11.E: Personality (Exercises)
11.1: What Is Personality?
Review Questions
Q1
Personality is thought to be ________.
- short term and easily changed
- a pattern of short-term characteristics
- unstable and short term
- long term, stable and not easily changed
Q2
The long-standing traits and patterns that propel individuals to consistently think, feel, and behave in specific ways are known as ________.
- psychodynamic
- temperament
- humors
- personality
Q3
________ is credited with the first comprehensive theory of personality.
- Hippocrates
- Gall
- Wundt
- Freud
Q4
An early science that tried to correlate personality with measurements of parts of a person’s skull is known as ________.
- phrenology
- psychology
- physiology
- personality psychology
Critical Thinking Questions
Q5
What makes a personal quality part of someone’s personality?
Personal Application Questions
Q6
How would you describe your own personality? Do you think that friends and family would describe you in much the same way? Why or why not?
Q7
How would you describe your personality in an online dating profile?
Q8
What are some of your positive and negative personality qualities? How do you think these qualities will affect your choice of career?
Solution
S1
D
S2
D
S3
D
S4
A
S5
The particular quality or trait must be part of an enduring behavior pattern, so that it is a consistent or predictable quality.
11.2: Freud and the Psychodynamic Perspective
Review Questions
Q1
The id operates on the ________ principle.
- reality
- pleasure
- instant gratification
- guilt
Q2
The ego defense mechanism in which a person who is confronted with anxiety returns to a more immature behavioral stage is called ________.
- repression
- regression
- reaction formation
- rationalization
Q3
The Oedipus complex occurs in the ________ stage of psychosexual development.
- oral
- anal
- phallic
- latency
Critical Thinking Questions
Q4
How might the common expression “daddy’s girl” be rooted in the idea of the Electra complex?
Q5
Describe the personality of someone who is fixated at the anal stage.
Personal Application Questions
Q6
What are some examples of defense mechanisms that you have used yourself or have witnessed others using?
Solution
S1
B
S2
B
S3
C
S4
Since the idea behind the Electra complex is that the daughter competes with her same-sex parent for the attention of her opposite-sex parent, the term “daddy’s girl” might suggest that the daughter has an overly close relationship with her father and a more distant—or even antagonistic—relationship with her mother.
S5
If parents are too harsh during potty training, a person could become fixated at this stage and would be called anal retentive. The anal-retentive personality is stingy, stubborn, has a compulsive need for order and neatness, and might be considered a perfectionist. On the other hand, some parents may be too soft when it comes to potty training. In this case, Freud said that children could also become fixated and display an anal-expulsive personality. As an adult, an anal-expulsive personality is messy, careless, disorganized, and prone to emotional outbursts.
11.3: Neo-Freudians: Adler, Erikson, Jung, and Horney
Review Questions
Q1
The universal bank of ideas, images, and concepts that have been passed down through the generations from our ancestors refers to ________.
- archetypes
- intuition
- collective unconscious
- personality types
Critical Thinking Questions
Q2
Describe the difference between extroverts and introverts in terms of what is energizing to each.
Q3
Discuss Horney’s perspective on Freud’s concept of penis envy.
Personal Application Questions
Q4
What is your birth order? Do you agree or disagree with Adler’s description of your personality based on his birth order theory, as described in the Link to Learning? Provide examples for support.
Q5
Would you describe yourself as an extrovert or an introvert? Does this vary based on the situation? Provide examples to support your points.
Q6
Select an epic story that is popular in contemporary society (such as Harry Potter or Star Wars) and explain it terms of Jung’s concept of archetypes.
Solution
S1
C
S2
Extroverts are energized by social engagement. Introverts are recharged by solitary time.
S3
Horney disagreed with the Freudian idea that women had penis envy and were jealous of a man’s biological features. Horney discussed that the jealousy was more likely culturally based, due to the greater privileges that males often have, and that differences between men and women’s personalities were cultural, not biologically based. Horney also suggested that men may have womb envy, because men cannot give birth.
11.4: Learning Approaches
Review Questions
Q1
Self-regulation is also known as ________.
- self-efficacy
- will power
- internal locus of control
- external locus of control
Q2
Your level of confidence in your own abilities is known as ________.
- self-efficacy
- self-concept
- self-control
- self-esteem
Q3
Jane believes that she got a bad grade on her psychology paper because her professor doesn’t like her. Jane most likely has an _______ locus of control.
- internal
- external
- intrinsic
- extrinsic
Critical Thinking Questions
Q4
Compare the personalities of someone who has high self-efficacy to someone who has low self-efficacy.
Q5
Compare and contrast Skinner’s perspective on personality development to Freud’s.
Personal Application Questions
Q6
Do you have an internal or an external locus of control? Provide examples to support your answer.
Solution
S1
B
S2
A
S3
B
S4
People who have high self-efficacy believe that their efforts matter. They perceive their goals as being within reach; have a positive view of challenges, seeing them as tasks to be mastered; develop a deep interest in and strong commitment to the activities in which they are involved; and quickly recover from setbacks. Conversely, people with low self-efficacy believe their efforts have little or no effect, and that outcomes are beyond their control. They avoid challenging tasks because they doubt their abilities to be successful; tend to focus on failure and negative outcomes; and lose confidence in their abilities if they experience setbacks.
S5
Skinner disagreed with Freud’s idea that childhood plays an important role in shaping our personality. He argued that personality develops over our entire life, rather than in the first few years of life as Freud suggested. Skinner said that our responses can change as we come across new situations; therefore, we can see more variability over time in personality.
11.5: Humanistic Approaches
Review Questions
Q1
Self-concept refers to ________.
- our level of confidence in our own abilities
- all of our thoughts and feelings about ourselves
- the belief that we control our own outcomes
- the belief that our outcomes are outside of our control
Q2
The idea that people’s ideas about themselves should match their actions is called ________.
- confluence
- conscious
- conscientiousness
- congruence
Personal Application Questions
Q3
Respond to the question, “Who am I?” Based on your response, do you have a negative or a positive self-concept? What are some experiences that led you to develop this particular self-concept?
Solution
S1
B
S2
D
11.6: Biological Approaches
Review Questions
Q1
The way a person reacts to the world, starting when they are very young, including the person’s activity level is known as ________.
- traits
- temperament
- heritability
- personality
Q2
Brianna is \(18\) months old. She cries frequently, is hard to soothe, and wakes frequently during the night. According to Thomas and Chess, she would be considered ________.
- an easy baby
- a difficult baby
- a slow to warm up baby
- a colicky baby
Q3
According to the findings of the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart, identical twins, whether raised together or apart have ________ personalities.
- slightly different
- very different
- slightly similar
- very similar
Q4
Temperament refers to ________.
- inborn, genetically based personality differences
- characteristic ways of behaving
- conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness, and extroversion
- degree of introversion-extroversion
Critical Thinking Questions
Q5
How might a temperament mix between parent and child affect family life?
Personal Application Questions
Q6
Research suggests that many of our personality characteristics have a genetic component. What traits do you think you inherited from your parents? Provide examples. How might modeling (environment) influenced your characteristics as well?
Solution
S1
B
S2
B
S3
D
S4
A
S5
An easygoing parent may be irritated by a difficult child. If both parent and child have difficult temperaments, then conflicts in the parent-child relationship might result quite often.
11.7: Trait Theorists
Review Questions
Q1
According to the Eysencks’ theory, people who score high on neuroticism tend to be ________.
- calm
- stable
- outgoing
- anxious
Critical Thinking Questions
Q2
How stable are the Big Five traits over one’s lifespan?
Q3
Compare the personality of someone who scores high on agreeableness to someone who scores low on agreeableness.
Personal Application Questions
Q4
Review the Big Five personality traits shown in Figure 11.7.3. On which areas would you expect you’d score high? In which areas does the low score more accurately describe you?
Solution
S1
D
S2
The Big Five traits are relatively stable over our lifespan with a tendency for the traits to increase or decrease slightly. Researchers have found that conscientiousness increases through young adulthood into middle age, as we become better able to manage our personal relationships and careers. Agreeableness also increases with age, peaking between \(50\) to \(70\) years. However, neuroticism and extroversion tend to decline slightly with age.
S3
A person with a high score on agreeableness is typically pleasant, cooperative, trustworthy and good-natured. People who score low on agreeableness tend to be described as rude and uncooperative. They may be difficult with which to work.
11.8: Cultural Understandings of Personality
Review Questions
Q1
The United States is considered a ________ culture.
- collectivistic
- individualist
- traditional
- nontraditional
Q2
The concept that people choose to move to places that are compatible with their personalities and needs is known as ________.
- selective migration
- personal oriented personality
- socially oriented personality
- individualism
Critical Thinking Questions
Q3
Why might it be important to consider cultural influences on personality?
Personal Application Questions
Q4
According to the work of Rentfrow and colleagues, personalities are not randomly distributed. Instead they fit into distinct geographic clusters. Based on where you live, do you agree or disagree with the traits associated with yourself and the residents of your area of the country? Why or why not?
Solution
S1
B
S2
A
S3
Since culture influences one’s personality, then Western ideas about personality may not be applicable to people of other cultures. In addition, Western-based measures of personality assessment may not be valid when used to collect data on people from other cultures.
11.9: Personality Assessment
Review Questions
Q1
Which of the following is NOT a projective test?
- Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
- Rorschach Inkblot Test
- Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
- Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank (RISB)
Q2
A personality assessment in which a person responds to ambiguous stimuli, revealing unconscious feelings, impulses, and desires ________.
- self-report inventory
- projective test
- Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
- Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
Q3
Which personality assessment employs a series of true/false questions?
- Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
- Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
- Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank (RISB)
- Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
Critical Thinking Questions
Q4
Why might a prospective employer screen applicants using personality assessments?
Q5
Why would a clinician give someone a projective test?
Personal Application Questions
Q6
How objective do you think you can be about yourself in answering questions on self-report personality assessment measures? What implications might this have for the validity of the personality test?
Solution
S1
A
S2
B
S3
A
S4
They can help an employer predict a candidate’s reactions and attitudes to various situations they might encounter on the job, thus helping choose the right person for the job. This is particularly important in hiring for a high-risk job such as law enforcement. Personality tests can also reveal a potential employee’s desirable qualities such as honesty, motivation, and conscientiousness.
S5
A projective test could give the clinician clues about dreams, fears, and personal struggles of which the client may be unaware, since these tests are designed to reveal unconscious motivations and attitudes. They can also help clinicians diagnose psychological disorders.
Contributors and Attributions
-
Rose M. Spielman with many significant contributors. The OpenStax name, OpenStax logo, OpenStax book covers, OpenStax CNX name, and OpenStax CNX logo are not subject to the creative commons license and may not be reproduced without the prior and express written consent of Rice University. For questions regarding this license, please contact support@openstax.org .Textbook content produced by OpenStax College is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 license. Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/4abf04bf-93a...fd46e68cc@5.46 .