Question 1

A friend asks you about your intro psych instructor. You tell her that he is very nice, generous, warm, really funny, and extremely intelligent. According to Gordon Allport's approach, you have described his ________ traits.

Accepted Answer

According to Gordon Allport's approach, central traits are those that are dominant in a person's life and influence many of their behaviors. The characteristics listed in the description - nice, generous, warm, funny, and intelligent - are all dominant traits that would likely influence the instructor's behavior in many different situations, suggesting that they are central traits.

Question 2

A distinctive pattern of behaviours, thoughts, motives, and emotions that characterizes a person over time is defined as ________, whereas habitual ways of behaving, thinking, and feeling are considered ________.

Accepted Answer

Personality refers to a more comprehensive and integrated concept of an individual's unique characteristics, including psychological traits, while habits are more specific patterns of behavior that are repeated over time. Therefore, option A correctly contrasts personality and traits as distinct but related concepts.

Question 3

By the end of the twentieth century, biological research was demonstrating that about half of the variation in personality traits is due to:

Accepted Answer

Biological research has shown that around 50% of the variation in personality traits can be attributed to genetic variation.

Question 4

Honora is an unemotional, slow-moving sort of person. According to the early philosophers, she has an excess of :

Accepted Answer

According to ancient Greek philosophers, Honora's unemotional and slow-moving nature suggests an excess of phlegm, which was believed to be one of the four humors that influenced a person's personality and health.

Question 5

For much of the twentieth century ________ was the dominant approach to understanding personality.

Accepted Answer

Psychoanalytic theory, developed by Sigmund Freud, was the dominant approach to understanding personality in much of the twentieth century. This theory emphasized the role of unconscious processes and early childhood experiences in shaping personality. While other theories, such as cognitive and humanistic, emerged in the latter half of the century, psychoanalytic theory remained widely influential.

Question 6

A ________ is a habitual way of behaving, thinking, and feeling.

Accepted Answer

A trait is a habitual way of behaving, thinking, and feeling, representing consistent patterns in the way individuals respond to the world.

Question 7

________ recognized that most people possess five to ten central traits that reflect characteristic ways of thinking and acting.

Accepted Answer

Gordon Allport is known for his theory of personality which highlights the idea of central traits, or the few defining characteristics that capture the essence of an individual's personality. Allport believed that these traits were stable, enduring, and unique to each individual.

Question 8

Early philosophers suggested that human personality is based on:

Accepted Answer

Early philosophers, particularly Hippocrates and Galen, proposed that human personality is based on four different mixes of basic body fluids, known as the theory of the four humors.

Question 9

________ is defined as a distinctive and relatively stable pattern of behaviour, thoughts, motives, and emotions that characterizes an individual throughout life.

Accepted Answer

Personality refers to a unique set of characteristics, traits, and patterns of behavior that are stable throughout an individual's life. This includes cognitive, emotional, and social aspects that together define a person's identity and how they interact with the world around them. The ego is a component of Freudian psychoanalytic theory that mediates between the demands of the id, the superego, and the external environment. Reciprocal determinism is a concept in social psychology that suggests that behavior is influenced by both internal factors (such as personality) and external factors (such as the social environment). A trait refers to a specific characteristic or quality of an individual that can be observed and measured. Personality encompasses a broader set of tendencies and patterns that define a person's overall character.

Question 10

________ are standardized questionnaires requiring written responses.

Accepted Answer

Objective tests are standardized questionnaires that require written responses. Rorschach tests and projective tests require interpretive responses based on ambiguous stimuli, while humanist tests are not a recognized category of psychological testing.

Question 11

Taryn is an angry and irritable sort of person. According to the early philosophers:

Accepted Answer

According to early philosophers like Hippocrates and Galen, a person's temperament was determined by the balance of four bodily fluids or "humors." Excess of yellow bile was believed to cause irritability and anger in a person's temperament.

Question 12

________ are standardized questionnaires requiring written responses.

Accepted Answer

Objective tests are standardized questionnaires that require written responses. The other options listed - Rorschach tests, projective tests, and psychodynamic tests - do not necessarily require written responses and may focus more on interpretation of a person's responses or behaviors.

Question 13

For Gordon Allport, our personalities reflect:

Accepted Answer

Gordon Allport proposed the trait theory of personality which suggests that there are a few central traits that make up our personalities that are consistent across different situations, along with a greater number of less consistent secondary traits. Therefore, our personalities reflect a few central traits and a greater number of secondary traits.

Question 14

________ have better reliability than ________.

Accepted Answer

Objective tests have better reliability than clinical judgment as they rely on standardized, objective scoring procedures and have established norms. Clinical judgment, on the other hand, can be subjective and may vary depending on the clinician's experience and biases.

Question 15

What is personality?

Accepted Answer

Personality is a complex and comprehensive concept that involves a person's thoughts, emotions, behaviours, motivations, and mannerisms that persist over time and situations. It is not just limited to being outgoing and friendly (A), consists of more than a specific set of traits (B), and encompasses more than just mannerisms (C).

Question 16

The textbook points out that the personality theory involving ________ is dead.

Accepted Answer

The theory involving four fundamental personality categories based on a person's mixtures of bodily fluids, known as humorism, is considered outdated and no longer scientifically valid.

Question 17

Suppose you were one of the first personality theorists. In your descriptions of personality, you would be most likely to refer to:

Accepted Answer

As one of the first personality theorists, it is likely that you would rely on the concept of personality types, which is an early approach to understanding and categorizing individual differences in personality. This approach suggests that there are a finite number of distinct personality types, each with its own unique set of traits, characteristics, and behaviors. Other approaches, such as those focused on genetic differences, reinforcement histories, or growth potential, emerged later and would likely be less relevant to early personality theorists.

Question 18

Madonna's image is a "work in progress." Is the "real" Madonna motherly or selfish, a born exhibitionist or an ambitious woman who created an outrageous persona? Psychologists answer questions such as these through the study of:

Accepted Answer

Psychologists study personality to answer questions about an individual's characteristics, behavior, and traits. Madonna's image and behavior can be analyzed using personality theory to understand her motivations and actions. Libido and peak experiences are more specific concepts, and the collective unconscious is a theory in the field of analytical psychology, which is not directly relevant to the question.

Question 19

Early philosophers suggested that human personality is based on:

Accepted Answer

The answer of Early philosophers suggested that human personality is...

Question 20

After 12 years of attending the same schools, Holly and Amy chose to attend colleges in different states. Holly remembered Amy as a shy but friendly girl who rarely took risks, and so Holly was surprised when her friend sent an email describing the thrill of sky-diving. Holly's surprise occurred because Amy's behaviours didn't match the ________ that Holly had observed in high school.

Accepted Answer

Personality traits are enduring dispositional tendencies that give coherence and individuality to a person's behaviour. Holly's surprise at Amy's thrill of sky-diving shows that she expected her shy and risk-averse personality trait to carry over to her adulthood.

Quiz 14: Theories of Personality

A friend asks you about your intro psych instructor. You tell her that he is very nice, generous, warm, really funny, and extremely intelligent. According to Gordon Allport's approach, you have described his ________ traits.

A distinctive pattern of behaviours, thoughts, motives, and emotions that characterizes a person over time is defined as , whereas habitual ways of behaving, thinking, and feeling are considered .

By the end of the twentieth century, biological research was demonstrating that about half of the variation in personality traits is due to:

Honora is an unemotional, slow-moving sort of person. According to the early philosophers, she has an excess of :

For much of the twentieth century ________ was the dominant approach to understanding personality.

A ________ is a habitual way of behaving, thinking, and feeling.

________ recognized that most people possess five to ten central traits that reflect characteristic ways of thinking and acting.

Early philosophers suggested that human personality is based on:

________ is defined as a distinctive and relatively stable pattern of behaviour, thoughts, motives, and emotions that characterizes an individual throughout life.

________ are standardized questionnaires requiring written responses.

Taryn is an angry and irritable sort of person. According to the early philosophers:

________ are standardized questionnaires requiring written responses.

For Gordon Allport, our personalities reflect:

have better reliability than .

What is personality?

The textbook points out that the personality theory involving ________ is dead.

Suppose you were one of the first personality theorists. In your descriptions of personality, you would be most likely to refer to:

Madonna's image is a "work in progress." Is the "real" Madonna motherly or selfish, a born exhibitionist or an ambitious woman who created an outrageous persona? Psychologists answer questions such as these through the study of:

Early philosophers suggested that human personality is based on: