Psychology Multiple Choice Questions

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

1. A question on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) such as “I get angry sometimes” is included to determine what about the test-taker?
a. Whether the person has a personality disorder.
b. If the person needs immediate help for anger
management.
c. If the person is more extraverted than introverted.
d. Whether the person has a stronger id or superego.
e. If the person is answering the questions truthfully.

2. Albert Bandura proposed the social-cognitive perspective, which
a. explains the nature–nurture debate.
b. predicts human behavior.
c. focuses on how our environment controls us.
d. explains human motivation.
e. emphasizes the interaction of our traits with our
situations.

3. According to Sigmund Freud, which of the following defense mechanisms buries threatening or upsetting events in the unconscious?
a. Regression
b. Displacement
c. Repression

4. Athletes who often privately credit their victories to their own abilities, and their losses to bad breaks, lousy officiating, or the other team’s exceptional performance, are exhibiting which psychological concept?
a. A low self-esteem
b. The self-serving bias
c. Pessimism
d. The spotlight effect
e. Incompetence

5. What did Abraham Maslow call the process of fulfilling our potential?
a. Love needs
b. Self-esteem
c. Self-actualization
d. Self-transcendence
e. Hierarchy of needs

6. Which term is defined as all the thoughts and feelings we have in response to the question, “Who am I?”
a. Self-concept
b. Ideal self
c. Self-esteem

7. What did Sigmund Freud call his theory of personality and the associated treatment techniques?
a. Psychoanalysis
b. Humanism
c. The self-concept
d. Psychosexual stages
e. Free association

8. Which term describes questionnaires that cover a wide range of feelings and behaviors and are designed to assess several traits?
a. Factor analysis studies
b. Peer reports
c. Achievement tests
d. Cognition tests
e. Personality inventories

9. Someone from a collectivist culture is more likely to do what?
a. Develop a strong sense of self
b. Give priority to group goals
c. Form casual, often temporary relationships
d. Achieve personal goals
e. Focus on how they are different from the group

10. Critics of humanistic psychology have suggested that this theory fails to appreciate the reality of our human capacity for which of the following?
a. Empathy
b. Love
c. Negativity

11. Amy was sure everyone noticed how nervous she was when she spoke in front of the entire school, but later no one that she talked to mentioned it. What is the term for the belief that others are always noticing and evaluating us more than they really are?
a. Self-monitoring
b. Self-schemas
c. Possible selves
d. The spotlight effect
e. The social-cognitive perspective

12. In Brad Bushman and Roy Baumeister’s research, how did people with unrealistically high self-esteem react when they were criticized?
a. They became exceptionally aggressive.
b. Many were more receptive to the criticism.
c. Some became easily depressed.
d. Most worked harder to do better the next time.
e. They quit the task without completing it.

13. According to Carl Rogers, when we are in a good marriage, a close family, or an intimate friendship, we are free to be spontaneous without fearing the loss of others’ esteem. What did he call this accepting attitude?
a. A peak experience
b. Unconditional positive regard
c. Self-transcendence
d. Humanistic psychology
e. Our self-concept

14. Children’s TV-viewing habits (past behavior) influence their viewing preferences (internal personal factor), which influence how television (environmental factor) affects their current behavior. What is this an example of?
a. Personal control
b. Learned helplessness
c. Reciprocal determinism
d. The Big Five traits
e. Implicit learning