Chapter 01: The Study of the Person

MULTIPLE CHOICE

	1.	Which of the following is NOT part of the psychological triad?
a.	behavior	c.	psychological health	
b.	thoughts	d.	feelings	

ANS:	C	DIF:	Easy	REF:	The Study of the Person
OBJ:	1.1	MSC:	Remembering		

	2.	Personality psychology and clinical psychology overlap most often when approaching which topic?
a.	personality processes	c.	personality development	
b.	personality disorders	d.	none of the above	

ANS:	B	DIF:	Easy	REF:	The Study of the Person
OBJ:	1.1	MSC:	Remembering		

	3.	Personality psychology shares with clinical psychology________.
a.	an emphasis on mental disorders and the treatment of psychological problems	
b.	a common obligation to try to understand the whole person	
c.	a requirement that psychologists be licensed	
d.	the fact that both personality psychologists and clinical psychologists are usually in private practice rather than employed by universities	

ANS:	B	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Study of the Person
OBJ:	1.1	MSC:	Remembering		

	4.	Which subfield of psychology has the greatest overlap with personality psychology?
a.	social	c.	developmental	
b.	cultural	d.	clinical	

ANS:	D	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Study of the Person
OBJ:	1.1	MSC:	Remembering		

	5.	Which part of the psychological triad corresponds to cognitions about the self?
a.	thoughts	c.	behaviors	
b.	traits	d.	disorders	

ANS:	A	DIF:	Easy	REF:	The Study of the Person
OBJ:	1.1	MSC:	Understanding		

	6.	Personality is an individual’s characteristic patterns of ________.
a.	behavior	c.	thought	
b.	emotion	d.	all of the above	

ANS:	D	DIF:	Easy	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.1	MSC:	Remembering		

	7.	The unique mandate of personality psychologists is to attempt to ________.
a.	identify and measure individual differences in ability and behavior	
b.	determine the effect of the social environment on behavior	
c.	explain whole, functioning persons and real life concerns	
d.	prevent or treat psychological personality disorders	

ANS:	C	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.1	MSC:	Remembering		

	8.	Advocates of any particular basic approach to personality historically ________.
a.	claimed that their approach explains everything worth explaining	
b.	admitted that other approaches have their good points	
c.	proudly asserted that they have deliberately limited what they have chosen to look at	
d.	claimed that approaches cannot be compared with each other	

ANS:	A	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.2	MSC:	Remembering		

	9.	In observing human behavior, it is impossible to ________.
a.	understand everything about a person all at once	
b.	choose to limit what you look at in a person	
c.	find patterns across different kinds of observation	
d.	make any real progress toward solving the personality puzzle	

ANS:	A	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.2	MSC:	Understanding		

	10.	The purpose of a basic approach (or paradigm) is to ________.
a.	expand the range of data you consider	
b.	integrate diverse perspectives	
c.	limit inquiry to certain kinds of observations and patterns	
d.	resolve contradictions in data	

ANS:	C	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.2	MSC:	Understanding		

	11.	What two topics are covered under the phenomenological approach?
a.	humanistic and cross-cultural perspectives on personality	
b.	humanistic and social-learning perspectives on personality	
c.	cross-cultural and cognitive perspectives on personality	
d.	trait and cross-cultural perspectives on personality	

ANS:	A	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.3	MSC:	Remembering		

	12.	Personality psychologists who adhere to the ________ approach focus on identifying, conceptualizing, and measuring the ways in which people differ psychologically from one another.
a.	psychoanalytic	c.	cognitive	
b.	trait	d.	phenomenological	

ANS:	B	DIF:	Easy	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.3	MSC:	Understanding		

	13.	Personality psychologists adhering to the ________ approach focus on psychic energy, the workings of the unconscious mind, and the nature and resolution of internal mental conflict.
a.	psychoanalytic	c.	cognitive	
b.	trait	d.	phenomenological	

ANS:	A	DIF:	Easy	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.3	MSC:	Understanding		

	14.	The personality paradigm that focuses on rewards and punishments is known as the ________ paradigm.
a.	trait	c.	phenomenological	
b.	behaviorist	d.	psychoanalytic	

ANS:	B	DIF:	Easy	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.3	MSC:	Understanding		

	15.	________ theories of personality apply the insights and methods derived from the study of perception, memory, and thought to the study of personality.
a.	Psychoanalytic	c.	Cognitive	
b.	Trait	d.	Phenomenological	

ANS:	C	DIF:	Easy	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.3	MSC:	Understanding		

	16.	Psychologists following the phenomenological approach ________.
a.	focus on the workings of the unconscious mind and the resolution of internal mental conflict	
b.	study how overt behavior is affected by rewards and punishments	
c.	build theoretical models of how people process information	
d.	are concerned with our conscious experience of the world and the consequences of having free will	

ANS:	D	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.3	MSC:	Understanding		

	17.	What is a primary goal of the trait approach to personality?
a.	understanding mental conflicts	
b.	measuring and conceptualizing individual differences	
c.	understanding the mind in terms of biological mechanisms	
d.	applying principles of associationism to help reduce negative behaviors	

ANS:	B	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.3	MSC:	Understanding		

	18.	What is a primary goal of the biological approach to personality?
a.	understanding mental conflicts	
b.	measuring and conceptualizing individual differences	
c.	understanding the heritability of behavior and personality	
d.	applying principles of associationism to help reduce negative behaviors	

ANS:	C	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.3	MSC:	Understanding		

	19.	What is a primary goal of the psychoanalytic approach to personality?
a.	understanding mental conflicts	
b.	measuring and conceptualizing individual differences	
c.	discovering how conscious awareness produces uniquely human characteristics	
d.	applying principles of associationism to help reduce negative behaviors	

ANS:	A	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.3	MSC:	Understanding		

	20.	What is a primary goal of the phenomenological approach to personality?
a.	understanding mental conflicts	
b.	measuring and conceptualizing individual differences	
c.	discovering how conscious awareness produces uniquely human characteristics	
d.	applying principles of associationism to help reduce negative behaviors	

ANS:	C	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.3	MSC:	Understanding		

	21.	What is a primary goal of the learning and cognitive approaches to personality?
a.	understanding mental conflicts	
b.	measuring and conceptualizing individual differences	
c.	discovering how conscious awareness produces uniquely human characteristics	
d.	applying principles of associationism to help reduce negative behaviors	

ANS:	D	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.3	MSC:	Understanding		

	22.	The task of an employer who attempts to identify dependable, conscientious, and hard-working job applicants is similar to the task of the ________ psychologist, who attempts to identify and assess individual differences.
a.	psychoanalytic	c.	cognitive	
b.	trait	d.	behavioral	

ANS:	B	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.3	MSC:	Applying

	23.	Jeff suspects that his roommate’s sexist jokes may indicate that his roommate has some hidden, unconscious hostility toward women or that he feels very insecure around women. Jeff’s analysis suggests a ________ approach to personality.
a.	psychoanalytic	c.	phenomenological	
b.	trait	d.	behaviorist	

ANS:	A	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.3	MSC:	Applying

	24.	Which of the following is NOT one of the basic approaches to personality?
a.	psychoanalytic	c.	assessment	
b.	learning	d.	phenomenological	

ANS:	C	DIF:	Easy	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.3	MSC:	Analyzing

	25.	Personality psychology has a variety of theoretical perspectives that are sometimes seen as competing with each other. Regarding this diversity, what is a major theme of this textbook?
a.	The personality puzzle will never be solved.	
b.	The One Big Theory (OBT) can account for everything in personality.	
c.	Great strengths are usually great weaknesses.	
d.	A single basic approach must be chosen on the basis of rigorous data analysis.	

ANS:	C	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.4	MSC:	Remembering		

	26.	According to Funder, in what way do personality psychologists appreciate individual differences?
a.	They categorize and label people; that is, they pigeonhole them.	
b.	Because they assess people, they appreciate rich individual differences.	
c.	They psychoanalyze people, because there are important differences in the unconscious.	
d.	They try to break down individuals and study their components, rather than studying whole persons.	

ANS:	B	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.4	MSC:	Remembering		

	27.	Which of the following is one of the basic approaches to personality?
a.	applied	c.	ethnographical assessment	
b.	psychological triad	d.	psychoanalytic	

ANS:	D	DIF:	Easy	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.4	MSC:	Remembering		

	28.	According to the text, personality’s greatest strength, understanding whole persons, is also its greatest weakness. Which term describes this fundamental observation?
a.	pigeonholing	c.	One Big Theory	
b.	psychological triad	d.	Funder’s First Law	

ANS:	D	DIF:	Easy	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.4	MSC:	Understanding		

	29.	Which of the following is an expression of Funder’s First Law?
a.	People vary in terms of their trait levels.	
b.	There are no perfect indicators of personality.	
c.	Characteristics that are strengths in one sense are weaknesses in other ways.	
d.	Individual differences should not be put into the “error” term in statistical analysis.	

ANS:	C	DIF:	Difficult	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.4	MSC:	Applying

	30.	Is narcissism always a bad trait to have?
a.	No, narcissists make competent leaders.	
b.	No, narcissists sometimes act kindly toward others.	
c.	No, narcissists are persuasive, but they also act unethically.	
d.	Yes, it is associated with negative outcomes like exploitativeness.	

ANS:	C	DIF:	Difficult	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.4	MSC:	Analyzing

	31.	What is one of personality psychology’s biggest advantages over other areas of psychology?
a.	It uses more rigorous methods.	
b.	It has a mission to account for the psychology of whole persons.	
c.	It created the One Big Theory to explain whole persons.	
d.	It focuses on the two most important aspects of the psychological triad.	

ANS:	B	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.4	MSC:	Evaluating

	32.	Why haven’t personality psychologists combined all paradigms into “One Big Theory”?
a.	A theory that tries to explain everything would probably not provide the best explanation for any one thing.	
b.	The manageability of research programs would be lost.	
c.	The different basic approaches to psychology address the same sets of questions.	
d.	Applying principles of associationism helps reduce negative behaviors, making the cognitive approach the best one.	

ANS:	A	DIF:	Difficult	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.5	MSC:	Remembering		

	33.	The trait approach, the behaviorist approach, and the psychoanalytic approach ________.
a.	are irreconcilable and contradictory views of human psychology	
b.	are all part of the One Big Theory (OBT)	
c.	all address the biological basis of human psychology	
d.	address different sets of questions about human psychology	

ANS:	D	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.5	MSC:	Understanding		

	34.	Funder writes that there are good reasons why personality psychologists have distinct theories versus One Big Theory. Which is NOT one of those reasons?
a.	One Big Theory would undermine the smaller theories.	
b.	There is a trade-off between breadth and depth in theories.	
c.	There is, for now, no accepted One Big Theory.	
d.	Each theory offers a different perspective on personality.	

ANS:	A	DIF:	Difficult	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.5	MSC:	Analyzing

	35.	Personality psychology emphasizes how people are ________, whereas subfields such as cognitive and social psychology emphasize how people are ________.
a.	similar to each other; different from each other	
b.	different from each other; similar to each other	
c.	essentially good; essentially bad	
d.	motivated by unconscious forces; motivated by conscious forces	

ANS:	B	DIF:	Moderate	
REF:	Pigeonholing Versus Appreciation of Individual Differences	
OBJ:	1.1	MSC:	Remembering		

	36.	One critique of personality psychology is that it “pigeonholes” people. What does “pigeonholing” someone mean?
a.	psychoanalyzing people	c.	statistically analyzing results	
b.	prescribing medication	d.	categorizing and labeling people	

ANS:	D	DIF:	Easy	
REF:	Pigeonholing Versus Appreciation of Individual Differences	
OBJ:	1.5	MSC:	Analyzing

MATCHING

Match the personality approach with the most applicable research question.
a.	Applied	d.	Phenomenological	
b.	Biological	e.	Psychoanalytic	
c.	Learning	f.	Trait	

	1.	How do rewards affect social behavior?

	2.	How does unconscious conflict affect well-being?

	3.	What characteristics of individuals predict health?

	4.	Are there differences in neurotransmitter expression between people?

	5.	How do people from individualist cultures differ from others?

	1.	ANS:	C	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.3	MSC:	Applying

	2.	ANS:	E	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.3	MSC:	Applying

	3.	ANS:	F	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.3	MSC:	Applying

	4.	ANS:	B	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.3	MSC:	Applying

	5.	ANS:	D	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology
OBJ:	1.3	MSC:	Applying

Match the most relevant term with each definition.
a.	Psychological triad	d.	One Big Theory	
b.	Funder’s First Law	e.	Paradigm	
c.	Pigeonholing	f.	Funder’s Second Law	

	6.	Thoughts, feelings, and behavior

	7.	A basic approach to personality

	8.	Labeling and categorizing people

	9.	Great strengths are often great weaknesses.

	10.	A framework that can predict everything about human behavior

	6.	ANS:	A	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Study of the Person
OBJ:	1.1	MSC:	Understanding		

	7.	ANS:	E	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Study of the Person
OBJ:	1.2	MSC:	Understanding		

	8.	ANS:	C	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Study of the Person
OBJ:	1.3	MSC:	Understanding		

	9.	ANS:	B	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Study of the Person
OBJ:	1.4	MSC:	Understanding		

	10.	ANS:	D	DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Study of the Person
OBJ:	1.5	MSC:	Understanding		

SHORT ANSWER

	1.	Explain why Funder believes that the basic approaches to personality are complementary and not competing explanations for understanding the psychological triad.

ANS:	
Answers will vary.

DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology	
OBJ:	1.2	MSC:	Evaluating

	2.	Funder argues that a basic approach that is good for explaining some elements of personality is usually that poor at explaining other elements of personality. Provide an example of an aspect of personality that is well explained by one basic approach but not the others. Then identify limitations in that basic approach by pointing to other aspects of personality that are better explained by a different approach.

ANS:	
Answers will vary.

DIF:	Difficult	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology	
OBJ:	1.2	MSC:	Evaluating

	3.	Identify and describe the basic approaches to personality outlined in Chapter 1. Why is it useful to have a basic approach?

ANS:	
Answers will vary.

DIF:	Moderate	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology	
OBJ:	1.2 | 1.3	MSC:	Evaluating

	4.	Explain the idea of the One Big Theory. Identify three reasons why separate paradigms are useful in personality psychology.

ANS:	
Answers will vary.

DIF:	Difficult	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology	
OBJ:	1.2 | 1.5	MSC:	Applying

	5.	Define Funder’s First Law and come up with your own example to illustrate it.

ANS:	
Answers will vary.

DIF:	Difficult	REF:	The Goals of Personality Psychology	
OBJ:	1.4	MSC:	Applying