Deck 7: Cognitive and Social Cognitive Aspects of Personality

Question 1

Which of the following is NOT one of the central tenets of Gestalt psychology?

A) Complex stimuli are not reducible to just the sum of their parts.
B) When presented with information, we strive to ignore things that we have not experienced before.
C) We organize sensations from our environments into meaningful perceptions.
D) We seek meaning in our environments.

Answer 1

When presented with information, we strive to ignore things that we have not experienced before.

Question 2

The word "gestalt" means

A) pattern or configuration.
B) idea or concept.
C) complete sum.
D) puzzle piece.
E) cognition or thought.

Answer 2

pattern or configuration.

Question 3

Lewin's "field theory" focused on all of the internal and external forces that act on an individual, which he called __________.

A) life space.
B) time continuum.
C) atmosphere.
D) death space.
E) generation.

Answer 3

life space.

Question 4

Julie is a successful interior decorator. She says that her success is due to her ability to envision the "big picture" and to create beautiful rooms without becoming too focused on small particulars with in the room. For instance, she can accurately place shelving above the fireplace, despite the fact that the fireplace bricks are crooked and sloping. She is most likely

A) field dispositional.
B) field dependent.
C) field independent.
D) positional dependent.
E) field positional.

Question 5

In the rod-and-frame task, people who align the bar with the frame rather than making it vertical are field __________ and would probably __________ in the body-positioning task.

A) independent; tilt to align with the room
B) dependent; tilt to align with the room
C) independent; remain upright despite tilted room
D) dependent; remain upright despite tilted room
E) independent; be unable to position self in tilted room

Question 6

A field dependent person is more sensitive to __________ than a field independent person.

A) the context of a problem
B) social and interpersonal cues
C) his or her own intuitions
D) the holistic characteristics of a problem
E) all of these

Question 7

Field dependency was first conceived as a personality variable by

A) Horney & Freud.
B) Witkin & Asch.
C) Freud & Gambone.
D) Montgomery & Adler.
E) James & Cohen.

Question 8

A person's placement on the field-dependence continuum has NOT been associated with

A) children's play preferences.
B) career choices.
C) level of eye contact.
D) life success.
E) socialization patterns.

Question 9

In general (at the group level),

A) females are more field dependent than males only in childhood.
B) males are somewhat more field dependent than females.
C) males are more field dependent than females only in childhood.
D) females are somewhat more field dependent than males.
E) there are no sex differences in field dependency

Question 10

Schemas are

A) cognitive structures that organize knowledge and expectations about one's environment.
B) independent of cultural environments.
C) things that some people never develop.
D) never changed or modified after being formed.
E) the specific situations we find ourselves in.

Question 11

Schemas were first discussed by

A) Darwin.
B) James.
C) Piaget.
D) Freud.
E) Bandura.

Question 12

Our abilities to categorize stimuli are severely challenged when we

A) meet new people.
B) encounter objects that are dissimilar from past experiences.
C) buy new furniture.
D) enter new houses.
E) move only in redundant environments that we have encountered many times.

Question 13

Stereotypes and prejudice are examples of the useful process of __________ becoming harmful.

A) optimization
B) sublimation
C) perception
D) contemporaneous judgment
E) categorization

Question 14

Individuals with attention-deficit disorder (ADD)

A) may have difficulty disengaging from some stimulus.
B) may be less sensitive to social cues.
C) are often able to concentrate intensely on a task that interests them.
D) often fail to shift their attention appropriately from task to task.
E) experience all of these.

Question 15

Kelly's personal construct theory posits that

A) a specific set of traits are necessary to explain an individual's personality.
B) people work hard to create other "persons" whom they can interact with.
C) individuals are largely immune to influences of their environments.
D) people work hard to actively create their own personalities.
E) people actively endeavor to make sense of their worlds.

Question 16

The personality assessment that requires individuals to describe how two people in his or her life differ from a third, thus identifying an important personality construct, is the

A) California Psychological Inventory.
B) Rorschach Inkblot Test.
C) Q-sort Test.
D) Role Construct Repertory Test.
E) Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory.

Question 17

Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences states that everyone has at least __________ different intelligences.

A) 7
B) 2
C) 4
D) 16
E) 5

Question 18

Which of the following is NOT one of Gardner's multiple intelligences?

A) Logical-mathematical analysis
B) Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence
C) Conscientious intelligence
D) Understanding the self
E) Understanding others

Question 19

Cantor & Kihlstrom's idea of "social intelligence" describes individual variation in

A) traditionally-measured intelligence.
B) mastery of clusters of knowledge and interpersonal skills.
C) musical and artistic aptitude.
D) mathematical skill.
E) extroversion.

Question 20

Individuals with an optimistic explanatory style

A) often see neutral events as positive, and find the "silver lining" in bad situations.
B) tend to focus on the negative side so that they will be pleasantly surprised.
C) always perceive everything as positive.
D) look at things very objectively and don't allow personal feelings to influence them.
E) explain things optimistically to others even though they don't believe it themselves.

Question 21

Individuals with a pessimistic explanatory style

A) tend to have lower expectations for the future.
B) are more likely to be depressed.
C) tend to focus on the negative potential of situations.
D) tend to blame outcomes on factors that are beyond their control.
E) have all of these.

Question 22

Joyce recently lost her young son, and the experience was devastating. She was comforted, however, by the fact that her son's organs helped four other children to live longer. She now volunteers with children at a local daycare center, which reminds her of her son, and she is thankful she had six years of happiness with him. Joyce's explanatory style is

A) dual.
B) optimistic.
C) social-constructivist.
D) pessimistic.

Question 23

Evan loves life! He skydives, scuba dives, rides a motorcycle, and rock climbs. His motto is: "you only live once" and he tries to get the most out of life by doing what he wants, eating what he wants (he was voted "junk-food junkie" in high school), and throwing caution to the wind. When questioned about this, Evan declares that he is "lucky" and that he sincerely doubts that anything negative will happen to him. Evan's explanatory style is

A) social-constructivist.
B) optimistic.
C) pessimistic.
D) dual.

Question 24

Jena is a bright student, but she can't see it. Last week, she got a B on her history test and was depressed for the rest of the afternoon. Her friends tried to cheer her up by offering to study with her next time, and reminding her that she'd done better than any of them, but it didn't help. In fact, Jena isn't just insecure about her scholastic abilities, but she also thinks she's ugly, fat, and without talent (the reality is that her looks are average, her weight is average, and she's a talented saxophone player). Jena's explanatory style is

A) dual.
B) optimistic.
C) pessimistic.
D) social-constructivist.

Question 25

Bandura's self-system is

A) a measurement tool that allows a therapist to determine what an individual thinks of him/herself and allows the client to be an active participant in any diagnosis.
B) a person's evaluation of himself or herself that occurs at adolescence and once again at the transition to old age.
C) the way a person perceives, evaluates, and regulates his or her own behavior so that it is appropriate and so that goals are achieved.
D) a person's set of personal values and beliefs.

Question 26

When a behavior is learned after seeing another person perform the behavior, this is called

A) modeling.
B) learning by watching others.
C) classical conditioning.
D) observational learning.

Question 27

Which of the following is true of Bandura's "Bobo doll" studies?

A) Children who saw aggressive behavior that was punished were more aggressive.
B) Children who saw aggressive behavior by adults were more aggressive themselves.
C) Children who saw neutral behavior by adults were more aggressive themselves.
D) Children who saw neutral behavior that was punished were less aggressive.
E) Children who saw aggressive behavior by adults were less aggressive themselves.

Question 28

Which of the following influence whether or not a model's behavior will be repeated by an observer?

A) Model's similarity to the observer
B) Desirability of the behavior itself
C) Outcome expectancies
D) The salience of the behavior
E) All of these

Question 29

The cognitive components that Bandura describes as necessary for the performance of modeled behavior are

A) attention, retention, motor reproduction, and motivation.
B) attention, desire, focus, and reproduction.
C) attention, suspension, retention, and motor reproduction.
D) attention, desire, retention, and motor reproduction.
E) attention, retention, detention, and motivation.

Question 30

Self-efficacy is

A) the same as self-esteem.
B) present when one has a pessimistic explanatory style.
C) a belief about how competent one is to perform a behavior.
D) skill at doing tasks efficiently.

Question 31

Which of the following is the most important in influencing self-efficacy?

A) Emotional reaction
B) Verbal persuasion
C) Our own performance experiences
D) Vicarious experiences

Question 32

According to Rotter, which of the following affect behavior?

A) Explanatory style
B) Reinforcement values
C) Generalized expectancies
D) Specific expectancies
E) Reinforcement values and outcome expectancies

Question 33

When do we tend to weigh generalized expectancies most heavily?

A) In one-on-one situations
B) In familiar situations
C) In new situations
D) In situations with lots of people

Question 34

Which of the following is NOT one of Rotter's six psychological needs?

A) Independence
B) Love and affection
C) Openness to new experiences
D) Recognition-status
E) Physical comfort

Question 35

Rotter initially described the dimensions of locus-of-control (LOC) as __________, but more recently, locus of control has been found to be comprised of

A) internal and external; luck, powerful others, and internality.
B) powerful others and internality; internality, externality, and luck.
C) internality and luck; powerful others, externality, and self.
D) internal and external; luck and self-stability.

Question 36

Individuals with an internal locus of control are more likely to be

A) high achievers.
B) low achievers.
C) achievement-oriented and low achievers.
D) achievement-oriented and high achievers.
E) achievement-oriented.

Question 37

Individuals with an external locus of control are likely to

A) focus on working toward their goals.
B) believe they have control over their success or failure.
C) be less independent and more depressed or stressed.
D) believe in their own abilities.

Question 38

Learned helplessness describes a situation in which individuals

A) believe they can make important changes in their lives.
B) talk excessively about change, but do not actually change anything.
C) do not try to move around on their own.
D) believe they are unable to control of what happens to them.
E) are more attuned to the needs of others than they previously were.

Question 39

Bandura felt that traditional behaviorism requires that ________ for learning to occur.

A) the organism be placed in an environmental chamber
B) the response be reinforced in some way during learning
C) intentional memory be properly utilized
D) behaviors be modeled by admired others
E) the desired behavior be verbally explained to the learner

Question 40

George Kelly states that the unique set of personal constructs that each person has

A) is what makes each person a unique individual.
B) is not affected by the person's cultural environment.
C) is set at adolescence, and then does not change.
D) changes completely across situations, so there is no consistency to an individual's constructs.
E) is genetically determined.

Question 41

When John meets new people, he immediately thinks about whether he has greater intellectual capacity than they do. George Kelly's theory would suggest that

A) John has a construct for defensiveness against smart people.
B) John has a construct for smart versus dumb.
C) John is overcompensating for low intellectual self-esteem.
D) John's behavior is likely to change with the situation, so he won't always see people in these terms.
E) John is insecure.

Question 42

In George Kelly's theory, what guides a person's behavior?

A) The constructs an individual has and his/her expectations and interpretations of the environment
B) The individual's standings on the Big 5 factors of personality
C) The individual's answers to existential questions
D) The individual's standing on need for achievement (n Ach)
E) The reinforcement history of the individual which leads to habitual behavioral patterns and choices

Question 43

A term used to describe schema for actions and behaviors in a given social situation is a

A) habit.
B) script.
C) screenplay.
D) routine.
E) "rule of thumb."

Question 44

People low in __________ see the world in more absolute and simple terms.

A) social intelligence
B) self-efficacy
C) cognitive complexity
D) field dependence
E) self-regulation

Question 45

Which of the following is NOT part of psychologist Daniel Goleman's construct of emotional intelligence?

A) Being self-aware
B) Controlling anger and anxieties
C) Being empathic
D) Being conscientious
E) Being persistent and optimistic in the face of setbacks

Question 46

Different subtypes of ADHD include all of the following EXCEPT

A) inattentive type.
B) hyperactive/Impulsive type.
C) hyper-attentive type.
D) combined type.

Question 47

ADHD is normally diagnosed

A) with a specific type of IQ test.
B) using a Role Construct Repertory Test.
C) based on observed behavior.
D) using a fMRI.
E) in infancy.

Question 48

Recent research by Baum & Anderson examining the construct of transference suggests that

A) transference does NOT occur in everyday situations.
B) our mothers do NOT help us develop an ability to interact with new acquaintances.
C) Freud was correct in assuming that sexual drives influenced everyday cognitions.
D) we can transfer ideas from our dreams into our everyday cognitions.
E) experiences in prior relationships are "transferred," having effects on new relationships.

Question 49

Research addressing computers' abilities suggests that

A) computers can always outperform humans.
B) humans can always outperform computers.
C) humans always tend to do better on the "Turing Test" than computers.
D) computers always tend to do better on the "Turing Test" than humans.
E) humans have the capacity to remember more than computers can.

Question 50

"Life space" according to Lewin is defined as

A) all internal and external forces that act on an individual.
B) the geographical location and historical time period of an individual's life.
C) the psychological separation needed by each person from the demands of their surrounding environment.
D) the foundation of behaviorist theory.
E) a theory designed to help people cope with the unconscious forces that control his or her life.

Question 51

In a situation where a person is asked to draw a vertical line within a slightly tilted rectangular frame, a field-dependent person would most likely draw a line that can be described as what?

A) Objectively vertical, not tilted to align with the tilted frame.
B) Objectively tilted, aligned with the tilted frame.
C) Field dependence would make this task impossible for the person.
D) Horizontal.
E) Straight.

Question 52

Which one of the following explanations best describes field dependency in terms of its relation to personality?

A) Field dependent and independent people use different sides of their brains to make decisions, thus have polar opposite personalities.
B) Field dependent and independent people have similar personalities in almost all aspects.
C) Field dependent and independent people solve problems differently, making the study of field dependence an objective measure in individual differences.
D) Field independent people tend to be more sensitive to the context of the situation while field dependent people tend to be more analytical.
E) Field dependency is not relevant to personality, but only to individual differences in problem solving abilities.

Question 53

Jean Piaget developed a theory to explain children's cognitive development. This theory was called

A) somatic theory.
B) ego-development theory.
C) schema theory.
D) cognitive levels theory.
E) categorization theory.

Question 54

Schemas, according to Piaget, are best described as

A) set problem-solving traits that a child is biologically born with or without.
B) innate structures in the brain that process different types of information.
C) the part of development when a child learns that biological needs are sometimes less important than other needs.
D) set structures of knowledge that a child is born with and are activated when the child reaches certain ages.
E) new cognitive structures that are built on as a child develops.

Question 55

A script is best described as what?

A) The social context in which a problem is being solved
B) The type of personality a child is born with
C) A schema that describes how a person might interact with his/her surroundings within a certain context (such as a schema for going to a restaurant)
D) A set of rules and guidelines that dictate how a person should interact with the world
E) Like a play, what a person says to other people regardless of the social situation

Question 56

According to personal construct theory, how do people view reality?

A) Within a preconceived framework that is taught within their culture
B) Within a framework that fits their own cognitive ability, including strengths and weaknesses
C) Within an oversimplified version of the true reality that the majority of people fail to understand
D) Within a framework that is personally constructed in terms of their personal relationship with the world
E) Within a biologically fixed framework that is genetically determined

Question 57

Explanatory style is best described as what?

A) The habitual way a person tries to explain their individual differences to the people they meet
B) A person's habitual way of interpreting the events in his or her life
C) A personality variable that stems from a strictly biological approach
D) A version of personality theory that deals only with traits that are acquired later in life
E) An explanation of all the different psychological approaches to personality

Question 58

According to Rotter's locus of control approach to personality, a person's behavior depends on

A) income expectancy plus internal schema for the situation.
B) internal personality schemas and how they react with the world.
C) outcome expectancy plus reinforcement value.
D) outcome variables plus internal needs.
E) factors that are too complicated to explain and should not be studied.

Question 59

Which of the following possible answers best describes the difference between internal locus of control and external locus of control?

A) People with an internal locus of control place responsibility within themselves; people with an external locus of control place responsibility outside of themselves.
B) People with an internal locus of control place responsibility outside of themselves; people with an external locus of control place responsibility within themselves.
C) People with an internal locus of control and people with external locus of control both place responsibility within the context of the situation as objectively as possible.
D) People with an external locus of control feel a great need to exert control over other people; people with an internal locus of control are more passive.
E) People with an internal locus of control feel that they are always at the mercy of unpredictable forces; people with an external locus of control are confident that they can influence the events in their lives.

Question 60

The self-system, as described by Bandura, is best described as what?

A) A set of cognitive processes that weigh the outcome expectancy with the reinforcement value
B) A set of cognitive processes that develops throughout a person's lifespan to help he or she create reoccurring patterns of behavior that work in all situations
C) A set of cognitive processes that aid a person in accomplishing goals that will better his or her chances at survival
D) A set of cognitive personality variables that captures one's habitual means of interpreting events in his or her life
E) A theory that describes how people have a sense of self-preservation

Question 61

Timmy is four years old and has never been exposed to violence in his own home. Timmy goes to his friend's house, and they watch a movie for grown-ups in which a man uses a gun to shoot people. When Timmy comes home, his mother is upset when she sees him point his finger at his toys and pretend to shoot at them. Which type of learning, according to Bandura, would best describe how Timmy learned about shooting guns?

A) Classical conditioning
B) Vicarious learning
C) Socialization
D) Learned helplessness
E) Conditioned learning

Question 62

One of the central tenets of __________ is that complex stimuli are not reducible to the sum of their parts.

Question 63

__________ theory is Lewin's approach to personality that suggests that behavior is determined by complex interactions between the person and the __________.

Question 64

According to Lewin, all the internal and external forces that act on an individual is called the __________.

Question 65

Lewin's idea that behavior is caused at the moment of its occurrence by all the influences that are present in the individual at that moment is known as __________.

Question 66

Individuals have different __________ styles, that is, distinctive and enduring styles they use to deal with their everyday tasks of perception, problem solving, and decision-making.

Question 67

__________ are cognitive structures that organize knowledge and expectations about one's environment.

Question 68

Schemas for familiar events are sometimes called __________.

Question 69

A feature of human cognition called __________ is our tendency to organize our experience by assigning the events, objects, and people we encounter into categories.

Question 70

George Kelly's approach that focuses on people's active endeavors to construe or understand the world and construct their own versions of reality is called __________.

Question 71

An assessment instrument devised by George Kelly, the __________ allows the person's own understanding of personality to emerge through the process of ranking traits and making comparisons.

Question 72

__________ is the idea that people differ in their level of mastery of the particular cluster of knowledge and skills that are relevant to interpersonal situations.

Question 73

The idea that all human beings have at least seven different intelligences (seven different ways of knowing about the world) and differ in their relative strengths in each domain is Gardner's theory of __________.

Question 74

__________ style refers to a set of cognitive personality variables that capture a person's habitual means of interpreting events in his or her life.

Question 75

When a person reduces anxiety and actually improves performance in a risky situation by anticipating a poorer outcome, this is called __________.

Question 76

The term __________ describes a situation in which repeated exposure to unavoidable punishment leads an organism to accept later punishment even when it is avoidable.

Question 77

According to Julian Rotter, the likelihood that a particular behavior will occur in a specific situation is called __________.

Question 78

In Rotter's theory of locus of control, there is either the generalized expectancy that the individual's own actions lead to desired outcomes a(n) __________ locus of control. Or there is the belief that things outside of the individual determine whether desired outcomes occur a(n) __________ locus of control.

Question 79

Learning without performing the behavior itself and without being directly rewarded or punished for the behavior is called __________.

Question 80

In Social Cognitive Theory, the individual's internal processing of goals, planning, and self-reinforcement result in the __________ of behavior.