1.

Research indicates that people who hold an intrinsic religious orientation tend to
a. have extreme anxiety.
b. be extremely prejudiced.
c. be emotionally healthy.
d. All of the answers are correct.

2. According to Allport, which of the following groups of people has the highest capacity of
making a free choice?
a. psychologically healthy, reflective, and intelligent people
b. infants who have not yet learned self-control
c. old people near death who have no fear of the future
d. preadolescents who have not yet become involved in sexual relationships

3. Which morphogenic method did Gordon Allport use to study the personality of Marion
Taylor?
a. diaries
b. dreams
c. doodles
d. voice patterns

4. McCrae and Costa believe the influence of heredity is most pronounced in the factors of
a. openness and agreeableness.
b. openness and conscientiousness.
c. attractiveness and likeableness.
d. neuroticism and extraversion.

5. People who score in the direction of agreeableness tend to be

a. ordered, controlled, and achievement-focused.
b. good-natured, yielding, generous, and trusting.
c. anxious, temperamental, and emotionally vulnerable.
d. even-tempered, self-satisfied, and emotionally hardy.

6. Which of the following statements is true of the individuality postulate of basic tendencies?
a. All personality traits are the result solely of endogenous forces such as genes and hormones.
b. Adults have a unique set of traits, and each person exhibits a unique combination of trait
patterns.
c. The precise amount of neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and
conscientiousness is common in all individuals.
d. People’s responses are not always consistent with personal goals or cultural values
7. Allport used Jenny’s letters to support his view that personality
a. can be determined through handwriting analysis.
b. can best be understood through nomothetic laws.
c. is limited to directly observable behavior.
d. should be studied from an individual’s point of view

8. According to Robert R. McCrae and Paul T. Costa, _____ are defined as the universal raw
material of personality capacities and dispositions that are generally inferred rather than
observed.
a. self-concepts
b. external influences
c. characteristic adaptations
d. basic tendencies

9. Research on traits and emotion tends to support the hypothesis that

a. people’s actions can subvert their predispositions to certain behaviors.
b. extraversion is related to more negative moods in the face of stressors.
c. neuroticism is related to more positive, but also more unstable, moods.
d. acting extraverted does not raise positive moods in introverted individuals.

10. Although factor and trait theories are difficult to rate on several dimensions with respect to
the concept of humanity, they clearly rate very high on
a. the teleological dimension.
b. the relative degrees of their pessimism.
c. the genetic factors of personality.
d. free will and guidance of practitioners.

11. Allport's concept of adulthood differed from previous views in picturing us as

a. doomed to struggle endlessly with unconscious conflicts.
b. not prisoners of childhood.
c. locked into the traits we developed in childhood.
d. more irrational than rational in most of our behavior.

12. McCrae and Costa (1996) objected to earlier personality theories as relying too heavily on
a. experimental evidence from laboratories.
b. factor analysis.
c. theoretical orientations.
d. clinical experiences and on armchair speculation.
13. “A theory organizes findings to tell a coherent story, to bring into focus those issues and
phenomena that can and should be explained.” This quote is attributed to
a. Eysenck.
b. Cattell.
c. Allport.
d. Costa and McCrae.

14. According to Costa and McCrae, maladjustment occurs when

a. characteristic adaptations become too loose, relaxed, and/or disorganized.
b. basic traits change over time in response to biological maturation.
c. people’s adaptive responses are inconsistent with their personal goals or cultural values.
d. All of the answers are correct.

15. Allport's personal-document approach involves the use of

a. dream analysis.
b. a person’s written or spoken records to determine the number and kinds of personality
traits.
c. free association.
d. intelligence tests.

16. Adler’s “social interest,” Horney’s “moving toward,” and Erikson’s “basic trust” can all be seen
as aspects of which factor?
a. Agreeableness
b. Conscientiousness
c. Openness
d. Neuroticism

17. The major strength of trait and factor theories lies in

a. their ability to organize knowledge.
b. the high level of internal consistency in the two main theories.
c. the parsimony of the theories or the fewest number of explanatory factors possible.
d. All of the answers are correct.

18. Allport believed that the emotionally healthy adult is

a. no longer dominated or determined by childhood drives.
b. guided primarily by unconscious forces.
c. functionally related to childhood experiences.
 d. functionally autonomous of common traits.
19. Which of the following is a characteristic of people who score high on the openness to
experience factor in the Five Factor Model?
a. They prefer routine.
b. They are liberal.
c. They support traditional values.
d. They are down-to-earth.

20. The Religious Orientation Scale (ROS) assumes both _____ and _____ orientation toward
religion.
a. a theistic; an atheistic
b. a group; an individual
c. a historical; a functional
d. an intrinsic; an extrinsic

21. The technique that Baldwin developed to analyze the structure of Jenny’s personality from
her letters was called
a. factor analysis.
b. the nomothetic procedure.
c. content analysis.
d. personal structure analysis.

22. Gordon Allport used _____, such as diaries and letters, which stress patterns of behavior
within a single individual.
a. morphogenic procedures
b. statistical procedures
c. nomothetic methods
d. longitudinal methods

23. In general, research testing the Five-Factor Model across cultures has revealed that
a. language differences make it too difficult to measure trait similarities.
b. trait-factor approaches are best applied to Western cultures.
c. translation problems with the tools used are insurmountable.
d. traits appear to be consistent in most countries of the world.

24. A weakness of Allport’s theory of personality is that it

a. is difficult to falsify.
b. is too optimistic.
c. is too pessimistic.
 d. is not internally consistent.
25. The principal biological mechanisms that influence basic tendencies are
a. reproductive success and mutations.
b. genes, hormones, and brain structures.
c. natural selection and extinction.
d. social Darwinism and reproductive success.

26. Allport believed that insight and humor may be aspects of

a. self-objectification.
b. emotional maturity.
c. reactive behavior.
d. the self as the knower.

27. According to Robert R. McCrae and Paul T. Costa, which of the following statements is true of
basic tendencies?
a. They are responsible for all acquired and specific skills, such as the English language or
statistics.
b. They fluctuate, making them subject to change over a person’s lifetime.
c. They are influenced by relationships that result from the interaction of individuals with their
environment.
d. They may be inherited, imprinted by early experience, or modified by disease or
psychological intervention.

28. Computer analysis of the letters from Jenny

a. failed to verify Allport's subjective assessment of traits.
b. yielded valid and comparable results to indicate Allport’s eight prominent traits.
c. yielded more than 200 traits, not just eight traits.
d. proved irrelevant to Allport's initial assessment for his list of traits.

29. Which of the following statements is true of trait and factor theorists’?
a. They view humans as being similar to other animals.
b. They lay emphasis on the genetic factors of personality.
c. They are more concerned with similarities than with differences among people.
d. They believe that environment plays no role in shaping a person’s disposition.

30. Allport’s theory of personality is based mostly on

a. clinical experience with mentally ill patients.
b. factor analytical studies.
c. experimental investigation.
 d. philosophical speculation and common sense.

31. Allport's research methods focused on

a. emotionally disturbed persons.
b. the normal healthy individual.
c. childhood events.
d. the average performance of small groups.

32. Allport’s view of humanity includes the idea that

a. people are motivated mainly to reduce tension.
b. personality is determined for the most part by cultural factors.
c. people seek to reduce tensions and also to establish new ones.
d. people are essentially reactive in their nature.

33. Allport cited the example of a well-fed rat continuing to run a maze for food as evidence for
a. propriate functional autonomy.
b. habit.
c. propriate striving.
d. perseverative functional autonomy.

34. Costa and McCrae (1996) summarize their trait model using a schematic drawing whereby
peripheral
a. ellipses.
b. rectangles.
c. interconnecting lines.
d. None of the answers is correct.

35. One unusual assessment technique used by Allport was

a. self-appraisal.
b. conduct sampling.
c. the personal-document approach.
d. dream analysis.

36. Which of the following statements is true of the postulates for characteristic adaptations?
a. People’s responses are always consistent with their personal goals or cultural values.
b. Traits affect the way people adapt to the changes in their environment.
c. Traits are organized hierarchically from narrow and specific to broad and general.
d. All personality traits are the result solely of endogenous forces such as genes and hormones.
37. In the Five-Factor Theory, behavior, in part, is predicted by three core components. Which of
the following is not a core component?
a. self-concept
b. external influences
c. characteristic adaptations
d. basic tendencies

38. According to Robert R. McCrae and Paul T. Costa, which of the following sentences is true of
objective biography as a component of personality?
a. It is the outcome of characteristic adaptations as well as external influences.
b. It is one of the core components of personality in the Five-Factor Theory.
c. It emphasizes people’s views or perceptions of their experiences.
d. It is principally influenced by genes, hormones, and brain structure.

39. To understand the relationship between church attendance and prejudice, Gordon Allport and
J. Michael Ross developed the _____, which is applicable only for churchgoers.
a. Religious Orientation Scale
b. 16 PF Scale
c. NEO-Personality Inventory
d. Religious Experience Episodes Measure

40. According to the Five-Factor Model, which of the following statements best reflects our
understanding of the stability of personality traits?
a. Age-related declines in agreeableness and conscientiousness are highly evident.
b. Basic personality traits change considerably after the age of forty.
c. Basic personality traits change very little beyond the age of thirty.
d. Adults score higher on neuroticism, extraversion, and openness to experience than do
college students.

41. According to Allport, life's ultimate and necessary goal is to

a. reduce tension.
b. fuse unique and common traits into personal dispositions.
c. maintain an optimal level of tension.
d. resolve childhood conflicts.
42. Examples of Allport’s completely morphogenic methods include all the following except
a. autobiographies.
b. body gestures.
c. voice patterns.
d. self-rating scales.

43. With regard to freedom and determinism, Allport held

a. a deterministic view.
b. that people are completely free.
c. that freedom could be expanded.
d. an existential view.

44. Tom has antisocial personality disorder. According to recent correlational research (e.g., Miller
& Lyman, 2003), which of the following results is most likely from a measurement of Tom’s Big
Five personality traits?
a. Low Agreeableness
b. Low Neuroticism
c. High Conscientiousness
d. Low Extraversion

45. Identify a true statement about characteristic adaptation as a core component of the Five-
Factor Theory.
a. External factors or the environment has no influence on characteristic adaptations.
b. Characteristic adaptations are stable and enduring over a person’s lifespan.
c. All acquired and specific skills are characteristic adaptations.
d. How quickly a person learns a skill is a characteristic adaptation.

46. Which of the following is a critique of Gordon Allport’s theory of personality?

a. It is an uninspiring approach.
b. It fails to recognize the existence of behaviors motivated by unconscious forces.
c. It offers explanations for a fairly narrow scope of personality.
d. It inadequately covers functionally autonomous motives of psychologically healthy adults.

47. According to Allport, life's ultimate and necessary goal is to

a. reduce tension.
b. fuse unique and common traits into personal dispositions.
c. maintain an optimal level of tension.
d. resolve childhood conflicts.
48. Paige’s factor analysis of the letters from Jenny revealed
a. a classical paranoid schizophrenic woman.
b. eight primary personal dispositions.
c. three secondary traits.
d. traits quite different from those derived by Allport through common-sense analysis.

49. The concept of humanity embodied by trait and factor theories is best described as
a. pessimistic.
b. teleological.
c. cultural.
d. biological.

50. Core components of the Five-Factor Theory include the _____, which are acquired personality
structures that develop as people adapt to their environment.
a. peripheral components
b. basic tendencies
c. characteristic adaptations
d. objective biography