Question 1

A major advantage of personality psychology is that it focuses on the whole person and real-life concerns, yet this can often lead to overinclusive and unfocused research. Which of the following is a major theme of your textbook that speaks to this conflict?

Accepted Answer

The theme that "great strengths are usually great weaknesses" speaks directly to the conflict mentioned. It acknowledges that while focusing on the whole person and real-life concerns is a major strength of personality psychology, it can also be its weakness by leading to overinclusive and unfocused research.

Question 2

What is a major advantage of using a basic approach to study personality psychology?

Accepted Answer

The major advantage of using a basic approach to study personality psychology is that it provides a systematic way to study specific patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, allowing for a structured understanding of personality.

Question 3

Why haven't personality psychologists combined all paradigms into One Big Theory?

Accepted Answer

A theory that tries to explain everything would probably not provide the best explanation for any one thing.

Question 4

Which of the following is an expression of Funder's First Law?

Accepted Answer

Funder's First Law states that "great strengths are usually great weaknesses, and surprisingly often the opposite is true as well," highlighting the dual nature of personality traits.

Question 5

What does Funder mean when he says that personality is coherent?

Accepted Answer

Funder means that the various aspects of an individual's personality are interconnected and consistent with each other, implying an internal consistency or coherence within the personality structure.

Question 6

Funder writes that there are good reasons why personality psychologists have distinct theories versus One Big Theory. Which is NOT one of those reasons?

Accepted Answer

Funder suggests that the diversity of theories in personality psychology is due to factors like the trade-off between breadth and depth, the lack of a universally accepted overarching theory, and the value of multiple perspectives. The idea that One Big Theory would undermine smaller theories is not mentioned as a reason for the existence of distinct theories.

Question 7

The trait approach, the behaviorist approach, and the psychoanalytic approach

Accepted Answer

Each approach (trait, behaviorist, and psychoanalytic) offers a unique perspective on human psychology, focusing on different aspects such as personality traits, learned behaviors, and unconscious processes, respectively. They are not necessarily contradictory but rather provide complementary insights into understanding human behavior and mental processes.

Question 8

Which of the following MOST closely represents a focal topic of the learning and cognitive approaches to personality?

Accepted Answer

The learning and cognitive approaches to personality focus on how behavior is learned through interactions with the environment and how cognitive processes (such as thinking and problem-solving) influence personality. This approach emphasizes the role of environmental factors and observable behavior, aligning with principles of behaviorism and the importance of social observation in understanding personality development.

Question 9

According to Funder, in what way do personality psychologists appreciate individual differences?

Accepted Answer

Personality psychologists focus on the individual, recognizing and appreciating the unique qualities and differences each person brings. This approach is fundamental to the field, as understanding these individual differences is key to studying personality.

Question 10

The task of an employer who attempts to identify dependable, conscientious, and hard-working job applicants is similar to the task of the ________ psychologist, who attempts to identify and assess individual differences.

Accepted Answer

Trait psychologists focus on identifying and assessing individual differences, which aligns with an employer's goal of evaluating potential employees' characteristics such as dependability, conscientiousness, and work ethic.

Question 11

Match the personality approach with the most applicable research question.

-How do rewards affect social behavior?

Accepted Answer

The learning approach in psychology focuses on how environmental factors such as rewards influence behaviors, making it the most applicable to researching how rewards affect social behavior.

Question 12

What is one of personality psychology's biggest advantages over other areas of psychology?

Accepted Answer

Personality psychology emphasizes the uniqueness of the individual, which is a significant advantage it has over other areas of psychology. This field focuses on understanding how each person's distinct patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior make them unique, rather than trying to generalize findings across all individuals.

Question 13

Which of the following is NOT one of the basic approaches to personality?

Accepted Answer

Assessment is not a basic approach to personality but rather a method or tool used within various approaches to measure or evaluate personality traits, behaviors, and characteristics. The other options (psychoanalytic, learning, and phenomenological) represent foundational theoretical perspectives on personality.

Question 14

One critique of personality psychology is that it "pigeonholes" people. What does pigeonholing someone mean?

Accepted Answer

Pigeonholing refers to the act of categorizing and labeling people in a way that may oversimplify their personalities or characteristics, often ignoring the complexity and uniqueness of individuals.

Question 15

Is narcissism always a bad trait?

Accepted Answer

Narcissism can have positive aspects, such as confidence and charisma, which can make narcissists persuasive and effective leaders in certain contexts.

Question 16

Personality psychology emphasizes how people are ________, whereas subfields such as cognitive and social psychology emphasize how people are ________.

Accepted Answer

Personality psychology focuses on the individual differences and uniqueness among people, highlighting how they differ from one another. In contrast, cognitive and social psychology often look for universal principles or ways in which people are similar in their thinking, behavior, and social interactions.

Question 17

What is the largest and most dominant approach in personality psychology today?

Accepted Answer

The trait approach is currently the largest and most dominant in personality psychology, focusing on identifying, measuring, and classifying similarities and differences in personality characteristics or traits among individuals.

Question 18

Jeff suspects that his roommate's sexist jokes may indicate that his roommate has some hidden, unconscious hostility toward women or that he feels very insecure around women. Jeff's analysis suggests a ________ approach to personality.

Accepted Answer

Jeff's analysis suggests a psychoanalytic approach to personality, which often explores unconscious motives and conflicts as explanations for behavior.

Question 19

One reason why behaviorism is so effective at changing behavior is that it ignores the possibility of

Accepted Answer

Behaviorism focuses on observable behaviors and external stimuli, often disregarding internal processes like free will, which allows it to effectively modify behavior through reinforcement and conditioning.

Question 20

According to the text, personality's greatest strength, understanding whole persons, is also its greatest weakness. Which term describes this fundamental observation?

Accepted Answer

Funder's First Law states that the great strength of the field of personality—that it concerns nearly everything that people think, feel, and do—is also its great weakness, because it makes the field difficult to delimit and define.

Quiz 1: The Study of the Person