Personality Psychology Exam Review
Course Introduction
Personality Psychology explores the scientific study of individual differences in human behavior, thought, and emotion. This course examines major theories of personality development, including psychodynamic, trait, humanistic, social-cognitive, and biological perspectives. Students will investigate methods of personality assessment, the influence of genetics and environment on personality, and the relevance of personality research to everyday life. Through critical analysis and practical examples, the course encourages a deeper understanding of how personalities shape experiences, relationships, and psychological well-being.
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
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/study-set/3876
Page 2
Chapter 1: Studying the Person
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40 Verified Questions
40 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/77238
Sample Questions
Q1) The primary goal of science is
A) Personal growth
B) Understanding
C) Quantification
D) Technological advance
Answer: B
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
Q3) If Variable A is negatively correlated with Variable B, then
A) Variable A causes Variable B
B) Variable B causes Variable A
C) Both variables are caused by a third one
D) None of the above can be stated with certainty
Answer: D
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Evolution and Human Nature
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40 Verified Questions
40 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following statements about human evolution is false?
A) Human nature was forged during the Pleistocene Epoch
B) In the EEA, human beings lived in small, nomadic groups
C) The human species emerged in Africa, about 2-4 million years ago
D) Human beings evolved to adapt to the demands of agriculture
Answer: D
Q2) The hormone oxytocin is released in the brain during which of the following?
A) Appeasement gestures by subordinate wolves
B) Sexual activity and pair bonding in prairie voles
C) Aggressive displays by many different kinds of mammals
D) Newborn chick vocalizations in the presence of arousing stimuli
Answer: B
Q3) According to Hogan's socioanalytic theory of personality, a person's character structure is formed through
A) The child's patterns of self-presentation to parents
B) The methods of reward and punishment employed by parents in child training
C) Accepting and rejecting parental values concerning goodness, truth, and religion
D) Resolving conflicts between different childhood roles
Answer: A
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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) Among middle-class American and Italian families, Kohn's research found that
A) Lower social class parents emphasize self-direction with their children more than higher social class parents
B) Higher social class parents stress obedience to authority with their children more than lower social class parents
C) Higher social class parents emphasize self-direction with their children more than lower social class parents
D) There is no difference in parental values of obedience to authority and self-direction between higher social class parents and lower social class parents
Answer: C
Q2) Which of the following is not true of operant conditioning?
A) It involves punishment and rewards for behavior
B) Behavior is modified by its consequences
C) Behavior is elicited by stimuli
D) Reinforcement increases the frequency of responding
Answer: C
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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) Compared to those scoring lower, people scoring high on the trait of narcissism tend to
A) Use more first-person, singular pronouns "I," "me") in speech
B) Show lower levels of self-esteem
C) To score lower on traits of intelligence
D) Have more successful romantic relationships
Q2) 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
Q3) When behaviors are aggregated across many different situations, trait measures
A) Show strong relationships to discrete behavioral events
B) Prove to be less reliable than behavior scores
C) Show strong relationships to corresponding behavioral trends
D) Are shown to be less valid than previously thought
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6
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) Eysenck links individual differences in extraversion/introversion to the functioning of the
A) Limbic system
B) Reticular activating system
C) Thalamus
D) Cerebral cortex
Q2) Individuals scoring high on the sensation seeking trait tend to show all of the following except
A) Interest in adventure and risk-taking
B) Experimentation and variety in sex
C) Preference for complex as opposed to simple art forms
D) More liberal political views
Q3) Which of the following is not characteristic of the authoritarian personality?
A) Aggression
B) Submission
C) Cynicism
D) Liberal political views
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Chapter 6: Continuity and Change in Traits: the Roles of
Environments, and Time
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40 Verified Questions
40 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Twin studies suggest that heritability quotients for most self-report traits tend to be around
A) 70%-80%
B) 40%-50%
C) 20%-30%
D) 0%-10%
Q2) Research involving temperament dispositions and environment indicates that
A) People select and create environments that reinforce their current temperamental dispositions
B) People select and create environments that change their current temperamental dispositions
C) Environments shape temperament dimensions rather than the other way around
D) People actively seek environments that complement, rather than match, their temperaments
Q3) Research suggests that among older adults marriage tends to
A) Insulate men from negative emotion
B) Promote positive emotion in women
C) Lead to negative emotion in women
D) Increase negative emotion in both women and men
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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) A person high in achievement motivation desires
A) To perform better
B) To become independent
C) To exert influence
D) All of the above
Q2) Research on repression suggests that repressors organize their negative emotional memories
A) In especially complex associative networks
B) By using overlapping categories
C) In random order throughout an associative system
D) As simple episodes that do not connect to other associations
Q3) 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
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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) Responses on the Adult Attachment Interview indicating secure/autonomous attachments are characterized as
A) Stories of strong positive feelings about the past
B) Highly coherent narratives of parental relations
C) Adventure stories with a strong and independent protagonist
D) Stories of strong dependence on other people
Q3) During times of war, integrative complexity scores from literary correspondence tend to
A) Increase
B) Decrease
C) Fluctuate up and down
D) Remain stable
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Page 10
Chapter 9: Developmental Stages and Tasks
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Sample Questions
Q1) In Erikson's stage of ego integrity vs. despair, the person
A) Accepts or rejects the past
B) Seeks to promote the next generation
C) Constructs a life story to provide life with unity and purpose
D) Devotes him- or herself to a higher cause
Q2) 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
Q3) What is a "negative identity?"
A) An image of self that one does not like
B) A person who represents what one does not want to be
C) An identity that fails to provide life with unity and purpose
D) A person whose identity is the opposite of one's own
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Chapter 10: Life Scripts, Life Stories
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40 Verified Questions
40 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) At what point in the life cycle is the person first likely to adopt an historical perspective on the self?
A) Infancy
B) Childhood
C) Adolescence
D) Midlife
Q2) Adults who construct life stories containing a large number of redemption sequences in which bad events are transformed into good outcomes) tend to show all of the following characteristics except
A) High generativity
B) High ego development
C) High levels of self-esteem
D) High levels of life coherence
Q3) According to Baumeister, identity first became a central concern in Western societies around the time of
A) The Renaissance
B) 1800
C) 1900
D) World War II
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Page 12
Chapter 11: Interpreting Peoples Stories: From Freud to Today
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46 Verified Questions
46 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Freudian approach to interpretation of life narratives assumes all of the following except
A) Behavior may be interpreted on many different levels
B) Behavior is a product of compromise among forces
C) No single interpretation is ever complete and fully true
D) Interpretation may be achieved through rational analysis
Q2) All of the following are true of Jungian archetypes except that they
A) Are universal patterns or forms
B) Remain repressed because they are too threatening
C) Are linked to natural events and transitions in the human life cycle
D) Set instinctual limits on human behavior and experience
Q3) Freud's approach to dream interpretation and the postmodern approach to understanding life stories have which of the following principles in common?
A) People's stories are not as coherent as they initially seem.
B) People's stories are determined by inner, unconscious forces.
C) People's stories are strongly shaped by cultural norms and categories.
D) People are active agents in constructing their own purposeful life stories.
Q4) Some writers on the postmodern self suggest that it is futile to try to compose a coherent identity in today's world. Do the students agree?
Page 13
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Chapter 12: Writing Stories of Lives: Biography and the Life Course
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40 Verified Questions
40 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/77227
Sample Questions
Q1) The smallest meaningful unit of behavior in Murray's system is a A) Thema
B) Proceeding
C) Need
D) Durance
Q2) A psychologist who explains the emergence of a strong concern for world peace in a woman's life in terms of the social events and forces that impinge upon her at a particular time in her life is using _____ perspective for understanding personality.
A) Trait
B) Motivational
C) Life stage
D) Life course
Q3) Before the twentieth century, biographies tended to be
A) Overly subjective
B) Overly critical of their subjects
C) Not especially psychological in perspective
D) Confined to studies of the rich and famous
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