1. According to your text, what does the science of personality explore?

a. global patterns of identification, socialization, and adaptation

b. distinctive patterns of morals, desires, and behaviors
c. unique patterns of being, perceiving, and sensing
d. characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving
ANSWER: d
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Is Personality?

2. Professor Schaefer asks Anita to explain psychodynamic theory for the class. How should Anita respond?
a. Psychic energy is moved among the compartments of the personality: id, ego, and superego.
b. Psychic energy is created and destroyed in an open system made up of the id, ego, and superego.
c. Psychic energy is stored in the compartments of the personality: id, ego, and unconscious.
d. Psychic energy is created and destroyed in the process of personality formation.
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: What Is Personality?

3. Sigmund Freud’s treatment approach based on his psychodynamic theory is called ____.
a. psychosexual development
b. psychoanalysis
c. behaviorism
d. self-actualization
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Is Personality?

4. In Freud’s view, it is the job of the ego, or self, to ____.

a. balance the pleasure-seeking impulses of the superego with the morality imposed by the id
b. embrace the moralistic needs of the superego, even at times when rules are not crucial
c. enhance the pleasure-seeking impulses of the id so that gratification is achieved as often as possible
d. coordinate the needs of the id with the demands of reality
ANSWER: d
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Think Critically
REFERENCES: What Is Personality?

5. For as long as he can remember, Johnny’s passion in life has been to eat, drink, and be merry. Which component of
Freud’s personality theory does this reflect?
a. superego
b. id
c. unconscious
d. ego
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: What Is Personality?

6. In Freud’s personality theory, the self that others see is called the ____.
a. ego
b. id
c. superego
d. unconscious
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Is Personality?

7. Olivia has just obtained her driver’s license. She is nervous that she might break one of numerous “rules of the road”
and receive both a ticket and a reprimand from her parents. Which component of Freud’s personality theory reflects this
need to behave in moral, or right, ways?
a. unconscious
b. ego
c. superego
d. id
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: What Is Personality?

8. According to Freudian theory, what is the part of mind that can affect our behavior without our awareness?
a. preconscious mind
b. unconscious mind
c. id
d. superconscious mind
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Is Personality?

9. In Freud’s personality theory, a protective behavior that reduces anxiety is called a ____.
a. trait
b. psychosexual stage
c. defense mechanism
d. level of awareness
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Is Personality?
10. Jonah is a very physical and quite aggressive 8 year old. All his friends were signed up for soccer, but his parents
chose football for him. This is an example of ____, because it redirects negative energy into a socially acceptable
expression.
a. denial
b. sublimation
c. repression
d. reaction formation
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: What Is Personality?

11. The different periods in Freud’s theory of the developing personality are called ____.
a. defense mechanisms
b. psychosexual stages
c. developmental complexes
d. reaction formations
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Is Personality?

12. In Freud’s theory of personality development, the correct order of stages is ____.
a. latency, oral, anal, phallic, and genital
b. phallic, latency, oral, genital, and anal
c. anal, oral, genital, phallic, and latency
d. oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital
ANSWER: d
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: What Is Personality?

13. Which of the following best describes the attitude of most psychologists today toward Freud?
a. They question the scientific validity of Freud’s theories.
b. They adhere closely to Freud’s theories.
c. They appreciate the extensive scientific research underlying Freud’s theories.
d. They admire the effectiveness of Freud’s psychoanalysis.
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Think Critically
REFERENCES: What Is Personality?

14. Of the following topics related to Freudian theory, which is not currently a topic of research in psychological science?
a. the notion of defense mechanisms
b. the distinction between conscious and unconscious processes
 c. the descriptions of some types of adult personalities
d. the existence of both the Oedipus and Electra complexes
ANSWER: d
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Is Personality?

15. Theorists who attempted to update and modify Sigmund Freud’s original theory of personality are called ____.
O a. neo-Freudians
b. psychoanalysts
c. Gestaltists
d. humanists
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Is Personality?

16. Which of the following is a common feature of neo-Freudian theories?

a. the substitution of sexuality and pleasure for social competence as the major motivation for human behavior
b. the substitution of rigorous scientific research for intuition in the development of theories
c. the substitution of social competence for sexuality and pleasure as the major motivation for human behavior
d. the substitution of intuition for rigorous scientific research in the development of theories
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Is Personality?

17. Of the following examples, who illustrates one key contribution that Alfred Adler made to psychodynamic thought?
a. Gertrude, who is proud of her parents’ rise from “poverty to PhDs,” and often tells people about their success
b. Maia, who is ashamed that she grew up in a very poor family, and, to hide this, tells people instead that her
well-to-do family always sent her to private schools
c. Faluh, who is somewhat self-conscious about her prominent nose, but takes pride in her resemblance to her
grandfather
d. Rachel, who tends to eat, drink, and smoke to excess, which may reflect an unresolved conflict in her early
development
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: What Is Personality?

18. Of the following examples, who would be pursuing a dissertation research topic reflecting the contributions of Alfred
Adler?
a. Megan, who is researching the extent to which men envy women’s roles and abilities
b. Jonah, who is researching the relationships between the introversion–extroversion continuum and artistic
creativity
c. Logan, who is researching the level of self-actualization of adolescent children of immigrant parents
d. Alexis, who is researching the effects of birth order on professional and financial success
ANSWER: d
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: What Is Personality?

19. Which of the following is a contribution of Carl Jung to psychodynamic thought?

a. the individual unconscious mind
b. the importance of birth order
c. the collective unconscious mind
d. penis envy and pregnancy envy
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Is Personality?

20. Of the following types of personality tests, one is based largely on characteristics that were proposed by Carl Jung.
Unfortunately, this test has not held up well to scientific analyses of validity and reliability. Which one is it?

O a. the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

b. the California Personality Inventory (CPI)
c. the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
d. the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Is Personality?

21. Karen Horney rejected many of Freud’s ideas to concentrate on aspects of the culture that contributed to ____.
a. men’s feelings of worthlessness
b. women’s feelings of inferiority
c. women’s pursuit of love over wealth
d. men’s pursuit of wealth over relationships
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Think Critically
REFERENCES: What Is Personality?

22. All but which of the following are considered neo-Freudian personality theorists?
a. Heinz Kohut
b. Karen Horney
c. Carl Jung
d. Alfred Adler
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: How Do Humanistic Psychologists Approach Personality?
23. The humanists are most interested in the ____.
a. rigor of the methods by which their theories were developed
b. process by which personality develops
c. characteristics that emerge in personality development
d. stability and consistency of patterns of behavior
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: How Do Humanistic Psychologists Approach Personality?

24. Which of the following describes a humanistic approach, as opposed to a behaviorist or Freudian approach, to the
study of psychology?
a. Humanists emphasized the significance of abnormal behaviors.
b. Humanists relied heavily on animal research for their findings.
c. Humanists viewed human nature as essentially dark.

&d. Humanists advocated studying exceptional people to see why they succeeded.
ANSWER: d
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: How Do Humanistic Psychologists Approach Personality?

25. Paulo is particularly fascinated by the field of humanistic psychology and wants to conduct his doctoral dissertation in
the contemporary offshoot of that area of thought. Which would be an appropriate title for Paulo’s dissertation?
a. “A Gestalt Approach—Eschewing Parts for Wholes”
b. “Positive Psychology—Focusing on What Works”
c. “Interpersonal Psychology—Relationships That Matter”
d. “Eclecticism—Many Become One”
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: How Do Humanistic Psychologists Approach Personality?

26. Which of the following is true about Abraham Maslow?

O a. He was primarily interested in human motivation.
b. He conducted most of his research on rats and pigeons.
c. He developed a theory of personality based on his experience as a therapist.
d. He observed that exceptional people generally lacked a sense of humor but had many friends.
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: How Do Humanistic Psychologists Approach Personality?

27. June is 3 years old and very exuberant. Her mother encourages her and accepts her lively personality. According to
Carl Rogers’s humanistic theory of personality, what is the most likely result of this upbringing?
a. self-actualization
b. high self-regard, but low self-efficacy
c. egotism
 d. emotional instability
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: How Do Humanistic Psychologists Approach Personality?

28. Rosa is 3 years old and very exuberant. Her mother has little patience with her and is most accepting of her when she
plays very quietly by herself. According to Carl Rogers’s humanistic theory of personality, what is the most likely result
of this upbringing?
a. self-actualization
b. self-esteem

O c. self-discrepancies
d. self-efficacy
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: How Do Humanistic Psychologists Approach Personality?

29. Which criticism, which has been leveled against the psychodynamic theories, has also been targeted at humanistic
theories of personality development?
a. that these psychologists overemphasize the role of genetics and biology
b. that these psychologists have not contributed anything of real value to the field
c. that these psychologists have negative views of women
d. that these psychologists are unscientific in their methods
ANSWER: d
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Think Critically
REFERENCES: How Do Humanistic Psychologists Approach Personality?

30. What is a trait?

a. a variable in shaping personality based on learning
b. a dimension of temperament
c. a stable personality characteristic
&d. a personality gene
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: How Do Trait Theories Explain Personality?

31. Which statistical method was used to analyze the clustering of personality traits?
a. factor analysis
O
b. analysis of variance
c. t-test
d. chi-squared test
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: How Do Trait Theories Explain Personality?

32. One of the earliest attempts to categorize personality traits came from Allport & Odbert (1936), who identified 4,500
terms in the dictionary that related to personality. Later, statistical methods were used to reduce these words to a list of
___ personality traits.
a. 8
&b. 16
c. 24
d. 32
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: How Do Trait Theories Explain Personality?

33. To remember the Big Five traits, use the acronym ____.
a. STORM
b. FRAME
c. EARTH
O d. OCEAN
ANSWER: d
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: How Do Trait Theories Explain Personality?

34. Each of the Big Five traits consists of a _____.

O a. continuum from one extreme to the other
b. core belief
c. two-factor correlation
d. series of stages
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: How Do Trait Theories Explain Personality?

35. The Big Five theory is a trait theory that identifies five main characteristics that account for the ____.
a. distinctions between individualistic and collectivistic societies
O b. majority of individual differences in personality
c. primary mental health problems in society
d. general ability to function and succeed
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: How Do Trait Theories Explain Personality?

36. Leanne’s friends love her 60-year-old mother, Liz, who is very warm and friendly. In fact, Liz encourages Leanne to
bring over her friends for cocktail parties or cookouts every weekend that she is free (i.e., when she’s not involved with a
book club, painting class, or yoga retreat). The Big Five trait that best describes this aspect of Liz’s personality is ____.
a. neuroticism
b. openness
O c. extroversion
d. conscientiousness
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: How Do Trait Theories Explain Personality?

37. Leanne’s friends love her 60-year-old mother, Liz, who is very warm and friendly. In fact, Liz encourages Leanne to
bring over her friends for cocktail parties or cookouts every weekend that she is free (i.e., when she’s not involved with a
book club, painting class, or yoga retreat). Leanne’s father dreads it when her mother invites Leanne’s friends over. He is
reserved, uncomfortable with people he does not know well, and prefers quiet evenings of reading. The Big Five trait that
best describes this aspect of his personality is ____.
a. conscientiousness
b. passiveness
c. neuroticism
d. introversion
ANSWER: d
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: How Do Trait Theories Explain Personality?

38. Leanne’s friends love her 60-year-old mother, Liz, who is very warm and friendly. In fact, Liz encourages Leanne to
bring over her friends for cocktail parties or cookouts every weekend that she is free (i.e., when she’s not involved with a
book club, painting class, or yoga retreat). Although Leanne appreciates her mother’s hospitality, she frequently declines
these invitations because of the complications surrounding her closest friend, Alicia. Alicia would be hurt not to be
included, but might dampen the party with her anxiety, anger, hostility, and tendency towards depression. Leanne never
knows what she will do or say next. The Big Five trait that best describes this aspect of Alicia’s personality is ____.
a. neuroticism
b. cynicism
c. instability
d. unpredictability
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: How Do Trait Theories Explain Personality?

39. Daryl is a painter and poet. His work often portrays fantasy images that evoke strong emotion. He loves to travel,
particularly in Asia, to view the art at sacred sites and learn about local culture. The Big Five trait that best describes this
aspect of Daryl’s personality is ____.
a. agreeableness

O b. openness
c. conscientiousness
d. extroversion
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: How Do Trait Theories Explain Personality?

40. Clarence’s boss is very rude to Clarence and most of the staff. He tends to be cynical, uncooperative, and critical of
his employees. This boss is particularly low on which of the following Big Five traits?
O a. agreeableness
b. openness
c. conscientiousness
d. introversion
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: How Do Trait Theories Explain Personality?

41. Javier is studying the firing of neurons in the brains of rats as part of his dissertation research on memory. He is
disciplined in his research process and in his record-keeping and follows his advisor’s recommendations to the letter, as he
wants to eventually accomplish a lot in this field. The Big Five trait that best describes this aspect of Javier’s personality
is ____.
a. openness
b. extroversion
O c. conscientiousness
d. agreeableness
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: How Do Trait Theories Explain Personality?

42. Which of the following Big Five traits had the greatest positive correlation with success across a wide range of
professional, skilled, and unskilled job descriptions?
a. agreeableness
& b. conscientiousness
c. extroversion
d. openness
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: How Do Trait Theories Explain Personality?

43. Surprisingly, research involving the use of a meta-analysis (Barrick & Mount, 1991) found that there is rather little
relationship between the Big Five trait of _____ and job performance.
a. openness
b. conscientiousness
O c. agreeableness
d. neuroticism
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: How Do Trait Theories Explain Personality?

44. Evidence across diverse cultures, including those of the United States, Japan, Korea, Germany, Portugal, Israel, and
China, suggests that the Big Five personality traits ____ (McCrae & Costa, 1997).
a. are not applicable to all cultures
b. are more applicable in individualistic societies
c. are more applicable in collectivistic societies

O d. represent a universal human characteristic

ANSWER: d
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Think Critically
REFERENCES: How Do Trait Theories Explain Personality?

45. Research showing that situations can exert a stronger influence on people’s behavior than any individual
predispositions highlights the ____.
a. accuracy of the general trait approach
b. power of the id
c. limits of the general trait approach
d. human need for self-actualization
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Think Critically
REFERENCES: How Do Situations Affect Personality?

46. What is the theory of personality that features cognition and learning, especially from the social environment, as
important sources of individual differences in personality?
a. psychodynamic theory
b. trait theory
c. behaviorism
d. social-cognitive learning theory
ANSWER: d
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: How Do Situations Affect Personality?

47. What is the cognitive expectancy featured in social-cognitive learning theories of personality about the source of
individual outcomes?
a. reciprocal determinism
b. locus of control
c. response tendencies
d. defense mechanisms
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: How Do Situations Affect Personality?
48. Aaron, a premed student, received a C on his biochemistry exam. He told his roommate that he had studied for the
exam, and that it was just bad luck that the professor had asked so many questions that he did not understand. Aaron
appears to have ____.
O a. an external locus of control
b. reciprocal determinism
c. high self-efficacy
d. an internal locus of control
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: How Do Situations Affect Personality?

49. What is the social-cognitive learning theory of personality that features the mutual influence of the person and
situation on each other?
& a. reciprocal determinism
b. behaviorism
c. self-efficacy
d. locus of control
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: How Do Situations Affect Personality?

50. Of the following, who most reflects self-efficacy?

a. Maria, who tries to redirect her aggressive urges into more prosocial channels
&b. Todd, who believes that he can handle challenging situations and obtain future rewards
c. Beth, who tends to attribute her own problems and anxieties to others
d. Marcus, who believes that most of the things that happen to him are due to luck or factors beyond his control
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: How Do Situations Affect Personality?

51. According to Walter Mischel, if a child experiences a particular situation, he or she will then respond with a unique,
stable set of behaviors. These if-then patterns will be characteristic of an individual, leading to the stable characteristics
we think of as ____.
a. traits
b. temperament

C c. personality
d. self-concept
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Think Critically
REFERENCES: How Do Situations Affect Personality?

52. A child’s pattern of mood, activity, or emotional responsiveness, which is linked to later personality, is called her
____.
 a. self-esteem
b. self-concept
c. character
Od. temperament
ANSWER: d
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Are the Biological Bases of Personality?

53. What are the two dimensions of temperament that appear to be particularly important for adult personality?
a. introversion and neuroticism
b. conscientiousness and self-regulation
c. reactivity and self-regulation
d. reactivity and extroversion
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Are the Biological Bases of Personality?

54. Jared, a high school student, is a sensitive person. His first reaction to many things is anxiety, such as the loud noise of
a truck backfiring, an unfamiliar dog running toward him, or a teacher unexpectedly calling on him in class. From a
biological perspective he would be described as having a high level of reactivity. Toward which end of the continuum of
these Big Five traits would he likely fall?
a. introversion and neuroticism
b. extroversion and openness
c. introversion and emotional stability
d. extroversion and disagreeability
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: What Are the Biological Bases of Personality?

55. Most efforts to study the effects of genetics on personality use ____.
a. factor analysis
b. qualitative methods
c. the twin study method
d. the study of siblings
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Are the Biological Bases of Personality?

56. The critical finding of the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart (Bouchard, 1994; Bouchard, Lykken, McGue,
Segal & Tellegen, 1990) was that identical twins raised apart and together were ____.
a. very similar to one another on nonreligious social attitudes, but quite far apart on occupational interests
b. very similar to one another, whether the overall positive correlation for a particular characteristic was strong or
weak
 c. very different from each other, depending on the families within which they were raised
d. generally similar to each other on physical characteristics, but not on social characteristics
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Think Critically
REFERENCES: What Are the Biological Bases of Personality?

57. What is the approximate heritability ratio of the Big Five personality traits in humans?
a. .25
b. .40
O c. .50
d. .65
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Are the Biological Bases of Personality?

58. Genetics account for a percentage of the variability seen in the population’s personality. What is the source of the
remaining percentage of variability?
a. only non-shared experiences

O b. both shared and non-shared experiences

c. nurture
d. only shared experiences
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Are the Biological Bases of Personality?

59. Which of the following statements is true about the heritability ratio of personality traits in humans?
a. The heritability ratio does not tell us how an individual’s personality actually develops.
b. Approximately 50% of the personality traits within a family are produced by genes.
c. The heritability ratio incorporates the effects of shared and non-shared environments on the production of
particular outcomes.
d. Approximately 50% of a person’s personality traits are produced by genes.
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Think Critically
REFERENCES: What Are the Biological Bases of Personality?

60. Researchers have identified structural correlates in the brains of adults for four of the Big Five personality traits.
Which Big Five personality trait has not yet been correlated with a structure of the brain?
a. agreeableness
b. openness
c. neuroticism
d. conscientiousness
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Are the Biological Bases of Personality?

61. People who differ in neuroticism show different volumes of areas of the prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex,
and hippocampus, areas that have been implicated in ____.
a. planning and achievement of goals
b. voluntary control of behavior
c. sensitivity to threat and stress
d. executive functions
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Are the Biological Bases of Personality?

62. The text notes that Professor Jennifer Mather tested 44 octopuses systematically for their responses to stimuli such as
being touched with a brush. What did she find?
a. Some responded “cheerfully,” others with “anger,” some went to sleep, and the last group appeared to have a
nervous breakdown.
b. Most were identified as being agreeable and conscientious.
c. The octopuses seemed to have unique and stable responses, similar to having a “personality.”
d. The octopuses were categorizable along the continua of all five traits of the Big Five.
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Are the Biological Bases of Personality?

63. Observation remains one of the most reliable means of making judgments about other people but it ____.
a. is rarely valid
b. requires subjectivity from the participant
c. can be time consuming and biased
d. lacks consistency over time
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Think Critically
REFERENCES: How Can We Assess Personality?

64. To avoid the pitfalls of observation and interview, many psychologists turn to ____.
a. standardized tests of personality
b. individualized tests of personality
c. participant observation
d. long-term qualitative studies
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: How Can We Assess Personality?
65. What are the two basic requirements of a good test?
a. specificity and sensitivity
b. specificity and generalizability
&c. validity and reliability
d. reliability and sensitivity
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: How Can We Assess Personality?

66. Gia and Carmen are studying together. They take turns explaining concepts and definitions to each other because they
know that recitation is a very effective memory strategy. Gia recites the definition of personality inventory: “A personality
inventory is a subjective test, often using numbered scales or multiple choice, used to assess personality.” Which part of
her definition is in error?
a. numbered scales
b. subjective test
c. multiple choice
d. used to assess personality
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: How Can We Assess Personality?

67. Which of the following is an advantage of personality inventories?

a. They are strong in reliability though weak in validity.
b. Testing is more expensive but valid and reliable.

O c. Large numbers of people can be assessed quickly and inexpensively.

d. They are very nuanced and subjective.
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: How Can We Assess Personality?

68. Ross is filling in a personality inventory in connection with a job application. The results are based on his self-report.
Why is this a potential limitation?
a. Ross’s responses might be influenced by his need to appear socially appropriate.
b. Self-report can be very time consuming.
c. Results based on self-report invariably lack validity.
d. Ross’s responses may be overly objective.
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: How Can We Assess Personality?

69. One of the most frequently used personality inventories is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, which
was originally designed ____.
 a. for college and career counseling recommendations
b. for marriage and family counseling
c. to screen potential public safety employees

&d. to assist with clinical diagnosis

ANSWER:
POINTS:
d
1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: How Can We Assess Personality?

70. Marissa is taking a personality test at her college’s career counseling office. This test is not the MMPI. What form of
question is most likely to be used on the test?
a. True-false options

& b. Likert scales

c. fill-in-the-blank
d. essays
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: How Can We Assess Personality?

71. A projective personality test provides an ambiguous stimulus onto which the test taker “projects” his or her
personality. This is based on ____.
a. social-cognitive learning theory
b. the humanistic theory of personality
c. the Big Five theory
d. Freudian theory
ANSWER: d
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: How Can We Assess Personality?

72. In Freudian theory, projection is ____.

a. part of the Oedipus complex
b. a psychosexual stage of development
c. a defense mechanism
d. a function of the superego
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: How Can We Assess Personality?

73. One of the most famous projective tests is the Rorschach Inkblot Test, which is ____.
a. hardly used today
b. more widely used than the MMPI
c. highly valid and reliable
d. a subscale of the Psychopathic Deviate scale
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: How Can We Assess Personality?

74. Personality tests are widely used by therapists, potential employers, judges, and attorneys. These applications of
personality assessment ____.
a. are fundamental to a functioning society
b. are well received by all concerned
c. have been found to be civil rights violations
d. raise important ethical concerns
ANSWER: d
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Think Critically
REFERENCES: How Can We Assess Personality?

75. Paige, a recent college graduate, has been asked to take a personality test as part of the process of applying for a
position with a financial services organization. According to the text, what should she do first?
a. Respond as thoroughly and honestly as possible to the test questions.
b. Consult with a lawyer and consider whether the request made by the potential employer is legal.
c. Fully educate herself regarding the test and make an informed decision about whether to proceed.
d. Review the guidelines of the American Financial Services Association as well as the American Civil Liberties
Union.
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: How Can We Assess Personality?

76. What is the self?

a. a personal database of memories and motivations from our entire life
O b. the patterns of thought, feelings, and actions we perceive in our own minds
c. the characteristics we retain from our genetic history and share with our family members
d. the cognitive organization of our brains and the structural layers of our nervous systems
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

77. Psychologists approach the study of the self by examining the ABCs. What are these?
a. awareness, behavior, and concept
O b. affect, behavior, and cognition
c. appearance, beliefs, and cognition
d. actions, beliefs, and confidence
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

78. The self does not exist in a vacuum. It both shapes and is shaped by ____.
a. our genes
b. temperament
c. the id
d. our social environment
ANSWER: d
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

79. Melinda’s psychology professor told the class to quickly write down five things that complete a sentence that starts
with “I am.” Melinda wrote: “I am a sophomore at the University of Michigan, majoring in international relations. I am on
the lacrosse team and I am a girlfriend in a long-term relationship with my high school boyfriend.” This is a description of
her ____.
a. self-schema
b. self-awareness
c. self
d. self-concept
ANSWER: d
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

80. The cognitive organization that helps us think about the self and process self-relevant information is ____.
& a. a self-schema
b. a self-concept
c. self-awareness
d. self-esteem
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

81. Dominic is memorizing vocabulary for his psychology exam, including the term allele. Which of the following
approaches will most help him remember this term?
a. He visualizes how an allele looks.
b. He reflects on how certain alleles have shaped his own life.
c. He thinks about its relationship to the word “chromosome.”
d. He comes up with a rhyming word such as “appeal.”
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

82. One’s knowledge of personal traits, feelings, roles, and memories is called ____.
 a. self-esteem
b. self-concept
c. self-schema

Od. self-awareness
ANSWER: d
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

83. How do most people respond when they talk about themselves, look at themselves in a mirror, watch a video of
themselves, or “stand out from the crowd” in some way?
a. with heightened self-awareness and feelings of pride
b. with feelings of selflessness and pride
c. with heightened self-awareness and an unpleasant feeling
d. with feelings of selflessness and discomfort
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Think Critically
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

84. As Erin walks to the front of the classroom to write on the board, she stubs the toe of her shoe on the floor and nearly
trips in front of her professor. She is mortified. However, her professor is actually thinking about his lunch plans. Erin’s
reaction is an example of ____.
O a. the spotlight effect
b. mirroring
c. selflessness
d. self-concept
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

85. A vendor of used paperbacks leaves stacks of books on a table in an area heavily traveled by students, with a box for
money and a sign that says $5. Most students who take a book place $5 in the box. What is the most likely reason for this?
a. Most college students understand that this economic opportunity will continue to exist only if they are fair.
b. Most college students feel self-conscious in front of the others looking at the books.
c. Most college students are more morally conscious than the average population.
d. Most college students are sensitive to the plight of the vendor profession.
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

86. For the past few months, Seth has visited his elderly grandmother every weekend and helped her with chores and
errands. He has come to think of himself as a person who is kind and helpful to elders. As a source of self-knowledge, this
is an example of ____.
a. introspection
 b. mirroring by his parents
c. implicit memory
d. observable behavior
ANSWER: d
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

87. Autobiographical and episodic memories are important components of self-knowledge; however, as one psychologist
noted, “The past is remembered as if it were a drama in which ____ (Greenwald, 1980, p. 604).”
a. only good things happened
O b. the self was the leading player
c. only bad things happened
d. the parents were the source of all problems
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

88. What is self-esteem?

& a. a judgment of the value of the self
b. a person’s description of his or her own positive characteristics
c. a person’s optimal patterns of thought, feelings, and actions
d. a person’s knowledge of his or her roles and memories
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

89. Mary rarely refers to her strengths or accomplishments when with friends, so they have little clue as to her self-
esteem. If Mary is among the majority of people, she most likely ____.
a. judges herself more negatively and less positively than she judges others
b. judges herself and others with complete fairness
c. judges herself more positively and less negatively than she judges others
d. judges herself and others very accurately
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

90. Aiden has always been a bit shy and self-doubting. He tries to start a conversation with the attractive young woman
sitting next to him in the physics lecture hall, but she turns the other way and talks only with her friend. Which of the
following thoughts is most likely to be running through Aiden’s mind?
a. “She must be busy; I’ll try again another time.”
b. “Nobody likes me; nobody will ever like me.”
c. “I may not be good at small talk but I’m very good at physics.”
d. “It’s her loss.”
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Think Critically
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

91. Which toddler is likely to have the highest self-esteem when reaching first grade?
a. Amber, who is alternately clingy and rejecting toward her mother when she returns from work, though she
shows great distress when her mother leaves for the day
b. Rhonda, who does not show distress when her mother leaves her with a new babysitter and does not
immediately approach her mother when she returns
c. Joshua, who sometimes freezes in place, and at other times, seems confused when his mother returns from
errands
d. Mario, who plays while his mother and the new babysitter chat, cries when his mother leaves him with the
babysitter, and then runs over to his mother upon her return
ANSWER: d
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Think Critically
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

92. Nora is a highly ranked competitive swimmer who generally feels good about herself as a person and as a swimmer.
Her last two meets, however, have gone surprisingly poorly. How is she mostly likely to feel about her capabilities after
these performances?
a. that she will never be as fast as the top freestyler in the world
b. that she was better in the past, despite her increasing success now
c. that her losses were primarily the fault of her coach
d. that she is still far faster than her teammates in freestyle
ANSWER: d
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Think Critically
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

93. According to a large meta-analysis involving thousands of participants (Kling, Hyde, Showers & Buswell, 1999),
____.
a. females have significantly lower self-esteem than males
b. males have a very small advantage over females in self-esteem
c. females have increasingly lower self-esteem than males over the life span
d. males have a large advantage over females in self-esteem
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

94. Beginning in adolescence, in measures of self-esteem, Black Americans score ____.

a. lower than White Americans
b. higher than White Americans
O
c. much lower than White Americans
d. the same as White Americans
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

95. Jeremy is an Asian American. Kevin is a White American. They are high school classmates and members of the
basketball team. On one of the many standardized tests they have taken, Kevin received a higher score on explicit
measures of self-esteem, but on implicit measures of self-esteem, their scores were virtually identical. What is a likely
reason?
a. In collectivistic cultures, modesty may override outward expressions of self-esteem.
b. Persons of Asian heritage tend to have lower self-esteem.
c. In individualistic cultures, modesty may override outward expressions of self-esteem.
d. Persons of European ancestry tend to have higher self-esteem.
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

96. Gregory feels that he did well on the final exam in his social history class; however, he is actually in the bottom
quarter of the class. If Gregory were to estimate his class standing, he would most likely place himself in the ____.
a. bottom 10% of the class
b. bottom quarter of the class
c. top half of the class
d. top 10% of the class
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

97. Larry has put off studying for his Medieval Literature class all semester and worries that he will not do well on the
final exam. He starts to drink beer and watch sports with his roommates every night, instead of studying for this big test.
This is an example of ____.
a. the “bask in reflected glory” approach
O b. self-handicapping
c. sandbagging
d. self-consciousness
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

98. Francesca sees how popular budding actors are at her new high school, and although she has never been involved in
this area, she decides to join the drama club. This is an example of ____.
O a. the “bask in reflected glory” approach
b. self-handicapping
c. diminished self-esteem
d. sandbagging
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

99. People with high self-esteem tend to have both greater happiness and persistence because they ____.
a. have a reduced need for social relationships
b. are more likely to weather bad news than are those with low self-esteem
c. believe that they will never be socially rejected
d. have fewer “storms” in life
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

100. What purpose does the text suggest that self-esteem may have played related to survival in the evolutionary past?
a. Lower self-esteem led to more cooperation between rival groups.
b. High self-esteem increased popularity in social groups.
c. A drop in self-esteem predicted a pending rejection and led to favor-retaining behaviors.
d. An increase in self-esteem was associated with enhanced reproductive success.
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

101. According to terror management theory, self-esteem works together with a cultural worldview to ____.
a. buffer our fear of death
b. reduce global terrorism
c. advance global peace
d. encourage religious adherence
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

102. Which person is most likely to provide constructive criticism within a group?
a. a person with low self-esteem
b. a person with limited conscientiousness
c. a person with high neuroticism
d. a person with high self-esteem
ANSWER: d
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

103. What is the relationship between self-esteem and school performance?

 a. There is a modest positive correlation between self-esteem and school grades.
b. Raising children’s self-esteem improves school performance.
c. There is a small negative correlation between self-esteem and school grades.
d. High self-esteem produces good school performance.
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

104. Joseph received a C− on two algebra exams in a row. The principal’s office automatically sent him a standard,
encouraging email intended to boost the self-esteem of any student who does poorly on two assignments in a row in any
subject. According to a research study described in the text, what is the most likely consequence of the email?
a. Joseph will do somewhat better on his next algebra exam.
b. Joseph will do about the same on his next algebra exam.
c. Joseph will do worse on his next algebra exam.
d. Joseph will do significantly better on his next algebra exam.
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

105. Julia is an attractive young woman, but she often compares herself critically to magazine models and celebrities on
television. This type of social comparison is a sign of _____________.
a. low self-esteem
b. high self-worth
c. negative self-awareness
d. self-enhancement
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

106. Jim is on a diet. At his office, his co-workers often bring in donuts, cookies, and other snacks for the group. He has
done fairly well in resisting the temptations each day. How does he likely feel by late afternoon?
a. His mind is focused on the last challenges of the workday.
b. He is less tempted than earlier in the day.
c. He can tackle almost anything.
d. His mind is focused on his favorite snack.
ANSWER: d
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

107. Which part of the brain appears to play a special role in distinguishing our own faces from those of other people?
a. the hippocampus
O b. the right hemisphere
c. the left hemisphere
 d. the amygdala
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

108. Elena’s brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was in his twenties. Sometimes he reports that his
neighbors are trying to control his behavior through the television set. Which part of the brain shows excess activity
during such delusions of control?
a. the right hemisphere
b. the amygdala
c. the left hemisphere
d. the hippocampus
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

109. The processing of the self in the brain takes place primarily in ____.
a. the frontal areas of the brain
b. a widely distributed network of brain structures
c. the left hemisphere
d. the right hemisphere
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

110. What “self” do we play in the presence of other people?

a. collectivistic self
b. societal self
c. individualistic self
O d. interpersonal self
ANSWER: d
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

111. In current psychological discussions of the self, influences on the interpersonal self fall into two categories: ____.
a. a person’s family and friends
b. those toward whom a person has positive feelings and those toward whom he or she has negative feelings
c. a person’s significant others and the social groups to which the person belongs
d. a person’s family members of the preceding generation, and of the current/subsequent generation
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

112. Joanna, a high school junior, is traveling on her own for the first time. She is flying to Chicago to visit her cousins
and reflects on the visit during her plane trip. Joanna is experiencing her ____.
O a. collective self
b. societal self
c. relational self
d. personal self
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

113. Ian is a very serious and capable medical student. At home with his mother, though, he becomes a joyous boy again,
telling her stories about his classes and professors and making her laugh. This implies that the interpersonal self is ____.
a. identical to the personal self
b. flexible and complex
c. most valid in childhood
d. not reliable
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Apply
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

114. Where in the brain does self-referential processing—the processing of information relevant to ourselves but not
others—occur?
a. in both the right and left hemispheres
b. in the prefrontal cortex and temporal lobe as well as in both Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas
c. in the visual, aural, olfactory, and tactile domains
d. in the emotional, facial, memory, motor, social, spatial, and verbal domains
ANSWER: d
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

115. Which qualities best describe collectivism?

& a. interdependence, cooperation, and lack of conflict

b. independence and self-reliance
c. personal achievement
d. uniqueness
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

116. Geert Hofstede compared cultures on five different dimensions related to a continuum of individualism and
collectivism. Compared to the Japanese, Americans were ____.
more assertive and competitive
a. less assertive and competitive
b. more tolerant of ambiguity and lack of structure
c. less likely to overspend
d. more assertive and competitive
ANSWER: a
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

117. Lia grew up in a collectivistic culture and is in the yearly high school theatre production. She is most likely to ____.
a. be proud of her starring role in the school play
O b. be proud of her role behind the scenes that helped the play go smoothly
c. aspire to be the director of next year’s play
d. complain about the quality of the directing of the play
ANSWER: b
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Think Critically
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

118. Michael grew up in an individualistic culture. He is most likely to ____.

a. work within a large company as part of a team
b. move to be closer to his parents as they grow older
c. expect his children to respect and follow all his decisions for the family
d. move to the other side of the country from his parents to start his own architectural firm
ANSWER: d
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Think Critically
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

119. Based on research (Gardner, Gabriel & Lee, 1999), which of the following is true?
a. Individualistic values are socially transmitted to people growing up in that culture and form a stable and
unchanging view of the self.
b. Independent and interdependent views of the self are genetic in nature and only shift over the course of
generations.
c. Independent and interdependent views of the self are human universals and the relative dominance of one over
the other is modifiable by a person’s experience and situation.
d. Collectivistic values are socially transmitted to people growing up in that culture and form a stable and
unchanging view of the self.
ANSWER: c
POINTS: 1
DIFFICULTY: Think Critically
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?

120. East Asians have a much higher probability of having the S allele of the serotonin transporter gene than people living
in many other parts of the world. There is a positive correlation between the percentage of S allele carriers and a culture’s
rating on a scale from individualistic to collectivistic. What does this correlation mean at the population level? How do
individuals with the S allele vary from those with the L allele, individually and within societal context?
ANSWER: Like all correlations, multiple relationships are possible. A population with a certain genetic mix might
be more likely to form a particular type of culture, a culture might shape the reproductive success of its
members, some outside variable could influence both the genetic mix and form of the culture, or some
combination of these factors could influence each other simultaneously.

Zooming in to the level of the individual, we find that people carrying the S allele are especially attentive
to negative information, like words and pictures that produce negative emotions. This focus on
negativity might assist a person to cope well within a collectivistic environment, as it could lead to a
heightened sensitivity to another person’s anger or fear. Early recognition of impending negative
interactions might give people a chance to smooth things over before they escalate. In contrast, the L
allele is associated with more attention to positive stimuli, greater risk-taking, and creativity, which are
probably better suited to the individualistic cultural environment. The person carrying the S allele might
be too cautious for the individualistic cultural environment, whereas the person carrying the L allele
might act like a bull in a china shop in the collectivistic cultural environment. Although the S allele is a
risk factor for depression, China has a much lower rate of depression than the United States in spite of
the much higher frequency of the S allele in the Chinese population. The collectivistic cultural
environment might buffer an individual with the S allele from the stress that can lead to depression.
Individual differences are an important aspect of behavior and mental processing, but must be viewed
within the larger contexts of the social and cultural environment.

POINTS: 10
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: Prologue

121. What do many psychologists believe is the process for developing self-esteem? Does it change over time? What
might be the evolutionary purpose of self-esteem in humans? Provide an example of different responses to a situation
based on whether the individual has high self-esteem or low self-esteem.
ANSWER: Many psychologists believe that the process of developing self-esteem begins very early in childhood.
Long before the child has a working model of the self, he or she is experiencing the emotional
consequences of acceptance and rejection. Children form a variety of attachments with their primary
caregivers. A child’s pattern of attachment in infancy predicts his or her self-esteem at the age of 6. Self-
esteem does not appear to change much over the life span. Early differences in self-esteem seem to be
magnified and reinforced over time, as having high or low self-esteem influences both the selection of
activities and the reactions of others to the self.

Self-esteem contributes to belongingness, or the maintenance of good social relationships. Because

social rejection could have such devastating effects on survival in our evolutionary past, self-esteem may
have emerged as a way of estimating the likelihood of rejection. Following the experience of social
exclusion, self-esteem drops. A drop in self-esteem serves as an early warning signal that rejection by
the group is imminent and that behavior designed to regain the favor of the group should be initiated.

Student examples may exhibit very different responses to a situation relative to whether the individual
has high self-esteem or low self-esteem. One example is that people with high and low self-esteem
respond quite differently to failure. The person with low self-esteem tends to overgeneralize from
failure. In other words, people with low self-esteem who fail one exam might assume that they are going
to fail all their classes. This tendency to overgeneralize may explain why people with low self-esteem are
more prone to depression. In contrast, people with high self-esteem respond to failure in one domain by
exaggerating their abilities in other domains. If a person with high self-esteem fails an exam, she is more
likely to remind others about how great she is in sports, appearance, or dating.

POINTS: 10
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: What Does It Mean to Have a Self?
122. Researchers have identified structural correlates in adult brains for four of the Big Five personality traits:
extroversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, and conscientiousness. Describe the trait of openness. Why might this trait be
the one that is not yet correlated with structures of the brain?
ANSWER: Openness to experience involves fantasy, feelings, actions, ideas, values, and aesthetics (an appreciation
for the arts). People who score high on openness are curious, unconventional, and imaginative. They are
more likely to be interested in exploring aspects of life that are different from their own, whether this
means trying new foods, traveling to exotic locations, or studying other religions. People who score low
on openness are more likely to be practical, traditional, and conforming. They prefer the familiar over
the new, choosing a chain restaurant in a new city rather than experimenting with the local cuisine.

Answers will vary as to possible reasons why structural correlates in the brain related to openness have
not yet been identified. One response might point out the difficulties in testing the somewhat
unquantifiable factors of openness.
POINTS: 10
DIFFICULTY: Understand
REFERENCES: How Do Trait Theories Explain Personality?

123. Psychologists have identified five main personality traits, often called the “Big Five” or the five-trait model. Think
about the “Big Five” personality traits we studied in class. Then select a real or fictional character from literature, film,
television, or public life. How could the “Big Five” model be used to understand the character’s personality?

In a multi-paragraph essay, explain what is meant by a “personality trait” according to the “Big Five” model, define each
of the “Big Five” traits, and describe the character’s personality using the “Big Five” traits. For each trait, be sure to
provide evidence from the character’s thoughts, emotions, and behavior. Include details from class materials, readings,
and research on personality to support your discussion.
ANSWER: Answers will vary.
POINTS: 10
DIFFICULTY: Evaluate
REFERENCES: How Do Trait Theories Explain Personality?
NOTES: Vantage