Deck 14: Personality Assessment: Origins,applications, and Issues

Question 1

Phrenology was an interesting theory, but it had little appeal for intellectuals during the 19th century.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Faculty psychology, the notion that the mind consists of a number of faculties that can be developed by mental exercise, was greatly influenced by phrenology.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Although many famous people have believed in phrenology, graphology is now considered more plausible.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Efforts to determine temperament and character from facial features fall in the category of physiognomy.

Question 5

The basic assumption underlying the Szondi Test is that the lines in the palms of the hands are indicative of character.

Question 6

Nomothetic is to idiographic as general is to specific.

Question 7

The nomothetic approach to personality study considers every person to be a lawful, integrated system to be investigated in his or her own right.

Question 8

The interpretation of personality assessments is difficult without some theory of personality to serve as a frame of reference.

Question 9

Yellow bile is to choleric as blood is to sanguine.

Question 10

The notion that personality is related to physique is a popular myth that has not been substantiated by scientific research.

Question 11

According to Ernst Kretschmer, a tall, thin body build is associated with withdrawing tendencies.

Question 12

Ectomorphy is associated with fatness as endomorphy with thinness.

Question 13

Somatotonia is associated with mesomorphy and viscerotonia with endomorphy.

Question 14

An endomorph is more likely than an ectomorph to have a cerebrotonic personality.

Question 15

Mesomorphs are very tough, and ectomorphs are thin; endomorphs eat lots of stuff, except when dieting.

Question 16

Cerebrotonics are quite gay, and viscerotonics think; somatotonics live to play, when physically ?in the pink.?

Question 17

Factor-analytic methods have been employed more by trait theorists than by type theorists of personality.

Question 18

The two basic dimensions of Hans Eysenck's conception of personality are introversion-extraversion and neuroticism-psychoticism.

Question 19

Psychoanalysis has had an important effect on the development of psychological treatment methods, but its influence on personality theory and assessment has been minimal.

Question 20

Psychoanalysis proposes that there are "parallel processes" of mental functioning.

Question 21

"The child is father to the man" is a saying most closely associated with social learning theory.

Question 22

The id says "Later," the ego says "Now," and the superego says "Never" to satisfaction of the individual's basic instincts of sex and aggression.

Question 23

The self-serving bias, in which people see themselves more favorably than they are seen by others, is an example of how the unconscious works to reduce anxiety.

Question 24

Compared with Freud's psychoanalytic theory, modern psychoanalytic theory places more emphasis on biological instincts than on social learning and culture as determinants of personality.

Question 25

Phenomenological theorists have not been as interested as trait -factor and psychoanalytic theorists in developing psychodiagnostic instruments.

Question 26

Julian Rotter was one of the first social learning theorists.

Question 27

Two generalized expectancies measured and studied by Julian Rotter are internal -external locus of control and interpersonal trust.

Question 28

According to Albert Bandura, both modeling and reinforcement are necessary for learning to occur.

Question 29

Social learning theorists have focused more on psychotherapy than on personality assessment.

Question 30

Mentally retarded, psychotic, or neurologically impaired persons are, by definition, incompetent to stand trial.

Question 31

A person who is judged "not responsible by reason of insanity" is incompetent to stand trial.

Question 32

The standard of legal insanity applied most often in U.S. courts is that advocated by the American Law Institute.

Question 33

The process of examining a person from a psychological viewpoint to determine the nature and extent of a mental or behavioral disorder is referred to as a mental status examination.

Question 34

The belief that, after an event has occurred, one could have predicted it if asked to do so is referred to as the overconfidence error.

Question 35

Probably the most central of all concepts in the field of health psychology is that of stress.

Question 36

Forensic psychology is concerned with determining whether defendants in court cases are competent to stand trial, dangerous, or are likely to be recidivists.

Question 37

The standards of legal insanity applied most frequently by the judicial systems in the United States are the Daubert principle and the Durham Decision.

Question 38

Although the MMPI and the Rorschach are popular instruments in clinical diagnoses, they are seldom administered in forensic contexts.

Question 39

Clinical (impressionistic) methods of psychological assessment and decision-making are more sensitive and valid than statistical (psychometric) methods.

Question 40

Research has demonstrated that situational characteristics are more important than personality traits in determining human behavior.

Question 41

In recent years, the clinical approach to personality assessment and behavior prediction has been abandoned in favor of the statistical approach.

Question 42

Attempting to analyze the character or personality of an individual from a photograph is a modern version of

A) graphology.
B) phrenology.
C) physiognomy.
D) somatotypology.

Question 43

The discounted notion that certain areas of the brain are related to certain personality characteristics was espoused by

A) graphologists.
B) phrenologists.
C) physiognomists.
D) somatotypologists.

Question 44

The theory underlying the Szondi Test has most in common with

A) astrology.
B) graphology.
C) palmistry.
D) phrenology.
E) physiognomy.

Question 45

Of the following, the least valid as an approach to determining personality characteristics is probably

A) graphology.
B) phrenology.
C) physiognomy.
D) somatotypology.

Question 46

Although it, like other pseudosciences, is overrated, there is probably some validity in

A) astrology.
B) graphology.
C) palmistry.
D) phrenology.
E) physiognomy.

Question 47

The personality assessment technique of word association was (1) developed initially by Carl Jung and (2) first used by Carl Jung to detect and analyze mental complexes.

A) Both 1 and 2 are true.
B) Only 1 is true.
C) Only 2 is true.
D) Neither 1 nor 2 is true.

Question 48

The word association technique was developed initially for use in clinical situations by

A) Alfred Binet.
B) Francis Galton.
C) Carl Jung.
D) Emil Kraepelin.

Question 49

Which of the following matches is incorrect?

A) black bile: sad or depressed
B) blood: vigorous and athletic
C) phlegm: living and energetic
D) yellow bile: easily angered

Question 50

The first standardized personality inventory, which was designed for military selection purposes, was constructed by

A) Francis Galton.
B) Emil Kraepelin.
C) Hermann Rorschach.
D) E. L. Thorndike.
E) Robert Woodworth.

Question 51

The use of observational, interviewing, and test procedures to conduct a thorough case study of a single person, searching for self-consistencies in his (her) own behavior without making comparisons with others, is an example of the __________ approach to personality assessment.

A) idiographic
B) impressionistic
C) nomothetic
D) trait-factor

Question 52

"The child is father to the man" is a notion most closely associated with the name of

A) R.B. Cattell.
B) Sigmund Freud.
C) Carl Rogers.
D) William Sheldon.

Question 53

Whereas early versions of psychoanalysis emphasized such constructs as the id and the Oedipus complex, more recent psychanalytic approaches are more likely to emphasize

A) modifying operationalized aspects of behavior.
B) cognitive restructuring.
C) patterns of relationships and styles of attachment.
D) personal growth through self actualization.
E) both A and B.

Question 54

A core principle of psychoanalysis is that we process information through

A) parallel processes.
B) cognitive self statements.
C) statements related to self efficacy.
D) psychomimetic mechanisms.

Question 55

The self serving bias occurs when we perceive ourselves in a more favorable manner than other people. Since this occurs automatically, it is an example of

A) reaction formation.
B) attempts to resolve the Oedipus complex.
C) psychopathological anticipation.
D) parallel processes.

Question 56

A central belief of psychoanalysis is that early childhood experiences provide us with

A) a template for how we will behave as adults.
B) a model for developing self efficacy.
C) secondary process thinking.
D) an early resolution of the Oedipus complex.

Question 57

John seems to meet the same type of woman and enters into quite similar dysfunctional relationships. A psychoanalist would be most likely to

A) reinforce new cognitive processes.
B) recognize how early patterns of attachment are repeating themselves.
C) use assertiveness techniques to alter the dysfunctional patterns.
D) use rebirthing techniques.

Question 58

George is told by a psychologist that he ?has some difficulties but is usually ab le to overcome them, doesn?t fully live up to his capabilities, and feels some hostility towards others but is quite good at not expressing this.? The fact that George perceives this to be a highly accurate description of his personality is probably an illustration of the

A) Barnum effect.
B) Hawthorne effect.
C) John Henry effect.
D) Von Restorff effect.

Question 59

Choleric, melancholic, phlegmatic, and sanguine are terms associated with

A) Galen.
B) Jung.
C) Kretschmer.
D) Sheldon.

Question 60

Pyknic is to __________ as __________ is to ectomorphic.

A) mesomorphic, asthenic
B) mesomorphic, athletic
C) endomorphic, asthenic
D) endomorphic, athletic

Question 61

What did Lombroso, Kretschmer, and Sheldon have in common?

A) They all constructed projective tests of personality.
B) They all conducted research on body types and personality.
C) They all constructed inventories to measure personality traits.
D) They were all psychoanalysts who disagreed with Freud.

Question 62

Viscerotonia is to cerebrotonia as

A) endomorphy is to ectomorphy.
B) endomorphy is to mesomorphy.
C) mesomorphy is to ectomorphy.
D) mesomorphy is to endomorphy.

Question 63

Which of the following names is associated with a self (phenomenological) theory of personality?

A) Allport
B) Cattell
C) Eysenck
D) Rogers

Question 64

A "neuropsychic structure having the capacity to render many stimuli functionally equivalent and to initiate and guide equivalent forms of adaptive and expressive behavior" is Gordon Allport?s definition of a(n)

A) characteristic.
B) tendency.
C) trait.
D) type.
E) variable.

Question 65

Who analyzed personality into the dimensions of introversion -extraversion and stability-instability?

A) Gordon Allport
B) Raymond Cattell
C) Hans Eysenck
D) Carl Jung

Question 66

According to Freud, negativism, as manifested by defiance of parental orders, is most pronounced during the __________ stage.

A) anal
B) genital
C) latency
D) oral
E) phallic

Question 67

Which of the following is the correct order of psychosexual stages?

A) anal, oral, latency, phallic, genital
B) oral, anal, genital, phallic, latency
C) oral, anal, genital, latency, phallic
D) oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital
E) phallic, oral, anal, latency, genital

Question 68

Defense mechanisms defend the ego against

A) anxiety.
B) depression.
C) hostility.
D) sexual impulses.

Question 69

In which of the following theories of personality is self-actualization a major concept?

A) body-type
B) phenomenology
C) psychoanalysis
D) trait-factor

Question 70

A central concept of phenomenological theories of personality is the

A) ego
B) id
C) psyche
D) self
E) superego

Question 71

According to Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow, everyone strives to attain a state of

A) conditional positive regard.
B) self-actualization.
C) self-conceptualization.
D) unconditional positive regard.

Question 72

The concepts of expectancy, locus of control, and interpersonal trust are associated with

A) Albert Bandura.
B) Walter Mischel.
C) Carl Rogers.
D) Julian Rotter.

Question 73

The first social learning theorists as such was

A) Albert Bandura.
B) Neal Miller.
C) Walter Mischel.
D) Julian Rotter.
E) B. F. Skinner.

Question 74

Which of the following terms most accurately characterizes the manner in which the MMPI was constructed?

A) behaviorally
B) empirically
C) phenomenologically
D) psychoanalytically

Question 75

Prediction of a particular psychological condition or event is more accurate when the base rate is

A) low.
B) medium.
C) high.
D) none of the above.

Question 76

Efforts to obtain in-depth information regarding a person's emotional state, intellectual and perceptual functioning, style and content of thought processes and speech, and level of insight into his or her personality and condition are all part of a(n)

A) competency hearing.
B) intellectual evaluation.
C) mental status examination.
D) personality assessment.

Question 77

Traditional systems for diagnosing mental disorders are based on the

A) medical model.
B) phenomenological model.
C) psychological model.
D) sociological model.

Question 78

The process of examining a person from a psychological viewpoint to determine the nature and extent of a mental or behavioral disorder is known as

A) assessment analysis.
B) case conference.
C) mental status examination.
D) psychodiagnosis.

Question 79

The term "health" in "health psychology" is best defined as

A) an optimistic attitude toward life.
B) absence of disease.
C) freedom from debilitating symptoms.
D) positive well.

Question 80

The single most important concept in health psychology is

A) anxiety.
B) attribution.
C) control.
D) hostility.
E) stress.