Deck 8: Personality and Coping

Question 1

Which statement is the most accurate description of Costa & McCrae's Five-Factor Model of personality?

A)Personality undergoes growth and change over the adult years.
B)Personality traits influence how people adapt to the aging process.
C)People go through a well-defined psychosocial crisis in middle age.
D)The timing of nonnormative events is the most important influence on adult development.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

According to theorist Carl Jung,there is an emphasis in older adulthood on_________.

A)meeting the demands of the external world
B)devoting time to the inner self
C)making investments in new relationships
D)focusing on same-sex gender identity

Answer 2

B

Question 3

In studying personality,which type of research design would interview a sample of individuals who are age 70 in the year 2000 and interview the same people again in 2010 when they are 80?

A)Cross-sectional
B)Longitudinal
C)Sequential
D)Time lag

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which of the following is NOT one of the factors in Costa and McCrae's Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality?

A)Empathy
B)Conscientiousness
C)Agreeableness
D)Neuroticism

Question 5

Erik Erikson's 7th stage of development is ________________.

A)ego integrity versus despair
B)generativity versus stagnation
C)intimacy versus isolation
D)identity versus role confusion

Question 6

Erik Erikson ___________________.

A)is considered a stage theorist
B)emphasizes that development comes to a close in middle adulthood
C)is totally focused on psychosexual development
D)believes that masculinity and femininity are the only important aspects of personality

Question 7

Costa and McCrae are _______ Erikson to believe that there is a mid-life crisis.

A)more likely than
B)less likely than
C)equally likely compared to

Question 8

According to McAdams's life story model,________________.

A)all individuals tell a common story regardless of their cultural environment
B)people are concerned with their own needs and do not care about future generations
C)individuals construct a personal myth to make sense of their lives
D)people tend to emphasize the negative aspects of their lives as they get older

Question 9

According to Butler,life review _________________.

A)should be discouraged in older adults
B)is a purposive process
C)often leads to depression
D)is a sign of dementia

Question 10

A study by Wong and Watt found that the reminiscences of older adults who had been categorized as "unsuccessful agers" contained themes that ____________.

A)were instrumental
B)showed persistent unresolved feelings
C)were integrative
D)All of the above

Question 11

Which of the following is NOT one of Peck's necessary adjustments in old age?

A)Ego differentiation versus work-role preoccupation
B)Ego transcendence versus ego preoccupation
C)Body transcendence versus body preoccupation
D)Preoccupation with the past versus planning the future

Question 12

According to research by Mroczek and his colleagues,which of the following is (are) associated with earlier mortality?

A)Being low on neuroticism
B)Being low on extraversion
C)Being low on conscientiousness
D)All of the above.

Question 13

If individuals resolve the psychosocial challenge of middle adulthood successfully,Erikson believes they are graced with the virtue of __________.

A)Love
B)Wisdom
C)Care
D)Beauty

Question 14

Which of the following is (are) assumptions of Erikson's theory of personality?

A)Stages follow in sequential order
B)Each stage has a central unique challenge
C)Both of the above
D)Neither of the above

Question 15

A cross-sectional research study on personality would __________.

A)compare the personality characteristics of individuals in two or more age groups
B)compare the personality characteristics of the same people over time
C)compare the personality characteristics of one sample of older adults with those of another sample of sample of older adults ten years later
D)compare the personality of same-aged individuals in various parts of the world

Question 16

According to theorist Carl Jung,men (and women) have both masculine and feminine aspects to their personalities.In young adulthood,men suppress the feminine aspects,but as they move toward late adulthood,they are less likely to suppress the feminine aspects.This means that men who were very aggressive and achievement-oriented in young adulthood may become more expressive and nurturing later on.

Question 17

Costa and McCrae's Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality ____________.

A)does not generalize across cultures
B)emphasizes the stability of personality dimensions over time
C)emphasizes that personality differs considerably in young and older adulthood
D)maintains that absolute scores on the five personality dimensions stay exactly the same as people go from young to middle to older adulthood

Question 18

An advantage to studying personality by following the same individuals over time is being able to detect changes within each person.

Question 19

Self-report personality inventories __________________.

A)can be given to large numbers of people
B)are always given orally
C)are more objective than behavioral measures of personality
D)All of the above

Question 20

Which type of personality measure asks people to respond to ambiguous stimuli?

A)Self-report measures
B)Behavioral observation
C)Projective measures
D)Case studies

Question 21

Primary control processes involve _____,whereas secondary control processes involve _________________.

A)changing the environment; altering goals and expectations
B)changing the environment; giving up a goal and leaving everything to fate or chance
C)making drastic changes in the environment; making smaller changes in the environment
D)accommodative processes; assimilative processes

Question 22

Briefly describe McAdams's life story model

Question 23

Accommodation ___________________.

A)involves intentional actions and efforts
B)involves flexible goal adjustment
C)is most effective when a person's self-concept is not complex
D)shields the individual from information that conflicts with the self-concept

Question 24

What two dimensions of personality did Jung refer to and what did he have to say about adult development for each one?

Question 25

Compared to older adults with a low sense of personal control,older adults with a high sense of personal control are ______ to watch their diet,exercise,and take prescribed medications.

A)more likely
B)less likely
C)equally likely

Question 26

Juan is 67 years old and he thinks it is important to be physically fit.Since he retired at age 65,he prides himself on his daily 3-mile jog around a lake.Lately,his knees have been bothering him and he cannot keep up with his jogging pals.Juan is forced to substitute walking for jogging,but he has refined his definition of physical fitness as being able to walk three miles each day.Which of the following coping strategies is Juan using?

A)Remediation
B)Assimilation
C)Immunization
D)Accommodation

Question 27

Heckhausen and Krueger asked young,middle-aged,and older adult study participants whether they thought desirable traits would increase (gains) and whether undesirable traits would increase (losses) over the adult years (20s through the 80s).They found that study participants thought ______________.

A)losses would outnumber gains over the adult years
B)there would be the same number of gains and losses over the adult years
C)gains would outnumber losses over the adult years

Question 28

Self-concept refers to what we think about ourselves,whereas self-esteem refers to how we feel about ourselves.

Question 29

An individual who says,"Whatever happens will happen.It is just a matter of chance and fate" is best described as a person who is __________.

A)high in external locus of control
B)high in primary control
C)high in self-efficacy
D)high in use of an immunizing coping strategy

Question 30

Placing a plant in nursing home residents' rooms and instructing them to take charge of the plant's care has _______.

A)a negative effect on their sense of well-being
B)no effect on their sense of well-being.well-being
C)a positive effect on their sense of well-being

Question 31

Slotterback studied young adults' perceptions of a typical 22-,41-,or 69-year old target person at the present time,in the past,or in the future,and found that ________.

A)chronological age was the only factor that influenced their views of a target's personality
B)cohort membership was the only factor that influenced their views of a target's personality
C)both chronological age and cohort membership influenced their views of a target's personality
D)neither chronological age or cohort membership influenced their views of a target's personality

Question 32

A coping strategy that has been termed "tenacious goal pursuit" is ________.

A)assimilation
B)accommodation
C)immunization
D)secondary control

Question 33

Describe Erikson's 8th and final stage of development that coincides with older adulthood.

Question 34

According to the strength and vulnerability integration model (SAVI),older adults are best able to use their ability to regulate their emotions when stressors create a high level of physiological arousal.

Question 35

Hummert and her colleagues found that stereotypes that people have about older adults are ____.

A)all negative (e.g.,bitter,inflexible)
B)all positive (e.g.,dignified,wise)
C)a mixture of negative and positive

Question 36

Bargh and his colleagues found that compared to young adults who unscrambled a set of neutral words,young adults who unscrambled words that are stereotypically associated with older adulthood walked more slowly after completing the task.They concluded that this was an example of _______________.

A)internal control
B)immunization
C)secondary processes
D)implicit priming

Question 37

Possible selves ______________.

A)refer to future selves
B)can be either hoped-for or feared
C)are cognitive schemas that motivate a great deal of our behavior
D)All of the above

Question 38

Lichtenstein and colleagues found that middle-school age children have a uniformly negative view when asked to describe a typical older person.

Question 39

In studies that compared young adults and community-living older adults on measures of personal control,older adults are always lower than young adults are on measures of internal locus of control.

Question 40

Norman considers himself to be an excellent tennis player.He has been playing on the most competitive team in his retirement community.Lately,however,he has not been playing as well,but he attributes his poor showing to the deteriorating condition of the tennis courts.Which coping strategy is Norman using?

A)Remediation
B)Assimilation
C)Accommodation
D)Immunization

Question 41

Strength and vulnerability integration (SAVI) is a recent theory that tries to explain how older adults cope with stress in order to maintain a high level of well-being.What are the aspects of this theory,and what does it predict about how older adults deal with moderate and high stress situations?

Question 42

With regard to the self-concept,what is the meaning of the terms assimilation and accommodation?

Question 43

What are the factors in Costa and McCrae's Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality? Briefly describe the developmental course of these factors over the adult life span?

Question 44

Define the concept of possible selves and describe what is found to be most important for older adults' possible selves.

Question 45

According to Robert Peck,what are three necessary adjustments in old age?

Question 46

What are primary control processes and secondary control processes? Describe what is meant by "optimization of primary and secondary control" in older adulthood.

Question 47

What is meant by internal control and external control,and what is the relationship of these two terms to aging and older adulthood?