Final

Question 1

What types of meaning do people commonly derive from their work?

Answer 1

Developing self
Union with others
Expressing self
Serving others

Question 2

The six personality types based on Holland’s theory of occupational choice:

Answer 2

investigative, social, realistic, artistic, conventional, enterprising

Question 3

from Holland’s personality types, women are more likely to have the:

Answer 3

social, artistic, and conventional types.

Question 4

One important limitation to Holland’s theory:

Answer 4

It ignores the context of occupational decisions…

Question 5

The five stages of Super’s theory of occupational development:

Answer 5

Implementation, establishment, maintenance, declaration, retirement

Question 6

What is vocational maturity:

Answer 6

A continuum in Super’s theory: the more congruent one’s work behavior with what is expected of them at different ages, higher their vocational maturity.

Question 7

Super’s adulthood developmental tasks:

Answer 7

Implementation - 20s - people try out different work roles to see what fits (e.g. Internships)
Stabilization - mid 20s to mid 30s - selecting a stable occupation
Consolidation - mid 30 - end - advancing up the career ladder

Question 8

What is alienation?

Answer 8

The feeling that one’s work is meaningless or that there’s no connection between one’s own work and the final product.

Question 9

Which personality trait is the strongest predictor of job alienation?

Answer 9

Cynicism leads to job dissatisfaction and alienation (Abraham, 2000)

Question 10

How can an employer avoid alienating workers?

Answer 10

Increase trust, involve employees in decision-making, create flexible work schedules…

Question 11

What is burnout?

Answer 11

The depletion of one’s energy and motivation, loss of occupational idealism, the feeling that one is being exploited.

Question 12

In which professions is burnout most common?

Answer 12

The helping professions - teaching, social work, health care - and in the military

Question 13

The best ways of dealing with burnout:

Answer 13

Cognitive restructuring of the work situation, stress reduction techniques, finding alternative ways of personal development and expression (van Dierendonck, 2005)

Question 14

What proportion of employees experience sexual harassment?

Answer 14

Around 58% of women experience potentially harassing behaviors (Ilies et al., 2003). A meta-analysis of the research suggests that at least 28% of women report having been sexually harassed in the workplace. For men the number is around 15%.

Question 15

What are the effects of unemplyment?

Answer 15

Unemployed workers experience increased risk of mental and physical illness, lowered life, family, and marital satisfaction

Question 16

Advice for managing occupational transitions:

Answer 16

• approach job loss with a healthy sense of urgency
• consider your next career move and what must be done to achieve it
• react to change
• be cautious of stopgap employment
• identify a realistic goal and list the steps toward achieving it

Question 17

What are the adverse effects of chronic stress?

Answer 17

Suppressed immune system - increased risk of viral infections, increased risk of arteriosclerosis, hypertension, impairments of memory and other cognitive skills. Additionally, stress may trigger angina, arrhythmias, irritable bowel syndrome, raised cholesterol, weight fluctuations, etc.

Question 18

What is practical intelligence?

Answer 18

The broad range of skills required to deal with common everyday tasks and adapt to the environment.

Question 19

What is encapsulation?

Answer 19

Encapsulation occurs when the processes of thinking (memory, info processing, etc.) become tied to the product of thinking (expertise).

Question 20

Generativity, according to Erikson:

Answer 20

Being productive by helping others in order to help the next generation.

Question 21

What is stagnation, according to Erikson

Answer 21

The adults who do not achieve generativity are in stagnation: they become bored, self-indulgent, unable to deal with the needs of the next generation.

Question 22

The third and fourth age division:

Answer 22

Third age - 60-80 - good potential for physical and mental health, improving with each generation, high levels of emotional and personal wellbeing.

Fourth age - 80 and above - high incidence of dementia and other chronic conditions, frailty, etc.

Question 23

Main biological theories of human aging:

Answer 23

Wear-and-tear
Cellular theories (telomerase length, free radicals, etc.)
Programmed cell death (genetically determined apoptosis)

Question 24

What is the best documented effect of aging on cognition?

Answer 24

Decreased psychomotor speed - slower reaction times due mainly to uncertainty as to whether a reaction is needed.

Question 25

Change in memory performance with age:

Answer 25

Decreased working memory, decreased episodic memory, use fewer memory strategies spontaneously. No difference is typically present in semantic memory or in implicit memory

Question 26

What is the average age when creativity peaks?

Answer 26

Ca. 40…

Question 27

The three main ways psychologists view wisdom:

Answer 27

The orchestration of mind and virtue
Post-formal thinking
Action-oriented knowledge

Question 28

The four characteristics of wisdom, according to Baltes et al.

Answer 28

• it deals with important and difficult matters of life and the human condition
• it is truly superior knowledge, judgment, and advice
• it’s knowledge of extraordinary scope, depth, and balance, which is applicable to specific situations
• when used, it is well-intended and combines mind and virtue

Question 29

What are the best predictors of wisdom in a given domain?

Answer 29

The best predictors are the personality-intelligence interface (creativity, cognitive styles, social intelligence - 35% of variance), life experience (26%), personality traits (openness, personal growth - 21%), intelligence (fluid & crystallized - 15%)

Question 30

Definition of clinical death:

Answer 30

Lack of heartbeat and respiration.

Question 31

Criteria for whole-brain death:

Answer 31

• no spontaneous movement on response to stimuli
• no spontaneous respiration for at least an hour
• total lack of responsiveness to even most painful stimuli
• lack of eye movement, pupil dilation, blinking
• no postural activity, swallowing, yawning or vocalizing
• no motor reflexes
• a flat encephalogram
• no change in any of these criteria when they are tested for after 24 hours

Question 32

Who described the five stages of death?

Answer 32

Elizabeth Kuebler-Ross (1969) - denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance

Question 33

The four dimensions of tasks that a dying person must face, according to Corr:

Answer 33

Bodily needs, psychological security, interpersonal attachments, and spiritual attachments and hope.

Question 34

An effective method of dealing with death anxiety:

Answer 34

Participating in experiential death seminars/workshops

Question 35

Difference between bereavement, grief and mourning:

Answer 35

Bereavement - the state caused by someone’s death
Grief - the sorrow, guilt, etc., associated with the loss
Mourning - the behavioral expression of grief (highly dependent on culture).

Question 36

What a person must do to deal with grief (Worden, 1991):

Answer 36

Acknowledge the reality of the loss
Work through the emotional turmoil
Adjust to the environment where the deceased is absent
Loosen ties to the deceased

Question 37

Risk factors in grief:

Answer 37

• sudden death causes more grief
• men are more likely to die during a period of bereavement, women tend to have higher rates of depression
• no personality factors have been identified
• social support and kinship mediate bereavement

Question 38

What do psychologists refer to as grief work?

Answer 38

The psychological side of dealing with bereavement.

Question 39

The four-component model of understanding grief (Bonanno & Kaltman, 1999)

Answer 39

• content of the loss
• continuation of subjective meaning associated with the loss
• changing representations of the lost relationship over time
• the role of coping and emotion regulation processes

Question 40

The Dual Process Model of coping with bereavement (Stroebe & Schut, 2001):

Answer 40

Loss-oriented stressors, which concern the loss and the grief work which needs to be done
Restoration-oriented stressors deal with adaptation process to life without the deceased.
People dynamically move back and forth between the two.

Question 41

What distinguishes prolonged grief disorder from depression and regular grief?

Answer 41

• symptoms of separation distress (preoccupation with the deceased, upsetting memories, isolation)
• symptoms of traumatic distress (disbelief about the death, mistrust, anger, detachment, a sense of the physical presence of the deceased)

Question 42

When do children usually realize that death is permanent?

Answer 42

Around 5-7 years of age. Additionally, they understand that death eventually happens to everyone and that the dead no long have any biological functions.

Question 43

What are some typical reactions of children to death and grief?

Answer 43

regression, repression, displacement, guilt for causing the death, wishful thinking

Question 44

Unresolved guilt in adolescence has been linked to:

Answer 44

Agitated depression, chronic illness, enduring guilt, low self-esteem, poor performance at school…

Question 45

Relationship between bereavement, depression, and marriage rating in late adulthood:

Answer 45

Bereaved widows and widowers tend to rate their marriages higher, the more depressed they are. Nonbereaved people tend to rate their marriage quality lower, the more depressed they are.