Course Introduction
Personality Psychology
Textbook Exam Questions
Personality Psychology explores the scientific study of individual differences in human thought, emotion, and behavior. The course examines major theories and empirical research on personality development, assessment, and change, including perspectives such as trait, psychodynamic, humanistic, and social-cognitive approaches. Students will analyze how personality influences psychological well-being, relationships, and life outcomes, as well as the biological and environmental factors that shape personality across the lifespan. Through case studies and research activities, learners will gain insights into personality measurement and the application of theory in real-world contexts.
Recommended Textbook
Personality 8th Edition by Jerry M. Burger
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963 Verified Questions
963 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: What Is Personality?
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Q1) Which approach to personality is most likely to argue that genetics plays an important role in determining personality and behavior?
A)Psychoanalytic
B)Biological
C)Humanistic
D)Behavioral/social learning
Answer: B
Q2) Which of the following approaches to personality explains depression by how situations are interpreted through the most highly accessible thoughts?
A)Psychoanalytic approach
B)Behavioral/social learning approach
C)Trait approach
D)Cognitive approach
Answer: D
Q3) The trait approach identifies where a person might lie along a continuum of personality characteristics.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Personality Research Methods
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Q1) A psychologist is working with a patient who suffers from a very rare disorder. Which type of research is the psychologist likely to use?
A)Laboratory research
B)Survey research
C)Case study
D)Replication
Answer: C
Q2) Which of the following is not true about a good theory?
A)It uses as few concepts as necessary to explain a phenomenon.
B)It can generate many testable hypotheses.
C)It is never proved or disproved.
D)All experts agree it is correct.
Answer: D
Q3) Which of the following statements is correct about hypothetical constructs?
A)They are useful inventions by researchers that have no physical reality.
B)They are easier to measure than personality variables.
C)They cannot be measured with personality tests.
D)They have poor reliability and validity.
Answer: A
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Page 4
Chapter 3: The Psychoanalytic Approach: Freudian Theory, Application,
and Assessment
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Q1) A man is angry with his wife,but instead of confronting her,he takes out his anger on his children.This is an example of A)repression.
B)sublimation.
C)displacement.
D)projection.
Answer: C
Q2) The case of Anna O.helped Freud develop an early appreciation for A)dream interpretation.
B)unconscious determinants of behavior.
C)Freudian slips.
D)free association.
Answer: B
Q3) According to Freud,fixation results in
A)adult personality characteristics related to the stage at which the fixation occurred.
B)an increase in the amount of psychic energy available to the adult ego.
C)either castration anxiety or penis envy, depending on the gender of the child.
D)an increase in Freudian slips.
Answer: A
5
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Chapter 4: The Freudian Approach: Relevant Research
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Q1) Write about a dream you have had and give an example of a psychoanalytic interpretation of it. Why do people dream,according to Freud? Summarize the research findings on dreams that challenge Freud's theory of dreaming.
Q2) Some psychoanalytic researchers have argued that dreams represent unresolved conflicts.As evidence for this interpretation,they point to A)how much more men sleep than women.
B)the results of sleep-deprivation studies.
C)recurrent dreams.
D)how much babies dream compared to adults.
Q3) "Posthypnotic amnesia" refers to the hypnotic subjects' inability to recall A)whether or not they have been hypnotized.
B)what happened under hypnosis.
C)what happened under hypnosis when the hypnotist tells them they cannot remember. D)events that happen after hypnosis.
Q4) State three specific predictions of Freud's theory about hostile humor. Summarize the evidence for a preference for hostile humor,the reduction of aggression with hostile humor,and the relationship between tension reduction and funniness.
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Chapter 5: The Psychoanalytic Approach: Neo-Freudian
Theory, Application, and Assessment
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Q1) "There are images in your unconscious that you did not repress.You were born with these unconscious images." Which theorist is most likely to have said this?
A)Freud
B)Adler
C)Jung
D)Erikson
Q2) "Parents should allow children to be independent,to make their own choices and mistakes,but without depriving the children of the parental attention they need." Which theorist is most likely to have said this?
A)Adler
B)Erikson
C)Horney
D)Fromm
Q3) To analyze personal narratives,judges may count the number of times certain themes are mentioned.
A)True
B)False
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Page 7
Chapter 6: Neo-Freudian Theories: Relevant Research
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Q1) In one longitudinal study spanning over 20 years,12 month-old infants with a secure attachment style
A)were no more secure in adult romantic relationships than avoidant infants.
B)had fewer close friends and many acquaintances.
C)were more socially competent in elementary school.
D)experienced one deep romance after another.
Q2) Researchers find that men are more likely to use ______ coping strategies than women and women are more likely to use ______ coping strategies than men.
A)emotion-focused; problem-focused
B)active; avoidant
C)avoidant; active
D)problem-focused; emotion-focused
Q3) Although he changed his mind during his career,which of the following did Freud eventually decide was the cause of human aggression?
A)A death instinct
B)Frustration
C)Projection
D)Unresolved Oedipal conflicts
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Chapter 7: The Trait Approach: Theory, Application, and Assessment
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Q1) According to critics of the five-factor model of personality,
A)knowing how sociable a person is allows for a better prediction of behavior than knowing how extraverted that person is.
B)researchers need to use factor analysis in order to determine the number of basic personality factors.
C)although Extraversion is a basic personality factor, there is no evidence that Neuroticism is.
D)factor analytic researchers should all use the same personality tests so that they can produce the same results.
Q2) Trait psychologists believe that one can take any person and place him or her somewhere in a set of categories.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Personality psychologists use factor analysis to help them determine
A)a person's central traits.
B)which personality traits correlate together.
C)the stability of personality traits over time and situations.
D)the validity of personality trait measures.
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Chapter 8: The Trait Approach: Relevant Research
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Q1) Researchers find each of the following statements is true about defensive pessimists except one. Which one?
A)They set low expectations for themselves.
B)They want to fail.
C)They are motivated by the fear of failure.
D)They do better when allowed to worry about an upcoming performance.
Q2) The original researchers of achievement motivation were not interested in all kinds of achievement. They were specifically interested in A)achievement in school.
B)entrepreneurial behavior.
C)individual differences in achievement behavior.
D)cultural difference in achievement concepts.
Q3) According to the ___________ approach to achievement motivation,we often ask ourselves why we have done as well as we have.
A)achievement goals
B)nomothetic
C)factor analysis
D)attribution
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Chapter 9: The Biological Approach: Theory, Application, and Assessment
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Q1) People who are easily upset or have a quick temper are high in A)connectivity.
B)emotional affectivity.
C)neuroticism.
D)emotionality
Q2) According to evolutionary personality theory,psychological mechanisms
A)evolved because they were needed for survival.
B)helped the species survive and reproduce.
C)are identical in all people.
D)were once useful, but no longer are.
Q3) According to the evolutionary psychology perspective,the process of social exclusion leads to anxiety because
A)people fear that others will punish them.
B)experiencing anxiety serves an important survival function.
C)each of us is reminded of a traumatic experience in childhood.
D)all of these
Q4) Eysenck argued that extraverts and introverts differ only in their behavior and not in their physiological makeup.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 10: The Biological Approach: Relevant Research
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Q1) Cross-cultural studies find similar patterns of what men and women look for in their spouses across many different cultures.These findings support evolutionary personality theory because they suggest that mate preferences do not merely reflect differences in A)social learning patterns.
B)the genetic makeup of different cultures.
C)inherited human characteristics.
D)economic opportunities in different cultures.
Q2) Discuss the rationale behind the twin-study method and adoption studies of genetic influence. Give the general findings regarding the contribution of genetic influences on personality. Discuss any problems associated with each of these methods of research.
Q3) Those twins we commonly call "identical twins" are more technically called A)monozygotic.
B)dizygotic.
C)difertilized eggs.
D)fraternal twins.
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Chapter 11: The Humanistic Approach: Theory, Application, and Assessment
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Q1) All but which of the following has been a criticism of the humanistic approach?
A)"Free will" may not be a scientific explanation for behavior.
B)Many key concepts are poorly defined.
C)Few psychotherapists have been influenced by the humanistic approach.
D)The humanistic approach makes some overly naive assumptions about human nature.
Q2) Which of the following is characteristic of the people Maslow identified as "psychologically healthy"?
A)They have many friends.
B)They are the only ones who have "peak experiences."
C)They tend to be creative.
D)They are unconcerned with what others think of them.
Q3) Each of the following has been identified as a component of optimal experience except one.Which one?
A)Our attention is completely absorbed in the activity.
B)We experience a loss of self-consciousness.
C)People around us recognize and respect our accomplishments.
D)We lose a sense of time.
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Chapter 12: The Humanistic Approach: Relevant Research
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Q1) Define preference for solitude and describe people at either end of this individual difference dimension. Give the humanistic approach's explanation for why some people desire solitude.
Q2) People _________ continually put their self-worth on the line when they interact with and are evaluated by others.
A)who are low in self-esteem
B)who are high in self-esteem
C)with contingencies of self-worth
D)with stable feelings of self-worth
Q3) People with a high preference for solitude tend to
A)dislike the time they have to spend in the presence of others.
B)spend most of their time alone.
C)enjoy both time alone and time spent with others.
D)be lonely and unhappy.
Q4) Cross-cultural researchers find that the causes of high self-esteem are
A)similar in nearly all cultures.
B)different in individualistic and collectivist cultures.
C)similar in nearly all cultures, but what makes people happy varies across cultures.
D)impossible to assess because of subtle differences among languages.
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Chapter 13: The Behavioral/Social Learning Approach:
Theory,Application,and Assessment
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Q1) Psychologists use shaping because of which limitation of operant conditioning?
A)Punishment does not teach new responses, it only inhibits old ones.
B)Behaviors will extinguish if they are not reinforced occasionally.
C)One must wait for the organism's response before it can be rewarded or punished.
D)Operant procedures condition responses only to very specific stimuli.
Q2) John's mother wants her son to stop crying every time something goes wrong.Following a psychologist's advice,she stops running to comfort John whenever the boy starts crying over some minor incident.After a few weeks,she notices that John cries much less frequently than he used to.This is an example of A)positive reinforcement.
B)negative reinforcement.
C)punishment.
D)extinction.
Q3) When the consequence of a behavior increases the behavior's frequency,the consequence is referred to as a response.
A)True
B)False
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Page 15
Chapter 14: The Behavioral Social Learning Approach:
Relevant Research
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Q1) According to recent research,being married to someone who has feminine characteristics is indicative of an unhappy marriage.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Operant conditioning affects gender-role behavior
A)as early as the first few years of life.
B)starting at about age five.
C)primarily after children reach puberty.
D)primarily during the late teens.
Q3) Who among the following is likely high in unmitigated communion?
A)Belinda, a surgeon who sacrifices her own needs and interests to care for all her patients.
B)Matilda, who sees her personal value in terms of how well others think she takes care of her family.
C)Bernard, who subjugates his needs to the needs of the others in his office.
D)All of these
Q4) Define locus of control and distinguish between internals and externals. Discuss the relationship between locus of control and well-being and include evidence with regard to personal achievement and psychotherapy.
Page 16
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Chapter 15: The Cognitive Approach: Theory, Application, and Assessment
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Q1) The cognitive approach has been criticized in which of the following ways?
A)It does not fit well with current trends in psychology.
B)The research has given it little support.
C)It is too specific and needs more abstraction.
D)It is not needed to explain individual differences in behavior.
Q2) A strength of the cognitive approach is that it fits well with A)modern artificial intelligence research.
B)the psychoanalytic perspective.
C)current trends in the field of psychology
D)the behavioral/social learning approach.
Q3) Compare Kelly's conception of human personality with Freud's view. Discuss the basic tenets and structure of Kelly's personal construct theory.
Q4) A researcher examines not only how people think of themselves today,but also the kind of person they want to become or are afraid of becoming. The researcher is probably investigating
A)stereotypes.
B)self-esteem.
C)possible selves.
D)personal constructs.
Page 17
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Chapter 16: The Cognitive Approach: Relevant Research
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Q1) Depressed patients in one study were asked to recall personal experiences associated with words from a list.The researchers found patients were more likely to recall unhappy experiences when feeling particularly depressed.This finding supports which concept?
A)Learned helplessness
B)Depressive schema
C)Explanatory style
D)Locus of control
Q2) Among the personal factors cognitive psychologists consider when predicting aggressive behavior,which of the following is typically included?
A)The provocative situation
B)Genetic predisposition to aggression
C)The ego defense mechanisms the person uses
D)Visual cues in the environment.
Q3) Which of the following have researchers found about negative cognitive style?
A)It is related to depression.
B)Processing filters out positive information.
C)It tends to identify one's problems with specific events.
D)It is a form of negative reinforcement.
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Page 18