Deck 14: Psychobiography and Personology

Question 1

The idiographic approach studies_______________, and the nomothetic approach considers ______________.

A) individuals; large numbers of people
B) variables; individuals
C) cross-sections of people; large numbers of people
D) the impact of childhood factors on personality; the impact of adult experiences on personality

Answer 1

individuals; large numbers of people

Question 2

Alan Elms pointed out that nomothetic investigations establish statistical significance, but that the variables studied may not be __________________ to individual participants.

A) understandable
B) personally meaningful
C) helpful
D) interesting

Answer 2

personally meaningful

Question 3

Which of the following statements is not true of pyschobiographies?

A) The conclusions drawn in pyschobiographies cannot be generalized to other people
B) They identify and explain issues and themes throughout a person's life.
C) They have inherent methodological limitations such as concerns about interpretive biases.
D) They focus on general laws and scientific principles.

Answer 3

They focus on general laws and scientific principles.

Question 4

The psychobiography of Leonardo da Vinci was regarded as the most-well known of the early pyschobiographies. Who was the author?

A) Alan Elms
B) Erik Erikson
C) Sigmund Freud
D) Henry Murray

Question 5

The psychobiography of Leonardo da Vinci included the following major flaw:

A) It was based on just one childhood memory recounted by Leonardo da Vinci.
B) It considered social factors and ignored internally based factors.
C) It ignored the role of his parents in his development.
D) It was full of errors about the nature of his inventions.

Question 6

Which of the follow is not true of external probability?

A) It was a guideline advanced by Freud.
B) It is a form of external validity.
C) It involves establishing whether new information fits with accepted old information.
D) It was one of the major limitations of Freud's analysis of Leonardo da Vinci.

Question 7

In ____________ a statistical procedure is applied to a single unit or person, and the unit is repeatedly measured at equal time intervals.

A) cross-sectional research
B) longitudinal research
C) time series analysis
D) longitudinal-sequential

Question 8

Simonton's analysis of King George III is an important example of how psychobiographers can use _____________________ to evaluate a particular person.

A) qualitative measures
B) quantitative measures
C) historical documents
D) medical records

Question 9

Nasby and Read (1997) wrote a psychobiography on solo circumnavigator Dodge Morgan who sailed around the world. Morgan completed personality tests both before and after his voyage, provided a record of his thoughts, feelings and behaviours during the voyage as well as provided life history data. This analysis of Morgan was unique because:

A) it utilized methodological pluralism.
B) it was the first analysis to be written by someone while sailing around the world.
C) it was the first analysis to use Jackson's Personality Research form.
D) Mogran was aware there would be a psychobiography written about him when he returned.

Question 10

Which of the following was a conclusion of the analysis completed on Dodge Morgan, the solo circumnavigator who sailed around the world by himself?

A) He became more communal as he spent more time alone at sea.
B) He was narcissistic.
C) He was a perfectionist.
D) He was very dependant on others.

Question 11

Elms suggested that a key criterion in a good psychobiography is _____________

A) the psychobiographer's eclecticism.
B) the psychobiographer's relationship with the subject.
C) the use of a clinical theory.
D) None of the above

Question 12

Personal structure analysis involves:

A) investigating how the person has organized different aspects of his or her life.
B) considering how the person structures his/her immediate physical environment.
C) using an if-then contingency analysis and examining the context of statements a person makes about the self.
D) all of the above.

Question 13

Murray's concept of 'press' can best be defined as:

A) the influence of a family on an individual.
B) the influence of the situation on an individual.
C) the influence a relationship on an individual.
D) the influence of a job on an individual.

Question 14

Which of the following is true about Burger and Cooper's Desire for Control Scale?

A) It uses the term "control freak."
B) Many of the items have positive connotations.
C) It consists of 131 items.
D) None of the above.

Question 15

___________________________ can be measured by consistency criterion.

A) Reliability
B) Statistical significance
C) Agreement among scholars
D) Validity

Question 16

A fair test of the interrater reliability of psychobiographies requires that:

A) the different analysts have access to the same information.
B) the analysts have equal levels of insight into people.
C) the analysts have the equivalent background in core psychological theories.
D) All of the above

Question 17

The term "historical interpretive psychology" refers to __________________.

A) inductive profiling and psychological interpretation of historical information.
B) constructive alternativism.
C) aggregation of historical and psychological information.
D) a psychological analysis that interprets a person in a historical context.

Question 18

The goal of exemplification is to:

A) compare how the characteristics of an individual fit with the theory of personality.
B) use an individual case to illustrate a theory.
C) take information from a particular person and come up with a new insight or theory.
D) All of the above.

Question 19

Allport's idea that case studies inspire new theories is an example of the _____________ function of pyschobiographies.

A) exemplification
B) comparison
C) discovery
D) practical purposes

Question 20

Offender profiling is most commonly used to:

A) reduce the amount of time spent using general investigative techniques.
B) eliminate suspects.
C) suggest effective lines of questioning when interviewing and interrogating suspects.
D) evaluate crime scenes.

Question 21

________________ profiling uses general principles and patterns that have been gleaned from analyses of a relatively large database.

A) Deductive
B) Inductive
C) Recursive
D) Inclusive

Question 22

What problems limit the usefulness of profiling?

A) Personality profiles do not reflect contemporary research.
B) Personality profiles do not reflect the broad range of theoretical approaches from the personality field.
C) The profile's accuracy depends heavily on the skills of the individual profiler.
D) All of the above

Question 23

When Mary walks by Mark in the hall without saying 'hello' Mark attributes this to Mary being an impolite person rather than to the fact that Mary is late for class and in a rush. This is an example of what kind of bias?

A) Confirmatory bias
B) Actor-observer bias
C) Selectivity bias
D) Sexist bias

Question 24

An employer who is trying to find out which employee is stealing large amounts of office supplies has a suspect, employee A, in mind. The employer selectively focuses on any evidence that employee A is the guilty party. The employer has a __________________.

A) selectivity bias
B) confirmatory bias
C) actor-observer bias
D) pre-judgment bias

Question 25

A patient was verbally abused by his parents for the first 20 years of his life, and sexually molested twice by a neighbour when he was 11. Doctor Uno believes that all of the patient's problems can be traced to the trauma of being sexually abused. Doctor Uno has engaged in the fallacy of:

A) oversimplification.
B) eventism.
C) critical period fallacy.
D) lack of evidence.

Question 26

The tendency for a psychobiographer to focus on negative characteristics rather than positive characteristics is an example of _____________________

A) the actor-observer bias.
B) over-pathologizing.
C) omission.
D) eventism.

Question 27

According to Irving Alexander, if Betty omits her teenage years when discussing her life, this likely means that:

A) these years may not have been important in her life.
B) these years may have been very important in her life.
C) Betty cannot remember the event.
D) the biographer should be very careful about asking for more information, because prying could unleash unconscious material and trigger significant emotional distress.

Question 28

Erikson's triple bookkeeping approach evaluates a person on all levels except:

A) family.
B) ego.
C) body.
D) status.

Question 29

According to the __________________approach, peoples' lives are structured and experienced in a "storylike manner."

A) personal mythology
B) narrative
C) heroic self
D) holistic

Question 30

_______________is based on the premise that emotion is the key motivating force in one's life.

A) Life story theory
B) Triple bookkeeping theory
C) Primacy theory
D) Script theory

Question 31

__________________ made a substantial contribution to psychobiography by drawing attention to the importance of cultural forces in personal identity.

A) Douglas
B) Erikson
C) Runyan
D) Freud

Question 32

An analysis of a person's psychological features at a particular point in history and how the era influenced the individual is called a ____________________

A) psychobiography.
B) life story.
C) psychohistory.
D) script.

Question 33

Glad conducted a psychobiographical analysis of Hitler, Stalin, and Mao Zedong. In her book she reported on the similarities and differences of these figures, and compared them with other tyrants who had less political influence. Glad used a ___________ approach.

A) cross-historical comparative
B) cross-cultural comparative
C) cross-societal
D) historiography

Question 34

In your textbook the author noted that despite shortcomings in psychobiographical accounts of Mao Zedong by Sheng (2002), and Chang and Halliday (2005), the accounts are still valuable. According to Flett, what makes these accounts valuable?

A) They showed that Mao has been unfairly blamed for millions of deaths in China.
B) They show that Mao was as much a victim of culture as the people he hurt through his policies, and that even highly influential people are affected by the culture that they help create.
C) They drew renewed attention to the role Mao played in the deaths of millions of people, and shows us that although culture shapes people, certain people shape culture.
D) None of the above

Question 35

A book that compares and contrasts the attributes of two or more political leaders from different countries is said to take a:

A) cross-cultural comparative approach.
B) psychobiographical approach.
C) historical approach.
D) psycho-social-historical approach.

Question 36

A key contributing event to Salvador Dali's great need to be original is:

A) being overshadowed by an older sister who always seemed to get the most attention.
B) being told that he was a boring and unlikable person.
C) being told at an early age that he was the reincarnation of his brother.
D) learning in his childhood that if he could entertain passers by on the street, they would give him money to buy food.

Question 37

In his relationship with his wife Gala, Salvador Dali:

A) had a passionate physical relationship.
B) was dominant and controlling.
C) was distant and often absent.
D) was dependent and subservient.

Question 38

Since his teenage years, Dan has been extremely self absorbed, believes himself to be a genius, and has an extreme need to be seen as unique or special. Dan is likely suffering from which disorder?

A) Narcissistic personality disorder
B) Bipolar disorder, manic phase
C) An inferiority complex
D) Low self-esteem

Question 39

Salvador Dali's sister wrote a book about her brother that suggested he had a normal and happy childhood. Dali was enraged by the depiction of him as normal and typical, and responded by creating a highly unflattering painting that depicted his sister.
The best interpretation of Dali's response is that he:

A) was insecure.
B) was angry at his sister about something else.
C) was prone to narcissistic injury.
D) had antisocial personality disorder.

Question 40

According to Salvador Dali:

A) he felt great pleasure in mistreating and humiliating his first girlfriend.
B) his family believed him to be the reincarnation of an older brother.
C) at times his wife locked him into a room and would not let him out until he completed paintings to sell.
D) All of the above

Question 41

In her psychobiography it was revealed that Sylvia Plath felt guilty about her father's death and believed that it was caused by her own shortcomings. Identify the theory that is used in your textbook to interpret Plath's depression over her father's death.

A) Self-oriented perfectionism
B) Conditions of worth theory
C) Attributional theory of depression
D) Narcissism

Question 42

If we interpret Sylvia Plath's suicide in light of the diathesis-stress theory of depression, the diathesis would be ______________ and the stress would be ______________

A) narcissism; critics giving bad reviews of her most recent book.
B) perfectionism; her husband having an affair.
C) depression; marital problems.
D) shame; her father's death.

Question 43

A concept that is central to understanding Sylvia Plath is: ___________

A) perfectionism.
B) narcissism.
C) the impact of culture on personality.
D) addiction.

Question 44

Anne Sexton suffered from:

A) schizophrenia.
B) post-partum psychosis.
C) attention deficit disorder.
D) obsessive compulsive personality disorder.

Question 45

It is likely that Anne Sexton's ______________ were the result of having been neglected by her mother in childhood.

A) perfectionism and impulsivity
B) emotional flatness and disinterest in closeness with others
C) great imagination and creativity
D) dependency and attachment difficulties

Question 46

Five factor traits that are especially relevant to Anne Sexton's personality include:

A) conscientiousness and extroversion.
B) low agreeableness and low conscientiousness.
C) low neuroticism and low openness.
D) neuroticism and openness.

Question 47

Anne Sexton's tendency to blame negative events on herself was most likely caused by:

A) a history of emotional abuse by her father.
B) an experience in childhood when she was unable to save a friend from drowning.
C) being neglected in childhood.
D) excessive conscientiousness.

Question 48

Which of the following is given as an explanation of Anne Sexton's inappropriate drinking behaviour?

A) Postpartum depression
B) Social learning theory
C) Attachment theory
D) Erikson's developmental theory

Question 49

Ozzy Osbourne:

A) is high in agreeableness.
B) has a criminal past.
C) has cultivated a stage persona as "The Prince of darkness."
D) All of the above

Question 50

The psychobiographical analyses of Salvador Dali, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, and Ozzie Osbourne demonstrate that:

A) the five-factor model is adequate in accounting for key personality differences.
B) in order to avoid eventism and originology, we should avoid personality explanations that consider the first few years of life.
C) the use of multiple theories lends a richness to our understanding of case histories.
D) individuals are too complex to be understood through the idiographic approach.

Question 51

Identify and briefly explain at three purposes of psychobiographies.

Question 52

Identify three methodological issues or limitations of case study analyses.

Question 53

Discuss criticisms of psychobiography such as the critical period fallacy, originology, eventism, lack of adequate evidence, and the tendency to over-pathologize.

Question 54

Discuss Erikson's contributions to psychobiography.

Question 55

What personality disorder did Salvador Dali exhibit? Identify the factors in Dali's life that seemed to have contributed to the person he became.

Question 56

Explain Salvador Dali's personality from an Adlerian or operant conditioning perspective.

Question 57

Explain how the multi-dimensional model of perfectionism and Blatt's concept of self-critical perfectionism applies to Sylvia Plath.

Question 58

It has been suggested that Sylvia Plath felt guilty for her father's death.
a) How might psychoanalytic theory explain Plath's misplaced sense of guilt?
b) How is Plath's depression related to her father's death?

Question 59

Ann Sexton was highly dependent on others, and it is suggested that she would fulfill current criteria for dependent personality disorder. Discuss the relations between Anne Sexton's problems with dependency and the treatment she received from her parents.

Question 60

Ozzy Osbourne has experienced significant problems with alcohol and drug addiction. Using two different theories, explain his problems with substance abuse.