PSYC 10004 Sample Practice-Exam-2015 MCQS Personality-Psychology

• 1. How many trait dimensions did Cattell propose?

  a. 2

  b. 3

  c. 5

  d. 16

  2. Which statement best describes how Allport and Odbert attempted to define the trait universe?

  a. correlational analysis of trait adjectives

  b. factor analysis of trait adjectives

  c. selection of trait adjectives that describe psychological differences between people

  d. selection of trait adjectives that people use to evaluate each other

  3. Which is of the following statements about factor analysis is correct?

  a. finds groups of variables that have similar meanings

  b. finds groups of variables that correlate with one another

  c. finds groups of variables that can be factored

  d. finds groups of variables that have similar means

  4. Which of the following is not an established alternative label for the relevant Big Five factor?

  a. Extraversion & “Surgency”

  b. Conscientiousness & “Morality”

  c. Neuroticism & “Emotional instability”

  d. Openness to Experience & “Culture”

  5. Which of the following statements correctly describes the relationships between Big Five traits and emotion dimensions?

  a. Extraversion is related to more positive affect and Neuroticism to more negative affect

  b. Extraversion is related to more positive affect and Neuroticism to less positive affect

  c. Extraversion is related to less negative affect and Neuroticism to less positive affect

  d. Extraversion is related to less negative affect and Neuroticism to more negative affect

  6. Which of the following statements about Eysenck’s and Gray’s theories is incorrect?

  a. For Eysenck, Neuroticism is related to limbic system reactivity.

  b. For Gray, the “behavioural activation system” is linked to sensitivity to reward and pleasure.

  c. For Gray, Impulsivity involves having a weak “behavioural inhibition system”.

  d. Gray’s Anxiety dimension corresponds to a mixture of Neuroticism and Introversion in Eysenck’s system.

  7. Which of the following statements about traits and values is incorrect?

  a. the structure of values appears to differ across cultures more than the structure of traits

  b. values are cognitions, traits are not

  c. traits appear to have more dimensions than values

  d. unlike traits, values are inherently desirable to the person who has them

  8. Which of the following is NOT one of the six virtue classes in the VIA classification of strengths?

  a. Justice

  b. Transcendence

  c. Humanity

  d. Creativity

  9. Which two vocational interest types are next to one another in Holland’s model?

  a. Realistic & Enterprising

  b. Conventional & Social

  c. Artistic & Investigative

  d. Realistic & Artistic

  10. Which of the following statements is TRUE regarding biological research and theory

  on personality?

  a. extraverts’ brains are typically over-stimulated

  b. shared environmental factors are more important than nonshared factors

  c. the heritability of personality traits is sometimes calculated from twin studies

  d. 2D:4D digit ratio research shows the importance of circulating levels of neurotransmitters in the brain

  11. Which of the following statements about Eysenck’s work on personality is correct?

  a. Introverts have highly arousable autonomic nervous systems

  b. Neuroticism is associated with stimulus hunger

  c. Extraverts tend to like stimulant drugs more than Introverts

  d. High levels of Psychoticism put people at risk of depression

  12. Roughly what proportion of the variability in most personality traits tends to be heritable?

  a. 20%

  b. 40%

  c. 60%

  d. 80%

  13. Which Freudian defence mechanism does this statement illustrate: “I’m not jealous, you are”?

  a. projection

  b. repression

  c. sublimation

  d. denial

  14. Which of the following is CORRECT about Freud’s genetic model of personality?

  a. the anal stage takes place in the first two years of life.

  b. it recognises that personality has a large heritable component.

  c. fixations in the oral stage can lead to passivity and dependency.

  d. it has received extensive empirical support from developmental psychologists.

  15. One of these four lists contains concepts from Freud’s topographic, structural and genetic models, in that order. Which is it?

  a. Unconscious, ego, repression

  b. Unconscious, id, reaction formation

  c. Preconscious, superego, regression

  d. Preconscious, superfly, fixation

  16. Psychoanalytic theory is NOT often criticized for which of the following?

  a. being unfalsifiable

  b. being unscientific

  c. being deterministic

  d. being simplistic

  17. Which of the following statements about cognitive approaches to personality is correct?

  a. the repertory grid assesses people on a standard set of personal constructs

  b. pessimistic explanatory style involves explaining negative events using internal, stable and global causes

  c. self-complexity has repeatedly been shown to protect against depression

  d. emotional intelligence is a component of verbal intelligence

  18. Which of the following is an external, unstable attribution for why something happened to a person?

  a. fate

  b. the weather

  c. hard work

  d. bad mood

  19. Which of the following statements about research on the self is incorrect?

  a. High self-complexity buffers people against stressful life events

  b. High self-complexity is associated with having more self-aspects with less overlap

  c. Self-esteem is more a side-effect of achievement than a cause of it

  d. Average self-esteem levels may be rising in Western societies

  20. Which of the following does NOT accurately reflect research on self-esteem?

  a. it is more likely to be a byproduct of academic achievement than a cause of it

  b. it makes people secure so that they are less likely to act aggressively when they are insulted.

  c. having stable self-esteem may be more important than having high self esteem.

  d. defensive self-esteem involves having high explicit self-esteem but low implicit self-esteem.

  21. Which of the following forms of coping illustrates the indicated kind of coping

  strategy?

  a. Emotion-focused: attacking a person who is making you unhappy

  b. Problem-focused: recognizing that an issue is causing you difficulties

  c. Emotion-focused: imagining that a problem will just go away

  d. Problem-focused: actively trying to change how you feel about a stressor

  22. Which of the following statements about personality change is NOT correct?