Psychology Final Exam | Course Paper

Psychology Final Exam

Question 1

According to Kagan and Snidman, when do we see the first evidence of a shy temperament

in children?

a. 6 weeks Correct

b. 10 months

c. 2 years

d. 5 years

Question 2

According to research on physiological arousal and personality, which brain structure has

been associated with inhibiting behavior?

b. amygdala Correct

c. temporal lobes

d. hippocampus

Question 3

According to the work of Buss and Plomin, temperament in infancy is based upon:

a. activity level.

b. emotionality.

c. sociability.

d. all of the above. Correct

Question 4

According to your textbook, most contemporary trait theorists:

a. continue to place a strong emphasis on unconscious processes.

b. believe behavior is jointly determined by situations and personality traits. Correct

c. emphasize specific rather than general personality traits.

d. have failed to respond to Mischel’s critique of trait theory.

Question 5

Across cultures, people become ________ neurotic, ________ extraverted, and ________

conscientious as they age.

a. less; less; more Correct

b. less; less; less

c. more; more; less

d. more; more; more

Question 6

Anna is a college student from the United States and Michiko is a college student from

Japan. Both have taken the same personality assessment as part of a psychology research

study. Which of these young women is likely to score higher in neuroticism, and why?

a. Anna, because Americans tend to be more neurotic in general

b. Anna, because Americans tend to have relatively low self-esteem

c. Michiko, because the Japanese on average report higher levels of neuroticism Correct

d. No significant difference would be expected.

Question 7

Bandura’s cognitive-social theory of personality sees ________ as an important

determinant of behavior.

a. self-efficacy Correct

b. stereotypes

c. attributional style

d. biological predispositions

Question 8

Cognitive-social theories of personality emphasize:

a. the effect of past patterns of reinforcement on behavior.

b. biological factors as determinants of personality.

c. the role of expectancies in guiding our behavior. Correct

d. the unconscious processes that dictate our actions in social situations.

Question 9

During the phallic stage, children develop hostility toward the same-sex parent because

they desire an exclusive relationship with the opposite-sex parent. Freud argued that this

conflict is typically resolved by the:

a. child’s adopting many of the same-sex parent’s values and ideals.

b. parents’ confronting the child’s inappropriate behavior.

c. id, which attempts to rein in the sexual urges. Incorrect

d. time the child is 3 years old.

Question 10

Factor analysis is useful to psychologists because it allows them to:

a. separate real traits from imaginary traits.

b. group traits together based on their similarities. Correct

c. identify the causal factor behind each trait.

d. predict behavior on the basis of traits.

Question 11

How is age related to the stability of personality?

a. Children are more stable in their traits than are older adults.

b. There is some stability at any age but particularly after age 50.

c. Age and personality stability are basically unrelated.

d. Stability in personality traits is constant across development. Incorrect

Question 12

If a therapist gives a client the Thematic Apperception Test, she is attempting to assess the

client’s:

a. self-esteem.

b. psychiatric diagnosis.

c. sexual conflicts.

d. motivational traits. Correct

Question 13

In a study described in your text, men with higher levels of homophobia who were shown

videos of homosexual sex responded with more physiological arousal than did men with

lower levels of homophobia. This finding provides evidence in support of:

a. fixation at the oral stage.

b. an underdeveloped id.

c. reaction formation. Correct

d. rationalization.

Question 14

In Eysenck’s hierarchical model of personality, the most general or superordinate traits are:

a. introversion/extraversion, emotional stability, and psychoticism.

b. sociability, dominance, and assertiveness.

c. conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticism.

d. emotionality, sociability, and activity level. Incorrect

Question 15

In Freud’s model, mental activity:

a. is divided into three zones or levels. Correct

b. is less important than physical activity.

c. is entirely unconscious.

d. originates in the libido.

Question 16

Jason is involved in a personality research study, and he is asked to sort cards labeled with

personality characteristics into different piles. The piles represent which characteristics

describe Jason very well, somewhat well, and not at all well. The assessment given to

Jason is very similar to the:

a. California Q-Sort. Correct

b. Thematic Apperception Test.

c. NEO inventory.

d. Rorschach inkblot test.

Question 17

Martha knows she can succeed at getting into medical school. She says, “All I have to do

is figure out how other people got in, select the strategies I can successfully use, and then

implement my plan.” Martha is showing high levels of:

a. unconditional positive regard.

b. external locus of control.

c. internal locus of control. Correct

d. openness to experience.

Question 18

Reaction formation and displacement are similar in that they are both:

a. identified by Freud as being harmful for mental health.

b. products of a conflict between the ego and the superego.

c. personality traits.

d. defense mechanisms. Correct

Question 19

Rotter argues that people differ in their locus of control, by which he means:

a. the degree to which they understand their circumstances.

b. their relative responsiveness to reinforcement versus punishment.

c. the extent to which they believe their fate is determined by their own actions. Correct

d. the extent to which they value their personal expectancies.

Question 20

Walter Mischel has been a major critic of trait theories of personality in arguing that a

person’s behavior is:

a. influenced more strongly by the unconscious than trait theorists predict. Incorrect

b. consistent only within familiar situations.

c. not as consistent as trait theorists predict.

d. less dependent on the situation than trait theories assume.

Question 21

What is the most significant aspect of Carl Rogers’s approach to understanding

personality?

a. the emphasis on unconscious motives

b. the intensity and rigidity of treatment

c. the focus on the subjective experiences that make up a person’s life Correct

d. the examination of forces outside of a person’s control

Question 22

When people remember information about the self, which brain region is most active?

a. amygdala

b. parietal lobe

c. frontal lobes Correct

d. hypothalamus

Question 23

Which of the following have Buss and Plomin identified as basic traits or temperaments in

infants?

a. novelty seeking, shyness, and activation

b. inhibition, extraversion, and sociability

c. activity level, emotionality, and sociability Correct

d. shyness, sensation seeking, and agreeableness

Question 24

Which personality trait(s) is (are) seen across all cultures?

a. neuroticism

b. extraversion

c. openness

d. all of the possible options are correct Correct

Question 1

Across cultures, people become ________ neurotic, ________ extraverted, and ________

conscientious as they age.

a. less; less; more Correct

b. less; less; less

c. more; more; less

d. more; more; more

Question 2

Arianna is talking to Tatsuye, a foreign exchange student from Japan. She notices that he

often criticizes his own efforts and says, “I could work harder; I am actually kind of lazy.”

However, Arianna knows Tatsuye is a gifted and high-achieving student, so she is confused

by his comments. Based on what you know about research on culture and the self, what

would you tell Arianna about Tatsuye’s comments?

a. People from East Asia are genuinely more self-critical than Americans.

b. People from East Asia prefer to appear modest in public. Correct

c. Tatsuye is comparing himself to Americans who have a reputation as hard workers.

d. Tatsuye may be experiencing a nonintegrated self-concept due to his recent change in

culture.

Question 3

Based on Freud’s theory of psychosexual stages, which of the following would you most

expect to hear a 5-year-old boy say to his mother?

a. “How come none of the girls at school like me?”

b. “You are soooo beautiful!” Correct

c. “I wish you would go away so I could spend more time with Dad!”

d. “You are mean. I don’t like you!”

Question 4

For Eysenck, the important difference between extraverts and introverts is that:

a. extraverts are chronically overaroused, whereas introverts are chronically underaroused.

b. extraverts desire more arousal, whereas introverts try to avoid it. Correct

c. introverts seek environments that increase their level of arousal, whereas extraverts seek

environments that decrease it.

d. the ascending reticular activating system is found primarily in extraverts and rarely in

introverts.

Question 5

Freud thought that during the latency stage of psychosexual development:

a. sexual urges are suppressed or channeled into various acceptable activities.

b. children deal with sexual urges by identifying with the same-sex parent.

c. libidinal urges are much reduced because of hormonal changes.

d. children develop more mature attitudes toward their sexuality. Incorrect

Question 6

Genetics accounts for about ________ of the difference in individuals’ personality traits.

a. 20-40 percent

b. 5-10 percent

c. 40-60 percent Correct

d. 70-80 percent

Question 7

How do the idiographic and nomothetic approaches to studying personality differ?

a. The first focuses on the unique characteristics of the individual, whereas the latter looks

at how people vary on common characteristics. Correct

b. The first uses objective tests, whereas the latter employs projective tests.

c. The first uses case reports, whereas the latter employs psychobiography.

d. They first relies on quantitative techniques, whereas the latter relies on qualitative

techniques.

Question 8

How is age related to the stability of personality?

a. Children are more stable in their traits than are older adults.

b. There is some stability at any age but particularly after age 50.

c. Age and personality stability are basically unrelated.

d. Stability in personality traits is constant across development. Incorrect

Question 9

If collectivist cultures become more individualist, people in those cultures will be:

a. more likely to use the self-serving bias.

b. less likely to use the self-serving bias.

c. more likely to use self-enhancement strategies. Incorrect

d. less likely to use self-enhancement strategies.

Question 10

If you were a therapist who endorsed Carl Rogers’s person-centered approach to therapy,

how would you treat your client?

a. You would observe the client’s behavior and then give him critical feedback.

b. You would discuss the client’s problems and concerns as he understands them. Correct

c. You would have the client complete a questionnaire of the five-factor model of

personality.

d. You would have the client take a battery of projective personality tests.