Question 1

Greenberg and colleagues suggestion that people pursue self-esteem to overcome their fear of death is part of their:

Accepted Answer

A)   pursuit of happiness.
B)   gloomy self theory.
C)   terror management theory.
D)   terrain management theory. C

Question 2

If a researcher wanted to study self and identity, she would essentially be studying:

Accepted Answer

A)   components of behaviour.
B)   mental fictions.
C)   operational definitions.
D)   cognitive constructs influencing how we perceive socially and interact with others. D

Question 3

The concepts of self and identity:

Accepted Answer

A)   allow humans to predict what others think.
B)   allow humans to predict what others do.
C)   provide humans with guidelines about how they should behave.
D)   All of the above D

Question 4

Liz is acutely and objectively self-aware. Therefore she:

Accepted Answer

A)   becomes easily deindividuated.
B)   compares herself how she is with how she would like to be.
C)   has no illusions about who she is.
D)   constantly compares herself with 'similar others'.

Question 5

Which of these refers to self-concept in a relatively collective sense?

Accepted Answer

A)   Ideal self
B)   Personal identity
C)   Looking-glass self
D)   Social identity

Question 6

According to Higgins (1987), self-discrepancies are revealed through:

Accepted Answer

A)   Introspection.
B)   comparison of actual with ideal self.
C)   comparison of actual with 'ought' self.
D)   Both B and C

Question 7

Melissa tends to overestimate her good points and her control of events. She is also unrealistically optimistic. Sedikides and Gregg (2003) call this:

Accepted Answer

A)   the looking-glass self.
B)   the self-enhancing triad.
C)   symbolic interactionism.
D)   the psychodynamic self.

Question 8

What did Shrauger and Schoeneman (1979) and Tice (1992) find out about the idea of the 'looking-glass self'?

Accepted Answer

A)   People do not tend to see themselves as others see them, but instead as they think others see them
B)   It should not have been termed 'the looking-glass self' but 'the mirror-image self'
C)   They confirmed that people always see themselves as others see them
D)   Nothing, Shrauger and Shoeneman (1979)  and Tice (1992)  did not do research into the idea of the 'looking-glass self'

Question 9

According to terror management theory:

Accepted Answer

A)   people need to pull themselves together in this complex world.
B)   most terrorists manage fear very well.
C)   self-esteem is a defence against inevitable death.
D)   natural disasters create the greatest of all fears.

Question 10

Modern empirical studies of self-awareness demonstrate that:

Accepted Answer

A)   the Id is all washed up.
B)   we mostly dream about ourselves.
C)   the ego developed shortly before the id.
D)   None of the above

Question 11

Which of the following is NOT a major motive that influences self-construction?

Accepted Answer

A)   Self-assessment
B)   Self-enhancement
C)   Self-discrepancy
D)   Self-verification

Question 12

Festinger's theory of social comparison implies that people:

Accepted Answer

A)   learn from their errors by asking others what they think.
B)   compare the qualities of various groups before choosing one to join.
C)   check their perceptions and attitudes against others who are similar to them.
D)   counteract potential criticism by undermining their 'enemies'.

Question 13

When Allport (1924) famously argued that the psychology of groups is really essentially psychology of individuals:

Accepted Answer

A)   it was difficult for the study of the collective self to thrive.
B)   the study of the collective self became one of the major topics in psychology.
C)   other disciplines that focussed on collectivities were incorporated into psychology.
D)   other social phenomena such as language, religion, customs and myth became incorporated into the study of the self.

Question 14

Angie tries to match her behaviour to an 'ought' or an 'ideal' standard. Angie is engaging in:

Accepted Answer

A)   downward social comparison.
B)   self-regulation.
C)   self-discrepancy.
D)   framing.

Question 15

The most plausible account of the origins of individualist and collectivist cultures and their associated self-conceptions is probably in terms of:

Accepted Answer

A)   economic activity.
B)   cultural naivety.
C)   grandiose ideals of Western cultures.
D)   differing religious practices.

Question 16

A friend describes you as 'unusual' to a new member of the bowling club. You would be maintaining a positive self-image if you:

Accepted Answer

A)   hoped that no one else would find out.
B)   worried yourself sick and vowed not to be 'unusual' in the future.
C)   defined 'unusual' as a cool thing to be.
D)   restored equity by telling the new member that your friend was 'a handful'.

Question 17

In the context of disadvantaged groups, which strategy can young people employ to maintain positive self-esteem? They can:

Accepted Answer

A)   congregate in specifically designated areas (ghettos) .
B)   assimilate.
C)   keep to themselves.
D)   identify ethnic characteristics that they perceive in a positive way.

Question 18

Industrialisation stimulated the emergence of the individual self by:

Accepted Answer

A)   viewing individuals as units of production with portable identities.
B)   increasing the marriage rate.
C)   providing people with regular employment.
D)   giving people machines to work with.

Question 19

Dressing in a costume tends to reduce one's level of self-awareness. A reduced level of self-awareness:

Accepted Answer

A)   is a consequence of success.
B)   is a key component in deindividuation.
C)   can make a person feel good.
D)   leads to an intensification of emotions.

Question 20

One way to maintain a reasonably integrated picture of who we are is to apply:

Accepted Answer

A)   Freud's psychodynamic theory.
B)   the actor-observer effect.
C)   the overjustification effect.
D)   to take self-help classes.

Exam 4: Self and Identity