Q 1

Question 1

According to the authors of the text, personality theories:

a. are former principles that have been proven true.
b. originate from the historical, social, and psychological world of their originators.
c. are useful tools of science to the extent that they are value free.
d. should not be open to falsification.

Answer 1

b

Question 2

A useful theory should be parsimonious, meaning that it should be:
Select one:
a. based on empirical research.
b. complex.
c. simple. 
d. verifiable.

Answer 2

c

Question 3

If scores on an instrument that measures introversion correlate highly with a number of other measures of introversion—for example, shyness and inhibition—then that instrument is said to have:
Select one:
a. discriminant validity.
b. convergent validity. 
c. divergent validity.
d. test-retest reliability.
e. concurrent reliability.

Answer 3

b

Question 4

What is the relationship between theory and observation?
Select one:
a. They are mutually exclusive.
b. Several theories make up an observation.
c. Several observations make up a theory.
d. There is a mutual and dynamic interaction between them.

Answer 4

d

Question 5

Any test that correlates with future behaviours is said to have:
Select one:
a. test-retest reliability.
b. predictive validity. 
c. divergent validity.
d. internal consistency.

Answer 5

b

Question 6

Descriptive research:
Select one:
a. is designed to test hypotheses.
b. contributes to expanding a theory. 
c. is that which uses an experimental design.
d. is expressed by if-then statements.

Answer 6

b

Question 7

The goal of psychoanalytic therapy is to:
Select one:
a. transform unconscious material into consciousness.
b. eliminate all neurotic symptoms.
c. bring about self-actualization.
d. uncover archetypes.

Answer 7

a

Question 8

According to Freud, all people possess two major instincts or drives. They are:
Select one:
a. ego and id.
b. id and superego.
c. hunger and safety.
d. self-defense and self-enhancement.
e. sex and aggression.

Answer 8

e

Question 9

“Freudian slips” are a product of:
Select one:
a. dreamwork.
b. free association.
c. conscious and unconscious forces.
d. preconscious and unconscious forces.

Answer 9

d

Question 10

Freud’s enduring popularity is most likely due to his:
Select one:
a. careful experimental analyses.
b. gifts as a writer and his emphasis on sex and aggression.
c. commonsense model of human development, especially during the infantile stage.
d. determination to reverse nineteenth-century scientific methods.

Answer 10

b

Question 11

Freud called the nonsexual love a child has for a sibling:
Select one:
a. primary narcissism.
b. secondary narcissism.
c. aim-inhibited love. 
d. masochism.

Answer 11

c

Question 12

Freud believed that a girl’s superego:
Select one:
a. developed before the phallic stage.
b. was more severe than a boy’s superego.
c. was not as fully developed as a boy’s superego.
d. leads to castration anxiety.

Answer 12

c

Question 13

The use of Freudian defense mechanisms requires an:
Select one:
a. expenditure of psychic energy.
b. extremely strong superego.
c. immediate return to primary narcissism.
d. exposure of the superego to prolonged anxiety.

Answer 13

a

Question 14

According to Adler, \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ is the “barometer of normality.”
Select one:
a. social interest Correct
b. creative power
c. subjectivity of perception
d. fictional finalism

Answer 14

a

Question 15

The most important factor for the child in Adler’s family constellation is:
Select one:
a. rank order of siblings.
b. gender of siblings.
c. spacing of siblings.
d. number of siblings.
e. subjective perception of self and environment.

Answer 15

e

Question 16

Early in his career, Adler used which term to refer to the single force behind all human motivation?
Select one:
a. compensation
b. Eros
c. striving for success 
d. will to power

Answer 16

d

Question 17

Adler’s break with Freud was due to the fact that:
Select one:
a. Freud believed that psychoanalysis should change to keep up with society.
b. Adler was extremely deferent to Freud.
c. Adler could not accept Freud’s strong emphasis on sexual factors as motivators of behaviour.
d. Freud lacked organizational skills, leaving Adler with the responsibility of directing the Wednesday Psychological Society.

Answer 17

c

Question 18

Adler's notion of moving backward is similar to Freud's notion of:
Select one:
a. sublimation.
b. fixation.
c. progression.
d. repression.
e. regression.

Answer 18

e

Question 19

Adler maintained that social interest is:
Select one:
a. inborn.
b. acquired through experience.
c. inborn, but brought to expression through experience.
d. inborn in some people but acquired by others.
Feedback
The correct answer is: inborn, but brought to expression through experience.

Answer 19

c

Question 20

Adler first postulated the aggressive drive and the will to power as the fundamental motivations that shape human personality. He later extended his view to include the:
Select one:
a. striving for superiority or success. 
b. will to knowledge.
c. search for meaning.
d. striving for self-actualization.

Answer 20

a

Question 21

List two Freudian defense mechanisms and give examples of each.

Answer 21

Repression: when the id send an impulse to the ego to have a thought pr perform an action but this thought or action causes too much anxiety in the ego, the ego represses the thought so that it doesn’t have to think about it. For example, a man might feel sexually drawn to another man and because this is difficult for him to accept due to societal views around homosexuality, the man may repress the homosexual thoughts as to lessen the anxiety that they evoke.
Displacement: Is the idea that if a stimulus in the world causes us too much anxiety then we deal with it by taking out the anxiety on another person or being. For instance, if a person is scolded at work for performing poorly, then that person might later take out this feeling of anxiety on his children by verbally abusing them.

Question 22

Critique Adler’s ideas as a scientific theory

Answer 22

Adler’s ideas are difficult to prove and thus rate low on their ability to be falsified. Whereas Freud believed that early experiences shaped current day behaviour, Adler believed that the perception of early experiences and not the experiences themselves are what shapes behaviour. Both sides of the argument are examples of unfalsifiable ideas as they are too vague.
Adler’s work generated a lot of further research, in particular in the field of birth order. His concepts can also be seen in later work by humanists and positive psychologists who were strong proponents of free will and one’s own will power to determine one’s outcome in life.
In terms of using operational definitions, many of his terms like ‘creative power’ were not defined specifically and thus the theory internal consistency.

Question 23

Defend the need for more than one theory.

Answer 23

Theories arise out of the psychologists’ upbringing and what they choose to focus on. This refers to their family setting, their era and other attitudes or experiences that may have shaped them as people. As a result, their theories will reflect these influences. For instance, Freud’s view around homosexuality or women were very much a product of his time. These examples are weakly articulated components of his theory by current day measures. Adler, for instance looked at ideas around the psychology of women and offered an updated and more useful view in his theory. Multiple theories offer us the opportunity to see similar ideas from different perspectives, which broaden our view and offer more possibility for understanding.

Question 24

Discuss Adler’s ideas on birth order.

Answer 24

Adler saw family constellation as an important aspect of personality construct. He considered birth order as well as how far apart the children were separated in terms of age spread.
He saw the first born as being more of a conformist than the second child. The first born is an only child until the second child appears at which point the first born feels threatened by the appearance of the second child. The first born may have more of a striving for success or superiority depending on his/her relationship to their parents. This will inform whether the child is more competitive and self-centered or cooperative. As a first born with a younger sibling, the child may develop qualities of protectiveness and nurturing. The second born will respond to these tendencies and either adopt more of a cooperative attitude and a healthy approach to competition or feel self-defeated and overly inferior. Subsequent studies by Frank Sallowly indicate that first borns tend to stick to the rules while second borns take more chances. These studies show how a first born aims to please the parents in traditional ways, but the second born has to be novel in order to gain attention of the parent. This child is associated with the the “look mom, no hands!” child.
Third born children may runt he risk of being overly pampered, an experience which Adler believed would cause a heightened sense of inferiority leading to dependence. Further studies have pointed to instances of higher binge drinking in college among third born children. On the positive side, they may have more realistic ambitions and expectations about the future, which would allow them to be better adjusted in the world.
Only children have no siblings to compete with. As a result they are competing with their parents for success or superiority. This may cause them to believe that they are more advanced intellectually or emotionally, and cause them to have an inflated sense of self. On the flip side, they have the potential to be socially mature.

CommentsComment:
Important to note here that it is the person’s perception of their birth order, rather than birth order itself that influences personality development. The characteristics you list here are characteristics Adler found based on common perceptions of birth order. To the extent that family dynamics or the person’s perception differ from others of the same birth order, these characteristics will also differ.

Question 25

List and explain the criteria of a useful theory.

Answer 25

1) A useful theory will generate research. It will inspire other scientists to look further into the theory, develop new hypothesis’ and test them.
As an example, though Freud’s ideas regarding the ego/id/superego where not provable in his day, modern neuroscience research has shown that when certain parts of the brain are destroyed, behaviour associated with the ego/id are altered in line with how Freud described them.
2) A useful theory is falsifiable. That is to say that the ideas must be available to either be confirmed or falsified via testing. When the theory has clear operational definitions and stated objectives, it offers itself more to testability, however if a hypothesis within a theory is too nebulous and cannot be confirmed or disconfirmed, then the theory is weak on this level.
3) A useful theory is organized into an intelligible framework. Operational definitions are used in a consistent manner, a sense of flow from one idea to the next is present, data is presented in a way that other scientists can interpret clearly.
4) A useful theory guides action. In the case of psychology, the theory might have direct implications as to how to set a course towards resolving a problem or question. Implicit racism or bias is a big topic in current day dialog in police forces. A solid theory would lay out a course of action to deal with this problem.
5) A useful theory is internally consistent. The language used in the theory must be defined and consistent so that the person reading the theory understands it fully. It will be comprised of operational definitions in order to measure events or behaviors.
6) A useful theory is parsimonious. It must present the ideas as simply as possible omitting any language that is superfluous and esoteric. Given the option between a theory that is more cumbersome and a simpler, more parsimonious one, the more parsimonious one is stronger.