to contingent ones
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Chapter 8: Self and Other: Social-Cognitive Aspects of Personality
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Sample Questions
Q1) Parents who show the pattern of dismissive attachment on the Adult Attachment Interview tend to have children who show what kind of attachment?
A) Secure
B) Avoidant
C) Resistant
D) Disorganized
Q2) What is the main goal of the "positive psychology movement"?
A) To promote the value of psychology to the public
B) To find positive cures for personality disorders and shortcomings
C) To understand the development of human virtues and character strengths
D) To transform psychology into an exact science, in keeping with the philosophy of logical positivism
Q3) According to Cantor and Kihlstrom's view of social intelligence, intelligent action is A) Reflexive
B) Stereotypic
C) Flexible
D) Indiscriminate
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Page 10
Chapter 9: Developmental Stages and Tasks
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Sample Questions
Q1) The major virtue attained during Erikson's last stage of the human life cycle is A) Fidelity
B) Love
C) Care
D) Wisdom
Q2) Which of the following statements about research on generativity is not true?
A) Midlife adults tend to have more generative life goals and commitments than young adults
B) Adults scoring high on self-report measures of generativity tend to be more actively involved in political and religious issues
C) Parents tend to score higher than nonparents on generativity
D) People scoring high in generativity report higher levels of life satisfaction and happiness
Q3) According to object relations theorists like Margaret Mahler, the fundamental drive or motive of human behavior and experience is a drive toward
A) Sexual expression
B) Aggressive destruction
C) Overcoming inferiority
D) Interpersonal relatedness
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Page 11
Chapter 10: Life Scripts, Life Stories
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Sample Questions
Q1) Narrative identity is
A) An internalized and evolving life story
B) An objective biography about the self
C) A collection of unrelated scenes about life
D) The basic principles that guide a life
Q2) Former psychotherapy patients who currently show the best psychological functioning tend to reconstruct their therapy experiences as a narrative in which
A) The therapist played a heroic helping role
B) They battled against a strong problem enemy) and emerged victorious
C) They improved because of a natural maturational process
D) They deny they ever had a problem in the first place
Q3) Compared to the paradigmatic mode of thought, the narrative mode
A) Aims to say no more than is meant
B) Emphasizes illogical and nonsensical statements
C) Explains the cause-and-effect relations of the physical world
D) Organizes human intentions
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Chapter 11: Interpreting Peoples Stories: From Freud to Today
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Sample Questions
Q1) In Nancy Chorodow's reinterpretation of the Freudian Oedipal complex, little girls develop an interdependent orientation to the world and little boys develop an oppositional orientation because
A) Girls identify with mother and boys view themselves as different from mother
B) Fathers are more nurturant toward girls than toward boys
C) Girls look to complete themselves in relationships whereas boys already feel completed
D) Society encourages girls to be socially cooperative and encourages boys to be competitive
Q2) Which of the following ideas is not a central part of Gregg's theory of the self as music and story?
A) The self is filled with tension and conflict
B) The self reflects the power structures of the social world within which the individual lives
C) A single true self can be disconcerned as a dominant melody in life
D) Opposite images in the self exist in an octave relation
Q3) What does it mean to suggest, as Freud does, that all behavior and experience may be seen as similar to a "text" and a "treaty?" What are the implications of this view for understanding persons?
Page 13
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Chapter 12: Writing Stories of Lives: Biography and the Life Course
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Sample Questions
Q1) The smallest meaningful unit of behavior in Murray's system is a
A) Thema
B) Proceeding
C) Need
D) Durance
Q2) According to Levinson, men in their early 30s are in the process of
A) Getting into the adult world
B) Settling down
C) Becoming their own men
D) Reexamining the past
Q3) For the most part, midlife is defined by
A) Biological changes
B) Changes in self-esteem
C) Societal expectations
D) Political and religious institutions
Q4) The main purpose of medieval hagiographies was
A) Veneration of Christian saints
B) Exposure of sinful ways of men and women
C) Moral instruction for everyday life
D) Entertainment
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