Chapter 13: Practice Test

1. The tendency to accept more personal responsibility for one's successes than for one's failures best illustrates A) reaction formation. B) an external locus of control. C) self-serving bias. D) the self-reference phenomenon. E) the spotlight effect.

2. Athletes often attribute their losses to bad officiating. This best illustrates A) an Electra complex. B) learned helplessness. C) the spotlight effect. D) self-serving bias. E) the Barnum effect.

3. People with high self-esteem are less likely than those with low self-esteem to A) experience an internal locus of control. B) overestimate the accuracy of their beliefs. C) manifest self-serving bias. D) succumb to conformity pressures. E) have a strong ego.

4. Self-esteem refers to A) the sum total of all our thoughts about ourselves. B) our concept of what we would like to be. C) our feelings of high or low self-worth. D) our sense of control over our surroundings. E) the internal and idealized sense of self.

5. Although Rolf frequently cheats on classroom tests, he justifies his behavior by erroneously thinking that most other students cheat even more than he does. His mistaken belief best illustrates A) reciprocal determinism. B) the spotlight effect. C) reaction formation. D) an external locus of control. E) self-serving bias.

6. Individuals with high self-esteem are more likely than those with low self-esteem to A) work persistently at difficult tasks. B) experience an external locus of control. C) dismiss flattering descriptions of themselves as untrue. D) underestimate the accuracy of their own beliefs. E) associate with people whose attitudes and personality are very similar to their own.

7. The social-cognitive perspective suggests that the best way to predict a political candidate's performance effectiveness after election is to assess that individual's A) current feelings of personal control. B) specific political goals for the future. C) general feelings of optimism about the future. D) past performance in situations involving similar responsibilities. E) personality traits as revealed by the MMPI.

8. Researchers have observed that the experience of repeated uncontrollable traumatic events contributes to A) the false consensus effect. B) learned helplessness. C) the self-reference phenomenon. D) an internal locus of control. E) reaction formation.

9. Because Mr. Maloney trusts his employees, he treats them very kindly. His kindness leads them to work diligently on his behalf, which in turn increases his trust in them. This pattern of trust, kindness, diligence, and increasing trust illustrates what is meant by A) reaction formation. B) the spotlight effect. C) displacement. D) external locus of control. E) reciprocal determinism.

10. Martin Seligman advocates a positive psychology, which focuses on topics such as: A) optimism. B) projection. C) the Barnum effect. D) external locus of control. E) free association.

11. Laura fails to recognize any connection between her unsafe sexual practices and the likelihood of contracting a sexually transmitted infection. Laura's lack of perceptiveness best illustrates the dangers of A) free association. B) the self-reference phenomenon. C) the spotlight effect. D) an external locus of control. E) unconditional positive regard.

12. Carl Rogers emphasized that a positive self-concept is promoted by A) an external locus of control. B) unconditional positive regard. C) collective unconscious. D) reciprocal determinism. E) free association.

13. Carl Rogers suggested that the ________ is a central feature of personality. A) collective unconscious B) Oedipus complex C) inferiority complex D) Barnum effect E) self-concept

14. Morris is hostile, aggressive, and socially destructive. According to Carl Rogers, this behavior pattern results from A) reciprocal determinism. B) cultural influences. C) the collective unconscious. D) inborn personality traits. E) an internal locus of control.

15. Maslow most clearly interjected his own personal values into his study of self-actualized individuals by A) selectively studying people with qualities he admired. B) interpreting their flattering self-descriptions as a self-serving bias. C) overemphasizing the value of their loyalty to cultural norms. D) using projective tests to assess their motives. E) using free association and dream analysis.

16. Sheen is usually animated and talkative when he is with his girlfriend, but he is often quiet and reserved at home. He actively participates in many classroom discussions but frequently seems reluctant to talk with friends at the campus coffee shop. According to Walter Mischel, Sheen's behavior should lead us to question the consistency of A) personality traits. B) self-actualization. C) reciprocal determinism. D) defense mechanisms. E) self-efficacy.

17. Which theorist emphasized that an individual's personal growth is promoted by interactions with others who are genuine, accepting, and empathic? A) Allport B) Jung C) Rogers D) Freud E) Bandura

18. Characteristic patterns of behavior and conscious motives are called A) manifest content. B) fixations. C) projections. D) traits. E) self-actualizations.

19. Abraham Maslow studied the lives of Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Eleanor Roosevelt in order to understand the nature of A) reciprocal determinism. B) an internal locus of control. C) self-actualization. D) the false consensus effect. E) defense mechanisms.

20. Carl Rogers referred to an attitude of total acceptance toward another person as A) the spotlight effect. B) unconditional positive regard. C) self-actualization. D) free association. E) self-esteem needs.

21. Carl Jung referred to a shared reservoir of memory traces from our species history as the A) self-reference phenomenon. B) defense mechanism. C) collective unconscious. D) psychosexual stages. E) superego.

22. Which neo-Freudian theorist emphasized the influence of the collective unconscious in personality development? A) Jung B) Adler C) Horney D) Maslow E) Bandura

23. According to terror-management theory, anxiety about our own mortality motivates our pursuit of A) self-esteem. B) parallel processing. C) reciprocal determinism. D) the collective unconscious. E) an external locus of control.

24. Twelve-year-old Cawley demonstrates a strongly masculine sense of self-identity even though he was raised without a father or father substitute. This fact represents the most serious threat to ________ theory of personality. A) Maslow's B) Freud's C) Bandura's D) Rogers' E) Allport's

25. Although Eduardo has repressed his own homosexual desires, he is distressed by a false suspicion that many men frequently stare lustfully at his body. According to psychoanalytic theory, Eduardo's thinking best illustrates A) displacement. B) regression. C) projection. D) reaction formation. E) rationalization.

26. Contemporary psychodynamic theorists are most likely to disagree with Freud's assumption that A) much of our mental functioning is unconscious. B) people often struggle with conflicting wishes. C) childhood experiences influence our adulthood relationships. D) sexual drives are central to personality development. E) repression occurs due to unbearable anxiety and stress.

27. Freud referred to a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage as A) reaction formation. B) projection. C) fixation. D) displacement. E) repression.

28. During the early psychosexual stages, the id's psychic energy is focused on A) free associations. B) defense mechanisms. C) erogenous zones. D) attributional styles. E) complexes.

29. Survivors' memories of Nazi death camp experiences most clearly challenge Freud's concept of A) fixation. B) repression. C) the Oedipus complex. D) motivational conflict. E) learned helplessness.

30. The defense mechanism in which self-justifying explanations replace the real, unconscious reasons for actions is A) projection. B) denial. C) rationalization. D) displacement. E) reaction formation.

31. Which of the following techniques did Freud use to discover the latent content of his patients' dreams? A) fixation B) factor analysis C) projective testing D) free association E) the Barnum effect

32. Psychoanalytic theory suggests that the ego disguises threatening impulses and reduces anxiety by means of A) free association. B) self-actualization. C) unconditional positive regard. D) defense mechanisms. E) learned helplessness.

33. According to Freud's theory, the behavior of a newborn is controlled by A) the reality principle. B) the ego. C) the superego. D) the id. E) anal instincts.

34. According to Freud, the defense mechanism that underlies all others is A) regression. B) reaction formation. C) projection. D) displacement. E) repression.

35. Freud suggested that the process of identification is most directly responsible for the development of A) the Oedipus complex. B) free association. C) the superego. D) erogenous zones. E) an inferiority complex.

36. Rona was asked by her psychotherapist to describe what she saw in 10 ambiguous inkblots. Rona was most likely responding to a(n) ________ test. A) projective B) Thematic Apperception C) multiphasic personality D) aptitude E) empirically derived

37. Who emphasized that slips of the tongue often reveal the personality dynamics that contribute to psychological disorders? A) Allport B) Freud C) Bandura D) Maslow E) Rogers

38. No matter how long and hard Lerae studies, she always feels she hasn't studied as much as she should have. A Freudian psychologist would suggest that Lerae shows signs of a A) weak id. B) weak ego. C) weak superego. D) strong id. E) strong superego.

39. The Thematic Apperception Test requires people to respond to A) incomplete sentences. B) ambiguous pictures. C) unfamiliar melodies. D) meaningless inkblots. E) focus questions.

40. Unconsciously motivated by miserliness, Mr. Rioja refused to send his son money to buy the books he needs for his college courses. In defending his actions, Mr. Rioja explained that "parental financial aid prevents teenagers from developing into mature, independent adults." Mr. Rioja's explanation is an example of A) fixation. B) rationalization. C) projection. D) displacement. E) reaction formation.

41. The polygraph measures the changes in ________ that accompany emotion. A) blood sugar level B) hormone secretions C) pupil dilation D) heart rate E) facial expression

42. Which of the following suggests that the experience of emotion results from an awareness of our own physiological responses to an emotion-arousing event? A) the Cannon-Bard theory B) the catharsis hypothesis C) the James-Lange theory D) the adaptation-level phenomenon E) the relative deprivation principle

43. The families of bulimia patients have a higher-than-usual incidence of A) sexual disorders. B) childhood obesity. C) excess PYY. D) unit bias. E) neophobia.

44. A drive refers to A) a rigidly patterned and unlearned behavior characteristic of a species. B) anything that is perceived as having positive or negative value in motivating behavior. C) an aroused, motivated state that is often triggered by a physiological need. D) the body's resting rate of energy expenditure. E) an unconscious, repressed desire for pleasure.

45. Spearman referred to the general capacity that may underlie all of a person's specific mental abilities as A) IQ. B) heritability. C) the g factor. D) factor analysis. E) emotional intelligence.

46. Her behavior best illustrates a low level of A) convergent thinking. B) validity. C) the g factor. D) mental age. E) emotional intelligence.

47. Jacquelyn suffered symptoms so similar to those associated with pregnancy-induced morning sickness that she erroneously concluded that she was pregnant. Jacquelyn's conclusion best illustrates the influence of A) confirmation bias. B) the availability heuristic. C) the representativeness heuristic. D) functional fixedness. E) the framing effect.

48. When someone mentions Ivy League colleges, Trisha immediately thinks of Harvard University. In this instance, Harvard University is a A) fixation. B) belief bias. C) heuristic. D) prototype. E) mental set.

49. As a child, Andre dreamed that he was chased and attacked by a ferocious dog. Many years later, he mistakenly recalled that this had actually happened to him. Andre's false recollection best illustrates A) the self-reference effect. B) mood-congruent memory. C) proactive interference. D) implicit memory. E) source amnesia.

50. A flashbulb memory would typically be stored in ________ memory. A) iconic B) implicit C) echoic D) long-term E) short-term

51. Myron quit gambling after he lost over a thousand dollars betting on horse races. This best illustrates the effects of A) negative reinforcers. B) generalization. C) spontaneous recovery. D) punishment. E) secondary reinforcers.

52. A geometric figure is most likely to become sexually arousing if presented shortly A) after an appropriate UR. B) after an appropriate US. C) before an appropriate UR. D) before an appropriate US. E) after an appropriate CS.

53. Distant trees were located closer to the top of the artist's canvas than were the nearby flowers. The artist was clearly using the distance cue known as A) linear perspective. B) texture gradient. C) relative height. D) relative clarity. E) interposition.

54. The amount of light entering the eye is regulated by the A) lens. B) iris. C) retina. D) optic nerve. E) feature detectors.

55. Formal operational thought is most similar to A) fluid intelligence. B) generativity. C) conventional morality. D) autonomy. E) crystallized intelligence.

56. American students are more likely than Japanese students to describe themselves in terms of their A) personal traits. B) social roles. C) ethnic background. D) group memberships. E) social identities.

57. Paradoxical sleep is to slow-wave sleep as ________ sleep is to ________ sleep. A) REM; Stage 1 B) Stage 1; REM C) REM; Stage 2 D) Stage 2; REM E) REM; Stage 4

58. The peripheral nervous system is to sensory neurons as the central nervous system is to A) motor neurons. B) neurotransmitters. C) interneurons. D) the sympathetic nervous system. E) the parasympathetic nervous system.

59. Random sampling is to ________ as random assignment is to ________. A) correlational studies; case studies B) surveys; experiments C) illusory correlation; false consensus D) replication; correlation E) description; prediction

60. Professor Lopez believes that severe depression results primarily from an imbalanced diet and abnormal brain chemistry. Professor Lopez favors a ________ perspective on depression. A) neuroscience B) psychodynamic C) behavior genetics D) cognitive E) psychoanalytic