Deck 1: A Zonal Approach to the Study of Personality

Question 1

To falsify is to

A) plagiarize.
B) understand the intellectual climate of the times.
C) translate theoretical constructs.
D) disprove a specific prediction or hypothesis.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

What is the basic concept of reductionism?

A) Analyzing the situations from which a person's emotional problems arise
B) Substituting behavioral analysis for emotional assessment
C) The attempt to discover truth by reducing things to simplified units
D) Theory of the mind and body presented as one harmonious whole

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The six persistent problems in the study of personality include all of the following except

A) the mind-body problem.
B) person vs. situation.
C) the Zeigarnik effect.
D) reification.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which is NOT listed as a method for personality study?

A) Clinical case
B) Biological case
C) Historical case
D) Psychometric case

Question 5

Someone who agrees with Rene Descartes

A) believes that the mind and body are enmeshed entities.
B) believes that the mind and body are separated entities.
C) believes that a person has a mind, body, and soul.
D) believes that a person does not have a mind, body, and soul.

Question 6

A researcher who is assigning values of greater than or less than, to a scale, without inferring that each interval on the scale is equidistant is using what level of measurement?

A) Nominal
B) Ordinal
C) Interval
D) Ratio

Question 7

Someone who can recall an interrupted task but who has forgotten an already-completed task is experiencing

A) delay of gratification.
B) the Zeigarnik effect.
C) a simple loss of memory.
D) dissociative memory loss.

Question 8

Give one memorable example of personality in action as illustrated by the text.

A) Jimmy Carter watching the sound of music
B) Ronald Reagan joking about feeding popcorn and butter to illegal immigrants
C) Four-year-old Melissa giving into eating the soft, white, delicious marshmallow
D) Professor Berecz hitting a 9-year-old's abusive mother, sending her glasses flying

Question 9

Understanding Zeitgeist would be

A) knowing your Zen.
B) bits of biological or chemical compounds.
C) comprehending the intellectual climate of the times.
D) proving a specific prediction or hypothesis.

Question 10

The attempt to discover "truth" by condensing things to simpler units is

A) constructivism.
B) reductionism.
C) behaviorism.
D) personality theory.

Question 11

Which is not a problem of the study of personality?

A) Determinism vs. free will
B) Stability vs. change of personality over time
C) Existentialism vs. theistic evolution
D) Nature vs. nurture

Question 12

Nature vs. nurture is a classic problem of causality, whereas the problem resolves when using a levels- of-analysis approach because

A) only genes produce behavior.
B) both genes and environment interact to produce behavior.
C) neither genes nor environment interact to produce behavior.
D) only environment produces behavior.

Question 13

What is a construct?

A) A "tent" under which several theories with similar viewpoints cluster
B) A means of analyzing a theory at the most appropriate level(s) of conceptualization
C) A mini-theory, a small component of a larger model
D) A theory that explains human behavior in terms of five trait clusters or "superfactors"

Question 14

A man steps on a nail and notices that his foot has started to bleed. He believes that his mind is making him feel hurt, and the body is only reacting. He might believe in

A) Cartesian Dualism.
B) Ronald Reagan.
C) Zeigiest.
D) Humanism.

Question 15

Someone who is tough-minded

A) tends to be pessimistic and rely on facts.
B) tends to be optimistic and guided by ideals.
C) tends to be optimistic and rely on facts.
D) tends to be pessimistic but guided by ideals.

Question 16

Cartesian dualism maintains that

A) the mind and body are separate entities.
B) the mind and body are terms for describing different aspects of the same person.
C) the mind, like the body, can be subjected to scientific scrutiny.
D) mind and matter are simply two different ways of speaking about two different levels of analysis.

Question 17

B. F. Skinner taught that our behavior is determined by our environment, while Rollo May suggested that

A) efficient cause is the reason for behavior.
B) people are primarily pushed and pulled around by genes.
C) determinism and freedom are co-existent and complementary.
D) only reinforcers and punishers propel people.

Question 18

What is NOT one of the listed characteristics that appear to enhance our study of personality?

A) Attention to detail
B) Humility
C) Optimism
D) Tolerance for ambiguity

Question 19

Someone who carefully traces the life story of an individual in order to understand his/her personality

A) is displaying the Zeigarnik effect.
B) is exhibiting counter transference.
C) is conducting an historical case study.
D) is conducting a clinical case study.

Question 20

Which of these is not a part of personality?

A) A core of enduring emotions
B) Charm and charisma
C) Behaviors remaining consistent over time
D) Attitudes uniquely characterizing a person

Question 21

Free will and determinism are two sides of the same coin. What are they explaining?

A) Causality
B) Humanism
C) Cartesian Dualism
D) Zeitgeist

Question 22

Many psychologists view personality as a product of nurture, while B.F. Skinner sees it as a product of

A) laboratory research.
B) knowledge.
C) environment.
D) breeding.

Question 23

Ronald Reagan displayed an emotional/intuitive personality, while Jimmy Carter displayed a personality.

A) conscientious/curious
B) conscientious/silly
C) conscientious/obsessive
D) obsessive/intuitive

Question 24

Psychometric methods use psychological tests to measure personality, while physiological methods use

A) self-ratings and psychosocial measures.
B) self-ratings and philanthropic disposition.
C) self-ratings and bodily processes measures.
D) self-ratings and gratification measures.

Question 25

The biochemical and genetic theories place great emphasis on , while cognitive models place an emphasis on .

A) conditioning, components
B) conditioning, processing (bio computer)
C) components, processing (bio computer)
D) components, social interactions

Question 26

In psychology, is a motivational construct. It can cause your heart to race and your head to pound.

A) adrenaline
B) anxiety
C) anaphylactic shock
D) an accident

Question 27

What is nomothetic research?

A) Research that emphasizes individuality
B) Research that uses techniques designed to highlight the uniqueness of each person
C) Research that combines A and B
D) Research that attempts to discover general laws that apply to all people

Question 28

Freud studied hysteria, while Zeigarnik studied

A) delays of gratification.
B) anxiety.
C) the tendency for interrupted tasks to be recalled better than completed tasks.
D) obsessive-compulsive personality.

Question 29

A network of ideas, images, constructs, and models that relate to one another in predictable and testable ways is

A) theory.
B) hypothesis.
C) syntax.
D) model.

Question 30

Which of the "Big Four" questions might have an emphasis on tabula rasa?

A) Structural constructs
B) Motivation constructs
C) Development constructs
D) Individual difference constructs

Question 31

A person asking someone how they feel on a scale of 1 to 10 would be using a/an

A) interval measurement.
B) ordinal measurement.
C) ratio measurement.
D) nonlinear dynamical measurement.

Question 32

Freud based his psychoanalytic theory on

A) laboratory experiments.
B) case studies.
C) field observations.
D) psychological testing.

Question 33

If a test or assessment device really measures what it claims to then it has

A) reliability.
B) validity.
C) testability.
D) falisifiability.

Question 34

What are four of the six persistent problems in the study of personality?

A) Nature vs. nurture, mind vs. body, determinism vs. free will, reification
B) Nature vs. nurture, mind vs. body, person vs. situation, optimism vs. pessimism
C) Determinism vs. free will, stability vs. change of personality, determination vs. dismay, reification
D) Determinism vs. free will, nature vs. nurture, partiality, person vs. situation

Question 35

Information processing is to cognitive models as is to humanistic theories.

A) altruism
B) egocentricity
C) self-reliance
D) self-actualization

Question 36

Change in personality occurs mostly

A) during childhood and adolescence.
B) after age 30.
C) before age 50.
D) in men rather than women.

Question 37

Learning theories see persons as a product of nature, while evolutionary psychology sees him/her as a product of

A) adaptive traits.
B) chemical compounds.
C) social interactions.
D) transpersonal evolution.

Question 38

Which of these is NOT one of the level so measurement?

A) Nominal
B) Ratio
C) Linear
D) Interval

Question 39

Which of these is a persistent problem for personality psychologists?

A) Person vs. situation
B) Stability vs. change of personality over time
C) Freedom vs. determinism
D) Group identity vs. alienation

Question 40

Someone who tends to rely on facts and pessimism is an example of what William James calls

A) humanistic.
B) tough-minded.
C) antisocial.
D) objective.