Chapter 01 - Introducing Personality

Question 1

Academic Traditions

Answer 1

These traditions bring together scholars that share similar views on a particular scientific approach, subject, or method.

Question 2

Analysis

Answer 2

Analysis occurs with the breaking of something complex into smaller parts to understand their essential features and relations.

Question 3

Censorship

Answer 3

Censorship is practicing the dissemination or restriction of what is deemed “appropriate” or “inappropriate” knowledge.

Question 4

Central Personality

Answer 4

Central personality features tend to be somewhat wide-ranging and present - to various degrees - in most people, most of the time.

Question 5

Cynicism

Answer 5

The persistent distrust of other people’s motives is shown in cynicism.

Question 6

Determinism

Answer 6

Determinism is the view that psychological phenomena are casually determined by preceding events or some identifiable factors.

Question 7

Fatalism

Answer 7

The view that humans are not in control of their lives because something or somebody else predetermines or “programs” them is called fatalism.

Question 8

Knowledge

Answer 8

Information that has a purpose or use is also called knowledge.

Question 9

Legal Knowledge

Answer 9

Legal knowledge emerges in official, legal prescriptions by authorities (ranging from tribal leaders to countries’ governments).

Question 10

Nature-Nurture Debate

Answer 10

The general discussion about biological and social factors that affect human development, behavior, and experience is known as the nature-nurture debate.

Question 11

Peripheral Personality

Answer 11

Peripheral personality features tend to be more specific and also tend to appear in specific individual or cultural circumstances, such as being polite and cooperative in some contexts but not in others.

Question 12

Personality

Answer 12

A personality is a stable set of behavioral and experiential characteristics of an individual.

Question 13

Personality Disorders

Answer 13

Personality disorders are enduring patterns of behavior and inner experience that deviate markedly from the expectations of the individual’s culture.

Question 14

Personality Psychology

Answer 14

Personality psychology is a branch of psychology that studies personality.

Question 15

Pessimism

Answer 15

Pessimism refers to a persistent broad-spectrum belief in and anticipation of undesirable, negative, or damaging outcomes.

Question 16

Pop Psychology

Answer 16

Pop psychology is a type of knowledge related to personality and designed for mass consumption; it reaches people primarily through the media - TV, radio, popular books, magazines, and the internet.

Question 17

Popular (Folk) Beliefs

Answer 17

Observations and assumptions that represent a form of “everyday psychology” created by the people and for the people are referred to as popular (or folk) beliefs

Question 18

Scarcity Mindset

Answer 18

A scarcity mindset is a reaction to a shortage of resources.

Question 19

Scientific Knowledge

Answer 19

Scientific knowledge is based on science, or systematic empirical observation, measurement, and evaluation of facts.

Question 20

Self-Determination

Answer 20

Self-determination is the view that we, as individuals, generally are in control of our plans, actions, responses, minds, and personality features.

Question 21

Self-Enhancement

Answer 21

The tendency to deem our self as superior to peers is self-enhancement; in other words, we tend to believe that we are somewhat better, smarter, and more reasonable than others.

Question 22

Theory

Answer 22

Applied to personality, theory is a type of comprehensive, scientific explanation about what personality is, how it develops, and how it functions.

Question 23

Tolerance Threshold

Answer 23

An individual’s tolerance threshold is a measure of tolerance or intolerance toward specific personality traits in a society or within a cultural group.

Question 24

Type

Answer 24

A type refers to a kind or category of elements or features sharing similar characteristics or qualities

Question 25

Values

Answer 25

Stable perceptions about the individual’s place and his or her role in the world are represented by values.