Deck 12: The Humanistic Approach: Relevant Research

Question 1

Based on research findings, which of the following is the most likely first topic of conversation between two people who have just met for the first time?

A) Favorite movies
B) Problems with parents
C) Embarrassing moments in high school
D) Political opinions

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Participants in one experiment were asked to write either about something trivial or about an intimate experience they had found upsetting. The researchers found that the people writing about the intimate experience

A) were relieved of their anxiety and worry about the event almost immediately after writing about it.
B) were more stressed after writing about the experience, but it was good for their health in the long run.
C) showed signs of lessened anxiety immediately after the writing task, but showed an increase in health problems later.
D) showed signs of being relieved of their anxiety about the event immediately after the task as well as several months later.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

A man sitting next to you in your doctor's waiting room strikes up a conversation with you. Although you do not know this man and don't reveal much about yourself, he tells you all about some very personal aspects of his life. What might an expert on self-disclosure research say about this interaction?

A) It is unusual because people typically don't self-disclose when in an anxiety-provoking situation, such as in a doctor's office.
B) It is unusual because it violates society's rules for the way social interaction is supposed to progress.
C) It is typical of the way people use self-disclosure to get to know one another.
D) This is typical in that men usually disclose more than women.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Compared to two people just getting to know one another, two good friends

A) disclose relatively little to one another.
B) are more likely to reciprocate their partner's level of intimacy during a conversation.
C) are less likely to reciprocate their partner's level of intimacy during a conversation.
D) typically limit their conversations to intimate topics.

Question 5

According to the rules of disclosure reciprocity, people who disclose personal information in get-acquainted conversations tend to

A) talk to themselves spontaneously.
B) make judgments about the other person's self-esteem.
C) talk about others more than themselves.
D) match each other's level of intimacy.

Question 6

Humanistic psychologists maintain each of the following about self-disclosure except one. Which one?

A) Self-disclosure is an important part of the therapy process.
B) Self-disclosure allows people to better understand themselves.
C) Self-disclosure by a therapist can be useful in counseling.
D) Knowing when to self-disclose and when to avoid disclosure is a sign of good personal adjustment.

Question 7

Which of the following do researchers find about loneliness?

A) It is generally impossible to experience loneliness when one is in a romantic relationship.
B) Typically, only college students who have a consistent tendency to feel lonely as a trait experience loneliness.
C) Loneliness is a problem on college campuses, but primarily at large, impersonal schools.
D) The average number of close friends or personal confidants has dropped over the past few decades.

Question 8

Which of the following statements is supported by research findings?

A) Women tend to self-disclose more than men.
B) Men tend to self-disclose more than women.
C) Men and women tend to self-disclose about the same.
D) Men self-disclose more than women to friends, females disclose more than males to strangers.

Question 9

Which of the following statements is not supported by research findings?

A) We disclose to other people only when we like them.
B) We tend to like the people we disclose to.
C) We tend to respond to intimate disclosure from new acquaintances with intimate disclosure about ourselves.
D) We tend to disclose to people we like.

Question 10

Your best friend has been in a serious automobile accident. According to research on disclosure of traumatic experiences, you might suggest that your friend

A) attempt to shut out any thoughts and feelings associated with the accident.
B) talk about his or her feelings with friends or a trained therapist.
C) avoid talking about the accident until it seems right to do so.
D) write down any dreams he or she has for a month.

Question 11

According to the rule of disclosure reciprocity

A) we should always wait for people to disclose something about themselves before disclosing intimate information about ourselves.
B) we should always try to say something self-disclosing when meeting another person first time.
C) two people involved in a get-acquainted conversation reveal information about themselves at roughly the same level of intimacy.
D) we usually like people who self-disclose to us.

Question 12

Lisa and Charlotte are on a first date, and are having a "getting to know you" kind of discussion. According to societal standards, which of the following would be an inappropriate level of self-disclosure at this point in their new relationship?

A) "I really enjoy going to art museums."
B) "I know that I want to get married and settle down sometime soon."
C) "I used to smoke but I don't anymore."
D) "I tried to be vegetarian, but now I eat some fish in my diet too."

Question 13

Andrea has kept a secret about a traumatic childhood experience to herself for many years. After years of trying to not think about the experience, she decides to write about it in a diary. She spends an hour each night for several days writing about the experience and her feelings surrounding it. Based on research findings, what are the likely effects of Andrea's writing?

A) Andrea's health should improve.
B) Andrea will continue to be bothered by the experience until she shows the diary to someone.
C) Andrea will become obsessed with the experience, thinking about it more than ever.
D) Andrea will become depressed and require professional help.

Question 14

There are many more lonely people than we tend to think. Some psychologists believe that people's feelings of loneliness reflect a deeper concern about existential questions of

A) the existence of a supreme being.
B) alienation.
C) the search for meaning in one's life.
D) all of these are correct.

Question 15

Research examining incoming college freshmen found that those who were more willing to disclose emotions, including fear and anxiety about being at school, were

A) far more likely to already have a romantic significant other.
B) unlikely to make the choice to live in campus housing.
C) less likely to continue on to a degree within four years.
D) more likely to develop intimate social relationships in their first semester on campus.

Question 16

Which approach has probably generated the least empirical research in psychology?

A) Biological
B) Behavioral/social learning
C) Humanistic
D) Trait

Question 17

Based on what researchers have found, what advice would you have for a friend who was keeping a traumatic secret concealed from everyone?

A) Don't talk about it unless it starts to upset you.
B) Find a close friend, or perhaps a professional counselor, that you can discuss this with.
C) As long as it's something you rarely think about, it is not likely to affect your mental or physical health.
D) Try thinking about something you feel good about whenever you find yourself thinking about the traumatic experience.

Question 18

Research has shown that men and women are more likely to be accepted when they disclose according to appropriate gender roles in society. For men, this means

A) withholding information for the most part.
B) disclosing information that is misleading or simply false.
C) never revealing anything about one's self.
D) none of these are correct.

Question 19

Studies of couples in long-term romantic relationships find

A) little or no relationship between self-disclosure and marital satisfaction.
B) self-disclosure in a marriage is a reliable predictor of marital satisfaction.
C) people who generally are high self-disclosers are more satisfied with their long-term relationships.
D) people who generally disclose very little to others are more satisfied with their long-term relationships.

Question 20

According to Frattaroli (2006), our_________ increases when we disclose personal information to friends and loved ones.

A) anxiety
B) well-being
C) disclosure reciprocity
D) all of these are correct

Question 21

Rosa receives a low grade on her biology midterm exam. If we know that Rosa is low in self-esteem, we might expect her to

A) work harder preparing for the next test.
B) blame others and make excuses for her failure.
C) think about the things she does well.
D) perform poorly on the next test.

Question 22

Researchers define loneliness in terms of

A) the number of people we come into contact with on an average day.
B) the amount of time we spend alone versus the amount we spend with others.
C) how well the amount and quality of our relationships with others satisfies our personal needs.
D) the number of friends we have.

Question 23

Although low self-esteem people have good days when they feel good about themselves, compared to others, they

A) lack a basic confidence in themselves.
B) always appreciate who they are.
C) prefer solitude.
D) rarely focus on negative feedback from others.

Question 24

Clarissa feels very good about herself at times but is filled with self-doubt at other times. Researchers would probably describe her as

A) low in self-esteem.
B) extraverted.
C) fluctuating in self-worth.
D) in need of self-enhancement.

Question 25

Which of the following is a contingency of self-worth for some college students?

A) Family support
B) Approval from generalized others
C) Competencies
D) All of these are correct

Question 26

According to an AARP survey, one in every _________ Americans over 45 years of age reported feeling chronically lonely.

A) 3
B) 5
C) 7
D) 10

Question 27

A woman spends a lot of time by herself. Whether she experiences this time as loneliness depends on

A) if she is an introvert or an extravert.
B) how much social contact she requires to meet her personal needs.
C) how many friends she has.
D) how much time she spends interacting with friends.

Question 28

Undergraduate students who base their self-worth on academic performance often experience

A) depression.
B) an increase in self-esteem regardless of grades.
C) self-fulfilling prophecies of failure.
D) a reduction in stress over exams and other academic work.

Question 29

Suppose you have a stressful appointment for which you have not fully prepared because you want to please the people with whom you will meet. Your self-doubt comes from your constant behavior to always put your self- worth on the line. Personality psychologists would call this

A) passive-aggressive.
B) an uncontrollable contingency of self-esteem.
C) depressed.
D) low need for Achievement.

Question 30

William tries out for the high school baseball team but fails to make it. If we know that he is high in self-esteem, what might we expect William's reaction to be?

A) He will attribute his failure to his lack of effort.
B) He will blame the coach for making a poor decision.
C) He will think about something he does well.
D) He will ignore the feedback and continue to think of himself as a gifted baseball player.

Question 31

Which of the following is characteristic of people who frequently experience loneliness?

A) They enter a conversation with overly high expectations that the other person will like them immediately.
B) They have a naively optimistic view of other people.
C) They are relatively unaware of their faults and personal limitations.
D) They appear to show little interest in getting to know other people.

Question 32

Compared to those who score low on loneliness scales, people who score high on these scales tend to

A) have just as many friends.
B) spend just as much time around other people.
C) enter social encounters expecting that things will not go well.
D) form just as good a first impression.

Question 33

Efforts to help people overcome their loneliness

A) only tend to impact people without a long-term partner.
B) often have sought to improve social skills.
C) appear to have mixed results.
D) only tend to assist those who resist their own loneliness.

Question 34

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.

Question 35

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 uncontrollable self-esteem contingencies
D) with stable feelings of self-worth

Question 36

Which of the following statements is not correct about people who score high on measures of loneliness?

A) Because they lack social skills, they have difficulty developing relationships.
B) Because they have difficulty developing relationships, they have difficulty developing their social skills.
C) They have the social skills but lack the opportunity to express them.
D) Therapists often help lonely people develop their social skills.

Question 37

Correlational research conducted on lonely people has revealed that these individuals may have deficits in social skills and

A) tend to have difficulty adjusting to new experiences.
B) tend to have difficulty making new friends.
C) feel comfortable only when others open up to them.
D) all of these are correct.

Question 38

When high self-esteem people are confronted with a negative evaluation, they

A) easily blame others for the results.
B) work just as hard to do well on a subsequent evaluation.
C) distort the outcome or deny the evaluation.
D) begin to self-disclose at higher rates.

Question 39

Researchers generally conceive of "self-esteem" as how you feel about yourself. They distinguish this from "self- concept," which is

A) what others think about you.
B) the kind of person you believe yourself to be.
C) what psychologists can determine empirically through personality tests.
D) the unconscious view you hold of yourself.

Question 40

If Malory is high in self-esteem, research findings suggest she is probably

A) anxious or depressed.
B) stable in her feelings of self-worth.
C) either low or average in feelings of self-worth.
D) either high or low in self-worth, because the two concepts are not correlated.

Question 41

In contrast to low self-esteem people, when faced with failure, people with high self-esteem typically work just as hard as they do after successes.

Question 42

People engage in self-disclosure when they reveal general information about themselves to another person.

Question 43

Distinguish between self-esteem and self-concept. Discuss the specific research findings on self-esteem and reaction to failure. Explain differences in reactions to failures and how this can influence one's feelings of self-worth.

Question 44

Discuss the concept of self-disclosure, giving an example of the rule of disclosure reciprocity. Explain the role self- disclosure plays in the development of friendships and romantic relationships. Specify the health benefits of disclosing traumatic experiences and the implications of self-disclosure for psychotherapy.

Question 45

Of the following, which is not a positive aspect of solitude?

A) Inner peace
B) Creativity
C) Spirituality
D) All of these are correct are positive aspects.

Question 46

Researchers find that most Americans spend

A) the majority of their time alone.
B) almost no time by themselves.
C) more time by themselves as they get older.
D) a lot of time alone until they become elderly.

Question 47

Research has shown that the more people talk about a tragedy like the death of a spouse, the fewer health problems they have.

Question 48

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.

Question 49

Researchers using the experience sampling method typically discover that

A) most people find time by themselves less pleasant than time spent with others.
B) most people find time spent in solitude more pleasant than time spent with others.
C) teenagers spend more time in solitude than adults.
D) the amount of time we spend in solitude decreases as we age.

Question 50

One study looked at the effects of solitude in adolescents. These researchers found that the most well-adjusted teenagers were those who spent

A) almost all their times in social settings.
B) most of their time alone.
C) a moderate amount of time alone.
D) no time alone.

Question 51

"Inner peace" has been shown in research to be a positive aspect of solitude.

Question 52

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.

Question 53

For psychologists, being "lonely" is the same as being "alone."

Question 54

According to Maslow, people with a high need for privacy are not necessarily trying to escape from relationships.

Question 55

Whether people enjoy or dislike time alone depends on

A) their gender.
B) the number of siblings they grew up with.
C) how much social contact they have at work and during the day.
D) their preference for solitude level.

Question 56

Discuss how people from different cultures-individualistic versus collectivist-might define self-esteem differently. What do you think would provide the foundation of self-esteem for people from these different cultural backgrounds?

Question 57

People in collectivist cultures are likely to feel good about themselves when they

A) rise to positions of leadership.
B) stand out from the crowd with an individual accomplishment.
C) stand up for themselves.
D) obtain a sense of belonging within the culture.

Question 58

How and why do feelings of self-worth fluctuate? Explain how contingencies of self-worth help people feel good about themselves in spite of failures.

Question 59

Maslow found that self-actualized people tend to

A) enjoy time by themselves.
B) have little interest in other people.
C) spend almost all of their time alone.
D) dislike time alone.

Question 60

In Western culture, the concept of high self-esteem is related to how one fits with society.