Deck 10: Virtue and Strength of Character

Question 1

According to your text, virtue belongs on a list of positive human traits primarily because

A) of its connection to secular and religious morality and its value to society.
B) virtuous behavior always pays off in terms of increased individual happiness.
C) a virtuous life is the foundation for acceptance by others.
D) virtue is a critical component in whether people choose a hedonic or eudaimonic lifestyle.

Answer 1

of its connection to secular and religious morality and its value to society.

Question 2

The major goal of the Values in Action Project was

A) to examine and classify the strengths that are the exact opposites of the weaknesses identified by traditional psychology.
B) evaluate character strengths and virtues according to their impact on social behavior and society.
C) develop a classification system of character strengths that would parallel psychology's existing classification of weaknesses and pathologies described by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
D) to identify the character strengths and virtues that are most central to modern Western cultural life.

Answer 2

develop a classification system of character strengths that would parallel psychology's existing classification of weaknesses and pathologies described by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Question 3

Which of the following are the six "universal" virtues identified by the Values in Action Project?

A) compassion, courage, temperance, authenticity, wisdom, and forgiveness.
B) wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence.
C) wisdom, bravery, kindness, temperance, love and, spirituality.
D) wisdom, creativity, persistence, fairness, love, and transcendence.

Answer 3

wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence.

Question 4

According to the Values in Action Project, what is the relationship between virtue and character strengths?

A) Virtue and character strengths are essentially the same thing.
B) Virtue represents human commonalities while strengths represent individual differences.
C) Character strengths are the ingredients, expressions, and means of developing virtue.
D) Character strengths represent the unique cultural expressions of each virtue.

Question 5

As defined by the Values in Action Project, wisdom refers to

A) high intelligence and technical knowledge.
B) being successful and famous.
C) practical knowledge and intelligence in dealing with the challenges and uncertainties of life.
D) being "right" before the fact - accuracy in predictions about future events and the consequences of people's actions and choices.

Question 6

A person who has good self-control, avoids excesses, and "looks before he or she leaps" would fit the virtue of

A) humility.
B) social intelligence.
C) wisdom.
D) temperance.

Question 7

The virtue of transcendence

A) connects the individual to larger and deeper meanings of life.
B) means the same thing as religious.
C) is a perquisite for wisdom.
D) is the basis of both justice and temperance.

Question 8

The Signature Strengths Questionnaire was developed by Values in Action Project (VIA) researchers to measure 24 strengths of character. This questionnaire has been taken by over 350,000 people in 50 different countries. Analysis of character strengths profiles suggest that

A) people in widely different cultures share a common understanding of character strengths.
B) the meaning of character strengths varies widely across different cultures.
C) the Signature Strengths Questionnaire contains a substantial Western value bias.
D) gender, age, and social class have a substantial influence on people's understanding of character strengths.

Question 9

Does the average person see a distinction between wisdom, intelligence, creativity, and sheer fame? When researchers asked people to nominate historic and contemporary exemplars of these characteristics they found that the answer to this question was

A) no, because most people perceive wisdom, intelligence, creativity, and sheer fame as essentially the same thing.
B) no, because people distinguished between wisdom and sheer fame, but wisdom, intelligence, and creativity overlapped extensively.
C) yes, because people could only think of few wise nominees, but thought of many nominees for intelligence, creativity, and sheer fame.
D) yes, because there was a low degree of overlap in the people nominated for wisdom, intelligence, creativity, and sheer fame.

Question 10

Research investigating the characteristics that define a wise person have found that wisdom is

A) essentially the same thing as technical knowledge and intelligence.
B) heavily dependent on having "book learning" and lots of education.
C) defined by knowledge and judgment related to the conduct of a virtuous life.
D) all of the above

Question 11

According to Sternberg's balance theory of wisdom, wise people are particularly skilled at

A) fitting their own principles into the conflicting demands of everyday life.
B) getting other people to see the need to compromise by balancing their needs with those of others.
C) balancing the often conflicting interests and change-related choices in everyday life situations.
D) balancing cost and benefits of individual life choices.

Question 12

Baby boomers have been described as the "sandwich generation" because they are "sandwiched" between the needs and demands of their own children and those of their aging parents. According to Sternberg's balance theory of wisdom, a wise response to the sandwich generation dilemmas presented in the text example would involve

A) putting ethical principles first and practical matters second.
B) finding a compromise solution in which each person's sacrifice was as equal as possible.
C) balancing demands with available resources.
D) balancing competing interests and courses of action concerning who and what needs to change.

Question 13

Based on five criteria, Baltes and his colleagues, who developed the Berlin model of wisdom, define wisdom as

A) expert knowledge in the conduct of life.
B) skill in balancing competing interests and courses of action concerning who and what needs to change.
C) accumulated knowledge based on a wide array of human experiences.
D) a natural developmental consequence of aging.

Question 14

To measure wisdom, Baltes and his colleagues use trained judge's evaluation of people's responses to various life dilemmas. In one study using the life dilemma measure, Baltes and Kunzman asked whether wise people are happier than the less wise. Results from their study found that

A) wisdom and happiness seem to go hand in hand.
B) wise people experience less happiness because they are more aware of pain and suffering in the world.
C) wise people report both less negative and less positive emotional experiences suggesting skill at self-control.
D) wise people report both more negative and more positive emotional experiences suggesting they are more reactive to emotional events.

Question 15

In the SOC Model of Effective Life Management developed by Baltes and his colleagues, S, O, and C refer to

A) selection, organization, and commitment.
B) selection, optimization, and compensation.
C) seriousness, optimism, and challenge
D) sensibility, optimism, and competence

Question 16

Baltes and his colleagues have made a strong connection in both theory and empirical studies between the SOC Model of Effective Life Management and

A) goal research.
B) research on intelligence.
C) the Five Factor Personality Model.
D) affectivity, self-esteem, and optimism.

Question 17

In studies evaluating the extent to which people follow and endorse the SOC model in their own lives, Baltes and his colleagues have found that higher levels of endorsement are

A) associated with increased optimism, self-esteem, and happiness.
B) unrelated to age unless the person has overcome challenge or tragedy.
C) associated with increasing age and higher levels of hedonic well-being.
D) associated with increasing age and higher levels of eudaimonic well-being and positive emotion.

Question 18

Baumeister and Exline argue that one of the most important functions of virtue and morality is to

A) maintain harmonious relationships with others by controlling selfish needs.
B) provide a foundation for religion and spirituality.
C) enhance the development of a "mature " personality.
D) counteract the negative effects of our relativistic and "anything goes" popular culture.

Question 19

Baumeister and Exline argue that the Seven Deadly Sins (e.g., gluttony, greed, lust, anger) result from

A) unwise choices, suggesting wisdom is a master virtue.
B) the conflict between virtue and self-interest, suggesting commitment to your principles is the basis of virtue and therefore integrity is a master virtue.
C) self-control failure, suggesting self-control is the "moral muscle" behind virtuous behaviors and therefore the master virtue.
D) too much temptation, suggesting that today's culture of individualism and "me first" is partly to blame for the decline in virtuous behaviors.

Question 20

Based on his experiences in the Nazi concentration camps during World War II, Victor Frankl came to believe that the ability of people to survive the horrors of the death camps depended on their ability to

A) develop social support from fellow prisoners.
B) find some sustaining meaning and hopeful vision of the future.
C) maintain their personal integrity and identity despite dehumanizing and brutalizing conditions.
D) rationalize, deny, and therefore buffer the reality of their situation.

Question 21

According to Roy Baumeister, a sense of purpose, value, self-efficacy, interpretive control, and self-worth represent

A) psychological needs that underlie people's motivation to find meaning in life.
B) psychological needs that people rely on when they cannot find deeper meanings in life.
C) psychological needs that can only be fulfilled by spiritual and religious beliefs.
D) criteria for evaluating "good" versus "bad" religions from a psychological point of view.

Question 22

As shown in national surveys over the last 50 years, what percentage of Americans said they believed in God or a higher power?

A) about 30%
B) about 50%
C) about 75%
D) over 90%

Question 23

When Pargament and his colleagues asked college students and clergy members to rate the degree of religiousness of 100 profiles of hypothetical people they found

A) a high degree of consensus between students and clergy about what it means to be a religious person.
B) little consensus between students and clergy about what it means to be a religious person.
C) consensus only among deeply religious students.
D) consensus only among the clergy who used depth of commitment rather than simply attending church as their cue to religiousness.

Question 24

Surveys show that about 20% of people endorse the statement that "I am spiritual but not religious." What is distinctive about this group?

A) They are likely to baby boomers who adhere to "new age" beliefs and are critical of traditional religious institutions.
B) Such people tend to be scientists, particularly biologists, who believe evolution and physics explains more than religion.
C) They are more often social scientists (e.g., psychologists & sociologists) who believe religion is a "convenient illusion."
D) Nearly all have had a significant negative experience with one or another traditional religion.

Question 25

According to Pargament, what is the defining essence of religion that distinguishes religion from other domains of life?

A) Religion is like a projective test, in which people "read" into it all their deepest needs and concerns.
B) Religion's sacred substance and its distinctive function in people's lives.
C) Religion can both liberate and enslave.
D) Religion answers the question of what happens after we die.

Question 26

Pargament defines religion as the 1.______________, and spirituality as 2.____________________.

A) 1. a search for significance 2. a search for absolute truth about existence
B) 1. an institutionalized set of sacred beliefs 2. an individual's personal sacred beliefs
C) 1. a search for significance in ways related to the sacred 2. a search for the sacred
D) 1. a search for the sacred 2. a search for the sacred in ways related to the sacred

Question 27

In Pargament's definition and conceptualization of religion and spirituality, religion is the broader concept because it

A) includes both individual and institutional religious practices.
B) recognizes both traditional and contemporary religious beliefs and practices.
C) includes both Eastern and Western religions.
D) includes both secular and sacred purposes.

Question 28

Overall, what have researchers concluded about the well-being benefits of religion?

A) Religion shows small but consistently positive well-being benefits.
B) There are no significant differences in the well-being of religious and non-religious people.
C) The overall effects of religion are "washed out" because about half do better and half do worse.
D) Until individual differences in religious experience and involvement are sorted out, no overall conclusion is possible.

Question 29

What happens to the relationship between religion and health when researchers control for known health risk factors, such as smoking and obesity?

A) the relationship disappears
B) a positive relationship remains
C) becomes even more negative
D) remains positive only for married and highly educated people

Question 30

As Gordan Allport noted, survey researchers have found that as a group, people who attend church are __________prejudiced towards various minority groups compared to people who do not attend church.

A) less
B) equally
C) more

Question 31

In Allport's analysis, the relationship between religion and prejudice depends upon whether a person

A) has an intrinsic or extrinsic religious orientation.
B) uses religion to justify his or her prejudice.
C) is taught to be prejudiced by their family and community.
D) does or does not have firsthand experience with the people he or she is prejudiced against.

Question 32

According to Allport, people who use their religion to provide security, comfort, social status, and support have what kind of religious orientation?

A) intrinsic
B) extrinsic
C) quest
D) avoidant

Question 33

Researchers have found that higher-quality family life, self-esteem, optimism, social support, and enhanced mental health are consistently linked to what type of religious orientation?

A) committed
B) spiritual
C) extrinsic
D) intrinsic

Question 34

Applied to religion, attachment theory suggests that people's relationship to God

A) is related to the nature of their attachment to their parents.
B) is based on God as a father figure consistent with Freudian theory.
C) reflects childhood needs to be nurtured and comforted in times of crisis.
D) is based more on psychological needs than on sacred a foundation for life.

Question 35

"God is generally impersonal and distant. I frequently feel he doesn't care very much about me and may not like me." People who agree with this statement have what type of attachment style?

A) secure
B) avoidant
C) anxious/ambivalent
D) fearful

Question 36

Some people believe that personal tragedies represent God's punishment for their sins and some people wait passively wait for God's solutions to their problems. According to research by Pargament and his colleagues, each of these examples represent

A) anxious/ambivalent attachment.
B) avoidant attachment.
C) a negative religious coping style.
D) a self-directing religious coping style.

Question 37

Paragment and his colleagues have studied community members dealing with the Oklahoma City bombing, college students dealing with life stress, and people dealing with serious illnesses. Despite the diversity of the crises involved, results consistently show

A) good outcomes for positive religious coping styles and neutral to poor outcomes for negative coping styles.
B) inconsistent outcomes, suggesting that religious coping is more complex than previously thought.
C) benefits for positive coping only among people with strong social support and a satisfying marriage.
D) the critical importance of the clergy's response to community and to individual spiritual needs.

Question 38

In his discussion of "explaining religion versus explaining religion away," Pargament raises the question of whether

A) any of the effects of religion are due to spirituality alone.
B) the effects of religion are mediated by psychological, social, and biological factors.
C) social support, self-esteem, life purpose, and a positive attitude explain all of the effects of religion.
D) all of the above

Question 39

Psychologists believe and research suggests that forgiveness may be particularly valuable for

A) maintaining a positive attitude towards humanity and God.
B) avoiding depression, self-hatred, and emotional turmoil.
C) reducing the negative health effects of anger and for repairing relationships.
D) people who work with criminal offenders, such as social workers, police officers, and judges.

Question 40

In their study of gratitude, Emmons and McCullough assigned students to grateful, hassles, or events conditions. Based on the results of their study, these researchers concluded that grateful expressions

A) are helpful for people in relatively good physical and mental health, but not for people suffering serious illness (as shown in their study of people with neuromuscular disease).
B) enhance well-being only if they are both appreciated and reciprocated.
C) coupled with downward social comparisons have the strongest positive effects on well-being.
D) may contribute to an upward spiral of well-being as described by Fredrickson's broaden-an-build theory of positive emotions.