Theories of Personality : Midterm Examination (Sec 1)

There has been no absolute nor a default definition for the construct of “personality”. Such is the consequence of :

• The lack of valid and reliable research to enrich and test the existing theories of personality.

• The dominance of psychodynamic theories over existential and humanistic theories

• The lack of agreement among different theorists and traditions as to what the nature of humanity is

• The irrelevance of “personality” in the current practice of Psychology

In using an existing theory of personality to derive specific hypotheses that predict how individuals will behave given certain situations, we engage in the process of:

• logical deductive reasoning

• logical inductive reasoning

• significance testing

• designing a research

Although the etymology of “personality” is derived from a theatrical mask worn by actors, the psychological view of personality goes beyond such origins. This is primarily because:

• Our personalities do not influence the ways through which others perceive us.

• Our personalities do not change, regardless of contexts.

• Our personalities also include those characteristics which may not be directly observable.

• Every person has different personalities, all of which cannot be represented by a single mask.

Which of the following demonstrates reliability in the context of personality research and assessment?

• The extent to which a personality test for introversion-extraversion indeed measures varying degrees of sociability

• The extent to which a scale for neuroticism yields consistent results in testing the same person, after a reasonable span of time

• The extent to which an instrument has been used and acknowledged in other studies.

• The extent to which a scale for risk taking tendencies can yield scores that allow the prediction of a person’s propensity to take risks and not some other behavior(s)

Gordon Allport, the first psychologist to promote the concept of traits, argued that we cannot capture the essence of a whole personality without an in-depth analysis of a single individual. He therefore prioritizes the use of which of the following research methods?

• Experiments

• Correlational Studies

• Case Studies

• Surveys

Scores from a test claiming to measure creativity should not statistically correlate with scores from another theoretically unrelated measure (e.g. optimism / pessimism). This establishes:

• Theoretical Validity

• Concurrent Validity

• Predictive Validity

• Divergent Validity

These tools for personality assessment operate under the assumption that people may not necessarily volunteer sensitive information about their own personality. However, we are more likely to reveal our needs, fears, and

values in describing ambiguous and non-threatening stimuli.

• Self-report inventories

• Behavioral assessment procedures

• Psychological Report

• Projective techniques

Jennifer has been dreaming of a train entering a tunnel for the past week. Such image of the train entering the tunnel can be interpreted as a function of her repressed desire for sex, symbolic of the penis entering the vagina. Which two processes are directly responsible for such content of Jennifer's dreams?

• Sex and Aggression

• Deprivation and Pleasure-seeking

• Condensation and Displacement

• Latent and Manifest processes

Some politicians establish charities and pursue advocacies in an attempt to become more appealing in the eyes of the voters. According to Adler, these people can be characterized as:

• Having no final goal, hence such attempts are disorganized and inconsistent

• Having pathological feelings of inferiority

• Striving for superiority, but with high social interest

• Striving only for superiority, but not for success

In Adlerian Individual Psychology, which of the following initially differentiates the two paths towards a clearly or dimly perceived final goal?

• The presence or absence of physical deficiencies

• The dominance or subversion of an innate striving force

• Having exaggerated or normal feelings of incompletion

• Having feelings of inferiority or superiority