Deck 9: Humanistic and Existential Aspects of Personality

Question 1

In basic terms, existentialism is an area of philosophy concerned with

A) interpersonal relationships.
B) death and dying.
C) the meaning of human existence.
D) how we choose religions.
E) entrances to other worlds.

Answer 1

the meaning of human existence.

Question 2

Positivists advocate __________, while nonpositivists argue __________.

A) the subjective nature of existence; for the governing laws of behavior
B) positive thinking as a way to happiness; that we must be realistic in judging ourselves
C) the governing laws of behavior; the subjective nature of existence
D) that there is no existence; that existence must be operationally defined

Answer 2

the governing laws of behavior; the subjective nature of existence

Question 3

A phenomenological approach to personality states that

A) people's perceptions and subjective realities are important and should be studied.
B) we are the products of the phenomena that we encounter.
C) people vary in the degree to which they create their own phenomena.
D) only objective events, and not perceptions, are valid when studying personality.
E) phenomena that occur in childhood are more important than what occurs later.

Answer 3

people's perceptions and subjective realities are important and should be studied.

Question 4

Maslow stated that psychoanalysis and behaviorism were the first two "forces" and that __________ was the "third force."

A) humanism
B) love
C) neo-analysis
D) existentialism
E) extroversion

Question 5

Humanism emphasizes

A) the creative, active, spontaneous nature of humanity.
B) the personal worth of the individual.
C) the importance of human values.
D) that we strive to achieve fulfillment and to create our futures.
E) all of these.

Question 6

The dialogue in which each person confirms the other as being unique and important is what philosopher Martin Buber called the __________ dialogue.

A) "Us-Them"
B) "You-Us"
C) "I-Me-Me-Mine"
D) "I-Thou"
E) "I-It"

Question 7

The purpose of many of the encounter groups, hippie communes, and meditation seminars in the 1960s and 1970s was to

A) help people recover from the traumatic experiences of war.
B) serve as a cover for the illegal drug-culture.
C) create new and uniform identities for people so that they could function like robots.
D) discourage people from being independent.
E) help people realize their inner potentials.

Question 8

Erich Fromm would argue that

A) love requires knowledge, effort, and experience.
B) love is something that is difficult to understand and probably has little meaning.
C) the capacity to love is not something we develop, but something we are born with.
D) love is something that most of us simply stumble into.

Question 9

According to Fromm, the most mature and healthy personality is one that

A) realizes that nobody else will provide support or protection, so he or she must try to "go it alone."
B) transcends biology and society and uses the brain to love and create in unique ways.
C) has experienced virtually all that life has to offer, so that there are no surprises.
D) has learned to ignore the environment.

Question 10

Which of the following provides some evidence that Fromm's ideas might be right?

A) In Western countries, psychological depression has been steadily decreasing for the past 50 years.
B) Communal societies have been found to have more violent crimes than non-communal societies.
C) In Western countries, psychological depression has been steadily rising for the past 50 years.
D) Divorce is on the decline in America.

Question 11

Rogers believed that people have an inherent tendency toward

A) violence.
B) growth.
C) isolation.
D) substance-abuse.
E) stagnation.

Question 12

According to Rogers, a healthy person

A) has a broad self-concept and is open to many feelings and experiences.
B) is someone who has had a preponderance of positive experiences in life.
C) has a narrow self-concept.
D) believes that the best path through life is the one that parents and others laid out for him or her.

Question 13

For therapy to be successful, Rogers argues that the therapist must

A) communicate the client's internal frame of reference back to him/her.
B) demonstrate unconditional positive regard for the client.
C) empathize with the client.
D) understand the client fully.
E) do all of these.

Question 14

You are driving on the highway and a careless driver cuts you off, nearly causing a wreck. As if that were not enough, she then yells obscenities at you from her car and shakes her fist. Rogers would say that the most adaptive things for you to do would be to

A) teach her an object-lesson by cutting her off and then yelling at her so she knows how it feels.
B) acknowledge your anger but not act aggressively, instead try to be understanding and compassionate.
C) let your anger out and yell something nasty back at her.
D) immediately think happy thoughts and not allow any anger to cloud your mind.

Question 15

Rollo May sees __________ as being a fundamental aspect of human existence.

A) anxiety
B) pets
C) socioeconomic status
D) worldly possessions
E) intelligence

Question 16

Which of the following interventions to help people with life-threatening illnesses has its roots in existential-humanistic psychology?

A) Aversive conditioning therapy
B) Psychotherapy
C) Antibiotic therapy
D) Support groups
E) Systematic desensitization

Question 17

According to your textbook, in the debate between B. F. Skinner and Rollo May, who was found to be right?

A) Skinner
B) May
C) They were both right.
D) Neither one was correct.
E) The book did not discuss the outcome of the debate.

Question 18

Self-actualization, an important component of an existentialist/humanistic approach to personality, was first proposed by

A) Freud.
B) Maslow.
C) Horney.
D) Jung.
E) Adler.

Question 19

According to Maslow, self-actualized people

A) have a love of humankind.
B) are independent.
C) have strong ethical principles.
D) are nonconforming.
E) are all of these.

Question 20

Which of the following is NOT characteristic of a peak experience?

A) It is completely self-fulfilling.
B) One feels that they are transcending their "self."
C) Everything feels like it is falling into place.
D) There is a sense of well-being.
E) There is a heightened sense of anxiety.

Question 21

According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which must be satisfied first?

A) Esteem needs
B) Safety needs
C) Belonging and love needs
D) Physiological needs
E) Maslow only argues that all needs must be met, not that they must be met in a particular order.

Question 22

Maslow based his theories on the study of

A) well-adjusted people.
B) homeless individuals.
C) lobotomized patients in mental institutions.
D) individuals with eating disorders.
E) schizophrenic patients.

Question 23

The Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) was designed to assess

A) level of depression.
B) psychopathology.
C) explanatory style.
D) levels of self-actualization.
E) self-efficacy.

Question 24

The existentialist/humanistic approach to personality is most similar to which of the following?

A) Cognitive social learning theories
B) Ancillary analysis approaches
C) Psychoanalytic approaches
D) Radical behaviorism
E) Classical conditioning

Question 25

One major feature of the logotherapy approach is

A) its focus on a search for the meaning of existence.
B) using logic to determine life choices.
C) seeking out simple pleasures in daily life.
D) dream analysis.
E) using reinforcement as a way to change behavior.

Question 26

If you were to enter a school organized by philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau, you would likely see

A) children meditating as their teachers read to them from the Bible.
B) well-behaved children who act "properly" in school.
C) children doing all sorts of activities, each learning in his or her own way.
D) many toys but no books, as Rousseau believed children should not read.
E) boys and girls in gender-segregated classrooms, with gender-appropriate behaviors being reinforced.

Question 27

Philosopher Martin Buber called the dialogue in which each human confirms the other person as being of unique value

A) I-Thou.
B) I'm OK you're OK.
C) You're It.
D) action-reaction formation.
E) We=we.

Question 28

According Erich Fromm, love is

A) a prerequisite for mutual orgasm.
B) an epiphenomenon derived from the sublime pleasure of orgasm.
C) something that enables us to overcome our isolation from others but still maintain our individual integrity.
D) the natural outcome of a truly free and uninhibited society.
E) a pseudo-state invented by hippies.

Question 29

Abraham Maslow called humanistic psychology the

A) second force.
B) third force.
C) force that is with you.
D) first force.
E) "force without force."

Question 30

Existentialists sometimes focus on

A) being-in-the-world.
B) positivism.
C) the need for basic survival.
D) the Annie Hall syndrome.
E) feeling-in-the-world.

Question 31

The idea that people's perceptions or subjective realities are considered to be valid data for investigation is termed a _________ perspective.

A) teleological
B) positivistic
C) reactionistic
D) phenomenological
E) deductive

Question 32

Which approach is nondeterministic?

A) Behaviorist
B) Biological
C) Existential
D) Psychoanalytic
E) Neo-analytic

Question 33

When we are immature and alienated, the world is seen as one big breast, and we are the sucklers. This is the view of

A) Karen Horney.
B) B.F. Skinner.
C) Erich Fromm.
D) Sigmund Freud.
E) David Buss.

Question 34

In a society that lost cultural traditions to standardized Big Mac hamburgers, and replaced religious concerns about helping others with self-indulgent trips to visit Mickey Mouse, existential/humanists predict that people

A) will lose the ability for multiple orgasms.
B) need to set up a self-reinforcing environment.
C) will feel unified and so less prejudiced.
D) should return to orthodox religion.
E) would be susceptible to the appeals of totalitarian government.

Question 35

Carl Rogers

A) was deeply inspired as a teen by the Beatles' song "All You Need Is Love."
B) fled Nazi Europe and converted to Catholicism.
C) fled Nazi Europe and renounced all religion as oppressive.
D) grew up in the Bronx and got his ideas from the little old ladies who used to gossip on the park benches.
E) grew up on a farm in a religious family environment.

Question 36

According to Carl Rogers, a psychologically healthy person is one who

A) can totally accept God as the ruler of all things.
B) has a broad self-concept that can understand and accept many feelings and experiences.
C) can overcome penis envy by giving non-sexual gifts to others.
D) is content as long as physical needs are met.
E) is controlled by his environment but doesn't worry about that.

Question 37

According to an existentialist like Victor Frankl, an existential struggle can lead to

A) a triumph of the human spirit.
B) drive reduction.
C) a peak orgasm.
D) a taking down of genes.
E) a peak construal.

Question 38

The process by which one tends to grow spiritually and realize his or her potential is called

A) selflessness.
B) self-indulgence.
C) self-actualization.
D) liberating the inner homunculus.
E) self-stimulation.

Question 39

Maslow called basic biological necessities such as food, water, sex, and shelter, and the need for safety

A) A-needs.
B) B-needs.
C) C-needs.
D) D-needs.
E) E-needs.

Question 40

In the 1960s and 1970s, the human potential movement often meant hippie communes in the woods, with encounter groups, body massage, meditation, organic health foods, and communing with nature. This movement was based on which approach to personality?

A) Existential/humanistic
B) Biological
C) Psychoanalytic
D) Behaviorist
E) Neo-analytic

Question 41

Which approach to personality, as applied to the workplace, is associated with protecting humans' relations with an unsullied, unpolluted natural ecosphere, concern with the individual worker's self-development, and concern with the feelings and ideas of small groups of workers?

A) Behaviorist
B) Neo-analytic
C) Biological
D) Psychoanalytic
E) Existential/humanistic

Question 42

Maslow views "higher needs" as

A) imposed by the culture of a society.
B) unrelated to human value systems except drugs.
C) similar to Murray's "Need for Power."
D) arising from within the individual.
E) unnecessary in maintaining mental health.

Question 43

Individuals who are happy are

A) realistic, and focus on danger and risk in their decisions.
B) trusting and have good relations with others.
C) very distressed when their peers surpass them in achievement.
D) always self-actualized.

Question 44

The American Paradox refers to the discrepancy between

A) Americans' material wealth that co-occurs with social recession and psychological depression.
B) Americans' desire to travel abroad, and non-Americans' desire to come to the United States.
C) America's value of "freedom for all," and persistent discrimination against individuals of different ethnic and religious backgrounds.
D) the size of houses and the number of family members living in each house in 21st-century America.

Question 45

A new subdiscipline in psychology that focuses on creativity, hope, wisdom, and spirituality is called

A) logotherapy.
B) existential psychology.
C) reductionistic psychology.
D) positive psychology.
E) humanistic psychology.

Question 46

All of the following are suggestions discussed in the text for finding happiness EXCEPT

A) avoid situations that may lead to failure.
B) set goals.
C) avoid television.
D) keep lists of accomplishments.
E) help others.

Question 47

Psychoanalysis and behaviorism are similar in that they are both __________, while humanism is __________.

A) nondeterministic; deterministic
B) deterministic; nondeterministic
C) nonpositivist; spiritual
D) nonpositivist; positivist
E) phenomenological; positivist

Question 48

Maslow discussed sex as a __________ and respect from others as a(n) __________.

A) belongingness need; social need
B) physiological need; belongingness need
C) physiological need; esteem need
D) belongingness need; esteem need
E) security need; belongingness need

Question 49

Frankl's approach, called __________, focuses on the search for meaning in existence.

A) positivism
B) humanism
C) logotherapy
D) positive psychology
E) none of these

Question 50

Which of the following best applies to the existentialist view?

A) Existentialists are nondeterministic; people are not cogs in some vast machine.
B) Existentialists ignore subjective thought as valid for investigation.
C) Existentialists' main focus is on the physical properties of the world.
D) Existentialists do not believe that looking at a problem from differing subjective viewpoints is important to consider.
E) Existentialists are deterministic; we are cogs in some vast machine.

Question 51

Which of the follow statements best describes the humanistic perspective on personality?

A) Human behavior is largely driven by the desire for sexual gratification.
B) People are individual, creative, spontaneous, and active beings.
C) People are unable to fully appreciate other humans for their individuality and differing personalities.
D) People are simply the product of neurological processes that happen in the brain.
E) People are superior beings who have the right to dominate any other species on Earth.

Question 52

Love, according to Fromm,

A) is based in innate processes that happen directly in the brain.
B) is something that only a few people are truly capable of.
C) needs to be developed over time with humility and discipline.
D) is only available to fully self-actualized persons.
E) should be given out, like candy, to everyone on Earth freely and without discrimination.

Question 53

Which of the following instances shows support for Fromm's idea of existential alienation?

A) An increase in anxiety and depression as our society becomes more individualistic and consumerist
B) An increase in inflation-adjusted income in the last 50 years
C) An increase in IQ scores over time since the measure was created
D) An increase of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome)
E) An increase of hippie communes in modern day society

Question 54

What two things are required for a constructive personality change to occur during psychotherapy, according to Rogers?

A) A therapist is to be directive and leading.
B) The therapist is to verbalize what personality factor needs to be changed as well as what lifestyle changes must occur for the change to take hold.
C) The therapist must demonstrate unconditional positive regard as well as experience and communicate an empathetic understanding of the person's internal frame of reference.
D) A therapist must with withhold approval and focus on communicating the person's weaknesses without showing judgment.
E) A therapist should design an ongoing program of rewards to help shape the client's behavior over time.

Question 55

According to Maslow, the push for self-actualization comes from what source?

A) The self, internally
B) The world, externally
C) From the people who love you
D) From certain important experiences
E) From a higher being (such as God)

Question 56

In Maslow's hierarchy of needs, what must happen so that higher needs (such as the need for self-actualization) can be met?

A) The lower needs must be emotionally accepted as a natural part of life.
B) The lower needs must be satisfied, so that the higher needs can become important.
C) The lower needs must become apparent, driving the person to strive for a better way of life.
D) The higher needs must be accepted as a natural part of life.
E) The higher needs must be satisfied while the lower needs are being ignored.

Question 57

Which of the following is a major weakness of Maslow's perspective?

A) It ignores internal motivations.
B) It doesn't define self-actualization.
C) It puts too much emphasis on the scientific study of personality.
D) It is hard, if not impossible, to study scientifically.
E) It only applies to people who are already self-actualized.

Question 58

Which of the following statements best describes positive psychology?

A) It is a movement in psychology that only focuses on objective research.
B) It is a movement in psychology to study the eradication of negative emotions (such as anger and hate) so that only positive emotions (such as love) remain.
C) It is a movement in psychology that deals heavily with the use of positive therapy to help people become self-actualized.
D) It is a movement in psychology that stresses the importance of being a positive role model to the people around you.
E) It is a movement that is primarily concerned with positive aspects of humans (such as creativity and hope) and less oriented toward negative aspects (such as hate and aggression).

Question 59

Which of the following is a weakness in the existential/humanistic approach?

A) Appreciates each person as an important part of nature
B) Considers individual experiences as unique
C) Its extent of scientific verifiability
D) Has implications for the field of therapy
E) Emphasizes each human's potential for fulfillment

Question 60

The "American Paradox" can best be described as what?

A) America is far behind other countries in our ability to treat mental disease.
B) The American government acknowledges mental disease, but does nothing to try and help people.
C) America is on the forefront of research in the measure of human struggle, yet does not share its information internationally.
D) America is industrialized with ample materials humans need, yet our society faces social recession and psychological depression.
E) America has a low instance of depression yet experiences many instances of citizens' physical needs going unmet.

Question 61

Which of the following statements best describes the central idea behind Rogers' perspective on human development?

A) Humans develop in relation to what people around them need.
B) Humans develop in a positive direction.
C) Humans develop in a negative direction.
D) Humans develop in a positive direction cognitively but in a negative direction emotionally.
E) Human development must occur before puberty, no further development can occur afterward.

Question 62

Which of the following would be an outgrowth of the human potential movement?

A) The American Paradox
B) Republican and Democratic organizations
C) Hippie communes
D) Neurological brain research
E) Riots and social dissent

Question 63

Which of the following statements BEST describes the term "experiencing person"?

A) What the person is experiencing at any given moment in time
B) Important issues are defined by the person based on what other people around them are experiencing
C) What the person has experienced over time
D) Important issues are defined by each person in the context of the total range of things the person experiences.
E) Every person is born with the ability to experience.

Question 64

__________ is an area of philosophy concerned with the meaning of human existence.

Question 65

The concept that focuses on the subjective nature of existence, arguing that the self cannot exist without the world and the world cannot exist without a person or being to perceive it is called __________.

Question 66

The existential concept that people's perceptions or subjective realities are considered to be valid data for investigation is called __________.

Question 67

According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, an individual's needs occur in the following order: 1)__________ needs, 2)__________ needs, 3)__________ needs, 4)__________ needs, 5)__________ motives.

Question 68

The philosophical movement that emphasizes the personal worth of the individual and the centrality of human values is called __________.

Question 69

According to Martin Buber, in the __________, each human confirms the other person as being of unique value, whereas in the utilitarian __________, a person uses others but does not value them for themselves.

Question 70

The movement in which people are encouraged to realize their inner potentials through small group meetings, self-disclosure, and introspection is called the __________.

Question 71

The approach called __________, used by Erich Fromm, tries to reconcile the biological, driven side of human beings and the pressures of societal structure by focusing on the belief that people can rise above or transcend these forces and become spontaneous, creative, and loving.

Question 72

Abraham Maslow called humanistic psychology the "__________ force" in psychology.

Question 73

In __________ therapy, the role of the therapist is to be empathic and supportive, and reflect back the client's own tensions and conflicts.

Question 74

__________ is the innate process by which a person tends to grow spiritually and realize his or her potential.

Question 75

The idea that there is a grand design or purpose to one's life is called __________.

Question 76

__________ are those certain times in our lives when everything seem to fall into place and a feeling of inner peace is experienced.

Question 77

According to Maslow, the theory that the push for development comes from inside the growing organism rather than from outside (in the external environment) is called __________.

Question 78

According to Maslow's __________ the individual's lower needs must be largely satisfied before higher needs can become important.

Question 79

According to Maslow, physiological, safety, belonging and love, and esteem needs are all __________ needs.

Question 80

The __________ is a self-report questionnaire that instructs people to classify themselves on a number of dimensions for the various characteristics of self-actualization.