Psychology 303

Review Sheet for Exam #1



Table of Contents

  • Lecture 27
  • Lecture 28
  • Lecture 29
  • Lecture 30
  • Chapter 13
  • Lecture 31
  • Lecture 32
  • Lecture 33
  • Lecture 34
  • Chapter 17
  • Lecture 35
  • Lecture 36
  • Lecture 37
  • Chapter 15
  • Lecture 38
  • Lecture 39
  • Chapter 16
  • Lecture 40
  • Lecture 41
  • Names to Know


    • Lecture 27

    Personality

    Psychology 303 Theories of Personality Review Sheet for Midterm 1 I. Chapter 1: What is Personality Psychology? 1. Define personality. 2. What are two fundamental themes in personality psychology? 3. Identify four functions of science. 4. Identity three criteria of a good theory. 5. What is a metatheory? 6. Identify three reasons psychologists want to assess personality. II. Chapter 2: Methods in the Study of Personality 1. Identify and describe three ways personality psychologists gather information. 2. What does it mean when a result is statistically significant? 3. What is/are the difference(s) between descriptive and inferential statistics? 4. What do correlations do? 5. Identify three limitations of correlational research. 6. Describe experimental personality research. 7. Explain what a main effect and an interaction are. 8. Explain the difference between random assignment and random sampling. III. Chapter 3: Issues in Personality Assessment 1. Identify three sources of information personality psychologists use to measure personality. 2. Describe the difference between subjective and objective measures. 3. Explain the difference between reliability and validity. 4. Describe what internal consistency is. 5. What is inter-rater reliability? 6. Identify and describe five types of validity. 7. Identify and describe two biases that occur when assessing people. 8. Identify two approaches used to create personality assessments. Provide an example of each approach. IV. Chapter 4: Types, Traits, & Interactionism 1. Identify two key themes of the dispositional perspective. 2. Explain the difference between a trait and a type. 3. Explain the difference between the nomothetic and idiographic views of traits. 4. How stable are traits over long periods? (Be sure to discuss two types of stability: Mean levels and rank ordering). 5. Describe factor analysis and explain its strengths and limitations. 6. Describe Cattell’s approach to trait psychology. 7. Describe Eysenck’s approach to trait psychology and compare Eysenck’s approach with Galen’s. 8. Describe Wiggins’ approach to trait psychology. 9. Identify and describe the five factors that comprise the Five Factor Model, and discuss the evidence that supports it. 10. What did Mischel argue regarding traits and behavior, and why was this argument so important? 11. Distinguish situationism and interactionism in relation to traits. 12. Describe Mischel and Shoda’s theory of how traits influence behavior. 13. Describe the trait theorists approach to assessment. What did they do and what was the purpose? 14. According to the five-factor model of personality what are personality disorders? 15. What is a diathesis-stress model? 16. Identify at least two problems with the trait view on personality. V. Chapter 5: Needs & Motives 1. Describe two types of motivational theories and provide an example of each. 2. Describe Murray’s system of needs. 3. How are needs, motives, and press different from each other? 4. Identify two aspects of motive strength. 5. How are motives measured in the motive approach to personality? 6. Describe the following dispositional needs: 6a. Achievement 6b. Power 6c. Affiliation 6d. Intimacy 7. What role do incentives play in the motive approach to personality? 8. How are implicit motives different from self-attributed motives? 9. In the motive approach to personality what is meant by approach and avoidance? Provide an example. 10. What did Murray mean by the term personology? Why is this an important distinction? 11. Identify the components of Atkinson’s theory of achievement motivation, and illustrate its use numerically. 12. What is the relationship between the need for power and alcohol abuse? 13. Describe the therapeutic approaches used within the motive approach to personality. 14. Are motives biologically based or rooted in cognition? VI. Chapter 6: Inheritance, Evolution, & Personality 1. Identify two foci of the biological perspective. 2. Describe Sheldon’s view of personality theory. 3. Describe three groups in which personality is study in the biological perspective. 4. Define temperament. (Buss & Plomin and Rothbart) 5. Which traits have been found to have genetic contributions? 6. Define the following terms: 6a. Heritability 6b. Alleles 6c. Polymorphism 6d. Genotype 7. What role does environment play in personality? (e.g. Dickens & Flynn) 8. Define the following terms and explain how each is related to the biological perspective of personality: 8a. Sociobiology 8b. Ethology 8c. Selection 8d. Directional selection 8e. Stabilizing selection 8f. Inclusive fitness 8g. Reciprocal altruism 8h. Genetic similarity theory 8i. Assortative mating 9. Identify gender differences in each of the following areas: 9a. mate selection 9b. competition for mates 9c. mate retention 10. Describe what the young male syndrome is. 11. Explain how behavioral geneticists explain the following problem behaviors: 11a. Schizophrenia 11b. Bipolar disorder 11c. Substance use 11d. Antisocial behavior 12. According to the biological approach to personality, how is behavior change possible? VII. Chapter 7: Biological Processes & Personality 1. Describe Eysenck’s approach to personality. 2. According to Eysenck, what is the relationship between extraversion and cortical arousal AND neuroticism and emotional arousal? 3. Identify and describe the incentive approach system and its parts. 4. Describe the relationship between neurotransmitters and the approach system. 5. Identify and describe the behavioral inhibition system and its parts. 6. Describe the relationship between neurotransmitters and the avoidance system. 7. Identify the traits that link to the avoidance and approach systems. 8. Describe Zuckerman’s personality dimension of sensation seeking. What is it? What are its functions? 9. With regard to impulse and restraint, explain the system of cortical effortful control. 10. What is the relationship between neurotransmitters and impulsivity and constraint? 11. Describe how are sex hormones are important early on in life. 12. Identify evidence indicating that early exposure to hormones can influence later behavior. 13. Describe the effect of testosterone on adult personality. 14. Explain how testosterone changes over time and over events. 15. Describe how stress affects men and women in terms of their personality. Why does this seem to be the case? 16. What are EEGs, PETs, MRIs and fMRIs? What is each used for? 17. How does the biological approach explain the following: 17a. Anxiety 17b. Depression 17c. Antisocial behavior 18. What role does medication play in the biological approach to personality?