Psychology Expert Answers & Study Resources

  36. Contemporary thinking regarding cultural influences on personality suggests that a. Individual behavior corresponds in a coherent manner to cultural rules b. Culture is a consistent subset of expectations and rules that produce modal personalities c. Individuals selectively choose, contest, and adapt to different and sometimes conflicting elements in their culture d. Culture is more a.

  21. Between the 1950s and the 1990s in the United States, scores on measures of anxiety and neuroticism tended to a. Decrease steadily b. Increase steadily c. Remain relatively stable d. Increase during Democratic administrations and decrease during Republican administrations 22. Dopamine is strongly associated with which of the following? a. Feeling positive rewards b. Wanting to.

  31. What is a "negative identity?" a. An image of self that one does not like b. A person who represents what one does not want to be c. An identity that fails to provide life with unity and purpose d. A person whose identity is the opposite of one's own 32. Research suggests that.

  31. Among middle-class American and Italian families, Kohn's research found that a. Lower social class parents emphasize self-direction with their children more than higher social class parents b. Higher social class parents stress obedience to authority with their children more than lower social class parents c. Higher social class parents emphasize self-direction with.

  36. The affect-congruence model of reciprocal interactionism suggests that: a. Persons experience greater levels of positive affect in situations consistent with their traits b. Persons choose situations that are consistent with their traits c. Persons choose situations that are consistent with their current affective state d. Traits and affective states are in mutual interaction 37..

  36. Generativity combines desires for a. Agency and communion b. Material well-being and social well-being c. Altruism and empathy d. Cognitive stimulation and emotional fulfillment 37. Which of the following statements about research on generativity is not true? a. Midlife adults tend to have more generative life goals and commitments than young adults b. Adults scoring high.

  11. Loevinger's stages of ego development are measured via a. A self-report questionnaire b. The Thematic Apperception Test c. A sentence-completion test d. Behavioral observation under standard conditions 12. The relation between ego development and intelligence is a. Strongly positive b. Modestly positive c. Zero d. Modestly negative 13. Ego development is positively associated with which of the following personality.

  31. Why do politically moderate-to-liberal politicians show more differentiation and integration in their political rhetoric, according to Tetlock's work on integrative complexity? a. Because they are committed to the value of freedom b. Because they are committed to the value of equality c. Because they are committed to both freedom and equality d. Because.

  21. The PSE scoring system for the achievement motive was originally derived a. From a theoretical analysis of Murray's concept of the need for achievement b. By administering the PSE to people who were extremely successful in life c. From examining folktales that came from societies whose economies were strong d. By comparing stories written.

  6. In Rogers's theory, the basic human motive is toward a. Organismic enhancement b. Tension reduction c. Greater levels of happiness d. Cognitive efficiency 7. According to Rogers, the most powerful means whereby a person can promote another person's development is a. Empathy b. Contingent reinforcement c. Unconditional positive regard d. Confrontation through angst 8. According to Freud, the aspect.

  26. Which of the following best describes the relation between the individual person and the collective society in the formation of identity? a. Society provides resources for identity formation b. The person must transcend society in order to find a true identity c. The person must eventually conform to society in order to.

MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS 1. People who hold “entity theories” (as opposed to “incremental theories”) about their love relationships tend to believe that a. Their love relationships were “meant to be” b. Problems and conflicts in their love relationships will be difficult to fix c. Both a and b d. Neither a nor b 2. In Kelly's theory.

  21. Which of the following statements best characterizes scientific research on the Myers Briggs types? a. Strong scientific support for all types except the thinking-feeling distinction b. Low reliability but strong validity for the types c. The test is comparable to the NEO-PI-R and other standard personality tests d. Scientific evidence for the validity.

  16. When two different measures of the same trait are highly correlated with each other there is evidence for a. Content validity b. Convergent validity c. Discriminant validity d. Internal consistency 17. If a scale assessing the trait of friendliness shows very high correlations with a well-established measure of intelligence, then the psychologist may conclude.

  11. Which of the following types of person is most likely to show high levels of arousal in response to increasing levels of stimulation? a. Extraverts b. Introverts c. Ambiverts d. Neurotics 12. Eysenck links individual differences in extraversion/introversion to the functioning of the a. Limbic system b. Reticular activating system c. Thalamus d. Cerebral cortex 13. Individuals scoring high.

  31. Which of the following has not been associated with high intimacy motivation? a. Smiling and eye contact b. Spending time thinking about people c. Larger friendship networks d. Being rated by others as especially "sincere" 32. When people high in intimacy motivation spend time with their friends, they tend to engage in high levels.

  21. The major psychosocial question of Erikson's third stage of development—initiative vs. guilt—is: a. How can I be powerful? b. How can I be good? c. How can I be independent? d. How can I be secure? 22. According to Erikson, 4- and 5-year-old children show marked gender differences in many areas of play, such.

  16. According to Freud, the structure of the psyche that exerts a primitive moral force is the a. Id b. Ego c. Superego d. Self-concept 17. Which of the following is not a function of the work of defense mechanisms? a. To reduce anxiety b. To distort reality c. To lift repression d. To lessen conflict 18. Research on repression.

  6. Which of the following features is not part of the definition of a personality disorder? a. Linked to medical conditions and/or substance abuse b. Long-term patterns of behavior rather than short-term reactions c. Behavior pattern markedly deviates from cultural norms d. Tend to be less debilitating than psychoses such as schizophrenia 7. A key.

  31. Which of the following statements reflects a true research finding about the psychobiological underpinnings of the trait of neuroticism (N)? a. The amygdala mediates fear conditioning, which may be associated with N b. EEG activity in the left anterior cortex is associated with anxiety responses, which may link to N c. Individual.

  11. In terms of extreme scores on dimensional traits, which of the following trait profiles best characterizes the schizotypal personality disorder? a. High neuroticism, low extraversion, high openness b. High neuroticism, low agreeableness, low conscientiousness c. High neuroticism and relatively average scores on other traits d. Low neuroticism and high agreeableness 12. The method of.

  36. According to Higgins's research on self-discrepancy, discrepancies between the actual and ideal selves lead to the experience of a. Fear, anxiety, guilt b. Sadness, shame, disappointment c. Excitement, interest, focusing d. Anger, aggression, denial 37. According to Higgins's research on self-discrepancy, discrepancies between the actual and ought selves lead to the experience of a. Fear,.

31. In his analysis of scientists from history, Frank Sulloway underscores the significance of birth order in the family. Which of the following statements best captures his central finding? a. Later-borns tend to be more rebellious and open to experience than first-borns b. Later-borns tend to be more conscientious and agreeable than.

  26. Which of the following experiences is not part of what people high in neuroticism often experience as the “neurotic cascade”? a. The spread of negative emotion from one domain to another b. High sensitivity to signals of punishment and negative emotion c. Active search to find new problems that will result in.

  26. On the average, men tend to score higher than women on which of the following motives? a. Achievement b. Power c. Intimacy d. None of the above 27. How might McClelland assess a society's overall level of achievement motivation? a. Self-report surveys from a national sample b. Scoring PSEs from a random national sample of adults c..

  36. Which of the following statements does not reflect an empirical finding concerning the trait of neuroticism (N)? a. N is a negative indicator for recovery from depression b. N is positively associated with guilt and anxiety about sexual relations c. N is positively associated with emotion-focused coping strategies d. N is negatively associated.

  21. What is the main goal of the “positive psychology movement”? a. To promote the value of psychology to the public b. To find positive cures for personality disorders and shortcomings c. To understand the development of human virtues and character strengths d. To transform psychology into an exact science, in keeping with the.

  16. A self-schema emerges in a person's life when he or she begins to a. Feel personally responsible for behavior in a particular domain b. Comprehend what the main life tasks should be for his or her life c. Experience doubt and conflict concerning future goals d. Experience self-awareness 17. When imagining one’s lost possible.

16. Research involving temperament dispositions and environment indicates that a. People select and create environments that reinforce their current temperamental dispositions b. People select and create environments that change their current temperamental dispositions c. Environments shape temperament dimensions rather than the other way around d. People actively seek environments that complement, rather than match, their temperaments 17. Test-retest.

  16. Erikson views childhood events as a. Prime causes of adult personality b. Unrelated to adult development except in cases of neurosis c. Reconstructed in adulthood d. Adding up to comprise ego identity 17. What is "triple bookkeeping" in Erikson's theory? a. Comprehending the person's life on the levels of body, ego, and society b. Conceptualizing human.

11. Which of the following tends to occur regarding differential continuity of traits over the human lifespan? a. Differential continuity of traits tends to decrease as the length of time between measurement intervals increases b. Differential continuity of traits tends to increase as measurement intervals increase c. Differential continuity of traits tends to.

MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS 1. When confronted with emotionally complex and intense situations, extraverts tend to a. Feel intense positive and intense negative emotions at the same time b. Tamp down their emotional expectations in order to protect themselves against fear and sadness c. Deny that they feel any negative emotions d. Savor the positive feelings so.

  26. Observations of behavior in controlled laboratory settings constitute a. L data b. Q data c. T data d. Z data 27. On the California Psychological Inventory (CPI), low scores on which of the following scales are associated with criminal behavior and delinquency? a. Socialization b. Achievement via independence c. Well-being d. Dominance 28. The original purpose for the Minnesota.

21. Which of the following statements best captures the difference in meaning between "temperament" and "traits"? a. Temperament is highly heritable whereas traits show low heritability b. Childhood traits develop gradually into adult temperaments c. Temperament refers to negative interaction patterns whereas traits usually are couched in positive, prosocial terms d. Temperament refers to.

  11. In Cantor and Kihlstrom's view of social intelligence, the abstract and categorical information that the person has gleaned over time concerning various social events and phenomena, including scripts and self-conceptions, makes up a. Declarative-semantic knowledge b. Declarative-episodic knowledge c. Procedural knowledge d. Person memory 12. In Cantor and Kihlstrom's view of social intelligence, the.

  11. Which of the following is not necessarily a characteristic of the self-actualized person, according to Maslow? a. Many peak experiences b. Motivated by being values c. Few experiences of negative emotions d. Satisfaction of lower needs in the hierarchy 12. Repression means to a. Make something unconscious b. Consciously hold back threatening information c. Hurt another person.

  31. In the act-frequency approach to personality, traits are a. Summary categories of behaviors b. Internal dispositions c. Causal factors in action d. Situationally specific 32. According to advocates for aggregation in personality studies, Mischel's failure to find impressive cross-situational consistency in behavior was due to a. Selective review of the literature b. Unreliable behavioral assessments c. Faulty.

6. All of the following are true of the Q-sort methodology in personality assessment except a. Persons are compared to each other on absolute trait levels b. It incorporates an ipsative ordering procedure for personality descriptors c. It relies on ratings made by experts d. Items are sorted into a normal distribution 7. According to.

26. Which of the following is an example of nonadditive genetic variance? a. Even though MZ twins have all their genes in common and DZ twins have about half of their genes in common, MZ twins may be over twice as similar to each other as DZ twins are b. The effects.

MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS 1. Which of the following is not true regarding the temperament dimension of “effortful control”? a. In early childhood, girls score higher than boys b. High scores predict effective interpersonal functioning c. Scores on effortful control tend not to change between ages of 2 and 4 years d. Effortful control is a foundational.

MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS 1. Research on intrinsic motivation contradicts certain tenets of behaviorism because it shows that in certain cases a. People do not seek rewards b. Rewards lead to decrease in performance c. Punishment is more effective than rewards in promoting positive behavior d. Non-contingent rewards are superior to contingent ones 2. Research on intrinsic motivation.

  16. In interpersonal relationships, neuroticism is associated with which of the following tendencies? a. Inability to adjust intimacy to appropriate level in a given situation b. Overly dependent style of relating to others c. Inappropriate expressions of both positive and negative emotions d. Failure to behave with others in an appropriately assertive manner 17. Which.

  6. According to Kelly, when a person is confronted with events that lie outside the range of convenience of his or her construct system, he or she may experience a. Guilt b. Anxiety c. Sadness d. Excitement 7. Which of the following measures is used to assess personal constructs? a. The Personal Orientation Inventory b. The Alienation.

  36. In Henry Murray's theory, the term that refers to an environmental challenge or constraint is a. Thema b. Stimulus situation c. Press d. Vector 37. McClelland distinguishes between implicit and self-attributed motives. Which of the following things is not true about implicit motives? a. They are assessed through respondent methods b. They reflect unconscious goals c. They.

MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS 1. All of the following are true about personality traits except that traits a. Refer to internal dispositions b. Are linear and (usually) bipolar c. Are assumed to be stable over time d. Usually emphasize cognitive dimensions 2. Most contemporary personality psychologists view traits as a. Convenient descriptors that have no meaning beyond shared social.

  26. A field-independent cognitive style is a. Contextual b. Global c. Analytical d. Systemic 27. Field independence is associated with all of the following except a. Experiences of shame rather than guilt b. Better cognitive restructuring c. Hypothesis-testing approach to complex problems d. Negative descriptions of other people 28. Field dependence is associated with all of the following except a. Greater.

MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS 1. According to object relations theorists like Margaret Mahler, the fundamental drive or motive of human behavior and experience is a drive toward a. Sexual expression b. Aggressive destruction c. Overcoming inferiority d. Interpersonal relatedness 2. According to Kohut’s developmental view, a healthy mirroring relationship provides the child with a sense of a. Virtue b. Generosity c..

  6. Recent revisions of Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory link the experience of intense fear to which of the following systems? a. Behavioral Activation System b. Behavioral Inhibition System c. Fight-Flight-Freeze System d. Affect Modulation System 7. Which of the following is not one of the Big Five traits? a. Extraversion b. Agreeableness c. Conscientiousness d. Authoritarianism 8. High levels of extraversion.

36. In the AT&T longitudinal study of male managers followed from their 20s into their 40s, which of the following trends was discovered with respect to personality traits? a. Decreases in ambition over time, and increases in autonomy b. Decreases in autonomy over time, and increases in friendliness c. Decreases in friendliness over.

  6. In studies of self-recognition, an infant is placed in front of a mirror after a parent has secretly applied lipstick or some other mark to the infant's nose. Infants younger than 15 months of age are likely to respond by a. Touching their own noses b. Pointing at their noses in.