AP Psych college board Q

Larry wants to be more open to new experiences. According to a behaviorist, how could he teach himself to be more open?

Give himself a reward every time he convinces himself to participate in a new experience.

Which of the following pieces of evidence would best support the validity of the Big Five personality traits in describing human personality?

The Big Five have been shown to apply to individuals in many countries, including, but not limited to, Hungary, Turkey, China, Japan, and Italy.

Research indicates that the same facial expressions are demonstrated by sighted people and people who are born blind. This provides evidence for which of the following?

the universality hypothesis

The Barnum effect in psychological assessment refers to

the tendency of individuals to accept vague personality descriptions as accurate

John is completing a lengthy test in which he must indicate whether various written statements are true or false about himself. He is most likely taking which of the following?

A personality inventory

The defense mechanism of projection is best illustrated by which of the following examples?

A soccer player who does not have much athletic skill constantly criticizes other athletes' performances.

Which of the following is an example of an individual who demonstrates an internal locus of control?

A student decides to run for student government because he feels he can make some positive changes in the school.

Which of the following situations describes an approach-avoidance conflict?

Anna must decide whether to buy a used car that is in her price range but has several mechanical problems.

Chuck asked Jane out on a date and he offered her two possible options—to see a movie or to go ice skating. Jane felt a bit stressed about making the decision because she liked both activities. Which of the following conflicts was Jane experiencing?

Approach-approach

Mark, a flight attendant, began his workday in a bad mood. However, by the end of the day, he felt much happier. According to the facial feedback hypothesis, what may have influenced Mark's mood?

Because it is his job to be courteous to customers, Mark smiled at passengers frequently.

Which of the following is LEAST likely to affect the immune system's ability to ward off illness?

Being around someone who has a serious case of the flu

On a hike, Maria and Fred, who are strangers, are caught together in a severe thunderstorm with lightning all around them. Both are terrified. In this scenario, which of the following best illustrates an outcome predicted by the Schachter two-factor theory?

Both will misattribute their autonomic arousal for attraction to one another.

Which scenario below is most descriptive of the psychoanalytic theory of personality?

Charlie is overly precise and methodical in everything he does, to the point that he is constantly annoying his family and missing deadlines at work. Dr. Katz believes that this is because Charlie never moved past the anal stage of development.

Which of the following situations poses an approach-approach conflict for a person who listens only to classical music?

Choosing to study with one of two friends, both of whom listen to classical music while studying

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory is used primarily to provide information about which of the following?

Clinical disorders

Carl Jung believed in a storehouse of latent memory traces inherited from a person's ancestral past. Which of the following psychological terms refers to that storehouse?

Collective unconscious

Chris believed he did well on his exam because he was lucky. Which psychological concept applies to Chris's explanation?

External locus of control

Which of the following concepts explains motivation in terms of an organism seeking to maintain its biological equilibrium?

Homeostasis

The notion of self-actualization is most closely associated with which of the following approaches to explaining personality?

Humanistic

Regarding Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which of the following criticisms would most likely be made by a person from a collectivist culture?

Individuals may be motivated by a need for community approval rather than a need for self-actualization.

After watching a scary movie, Liam hears a noise in his closet and his heart begins racing, and subsequently he feels afraid. Which of the following theories best explains Liam's experience of emotion?

James-Lange

Which of the following behaviors best demonstrates an emotional response associated with the short route from the thalamus to the amygdala, as described by Joseph LeDoux?

Miguel jumps up on a chair because he thinks he sees something moving along the wall. When he realizes it was just a dust ball, he gets off the chair.

According to the five-factor model of personality, which of the following is true?

Most personality traits can be derived from the five major traits of the theory.

Dr. Emerson is seeing a patient named Nandini who is currently going through a divorce. She has moved out of her house and is staying on a friend's couch. While she is going through this, Nandini is struggling to find meaning in her life. Humanist theorist Abraham Maslow's explanation for Nandini's dissatisfaction with life would most likely be that

Nandini has not fulfilled basic needs (shelter, relationships, love), and thus cannot fulfill higher levels of needs

Figures such as the one above are used in which of the following kinds of test?

Projective personality

According to Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which of the following statements is true?

Physiological needs must be met before an individual achieves self-actualization.

Dave feels guilty after eating three slices of chocolate cake. However, he tells himself not to worry because he ate a very light lunch earlier in the day. What defense mechanism is Dave relying on?

Rationalization

Jorgas struggles with meeting new people. He is very shy and does not approach people at social events. Because of this, people assume he does not want to talk to them and they avoid him, which in turn reinforces Jorgas' anxiety about approaching people. Jorgas' situation illustrates which of the following principles?

Reciprocal determinism

Which of the following assessment tools explores individuals' personalities by asking them to examine a series of inkblots and describe what they see in the inkblot?

Rorschach Test

Which of the following summations most accurately depicts the psychoanalytic theory of personality?

Rory has a deep-seated sense of inferiority and compensates by constantly trying to prove she is better than everyone else. Some would say that Rory is compensating for her inferiority complex by striving for superiority.

When given a drug that produced general arousal, research participants placed in a room with a happy confederate described their emotional state as happy, while those placed in a room with an angry confederate described their emotional state as angry. Which theory of emotion best explains these results?

Schachter-Singer

Which of the following would be detrimental to an individual's maintenance of high self-esteem?

Setting unrealistic personal goals

In general, trait theories emphasize which of the following?

The lasting nature of personal characteristics

The Big Five personality factors are based in which psychological perspective?

Trait psychology

Rufus wanted to go to college after high school, but he did not go because he was afraid it would be too much work. For years he has considered going to college but he still fears that it will be too hard. Eventually he feels so unhappy that he goes to see a therapist, who follows Carl Rogers's theory of humanistic personality. The therapist is most likely to explain Rufus's unhappiness as being a result of

a mismatch between his ideal self and his real self

Every time Antonio fails a test he attributes his failure to a lack of sufficient intelligence, even though he rarely studies. According to the sociocultural theory of personality, Antonio is experiencing

an external locus of control

Gustav was out for his daily walk when he was approached by a thief who demanded his wallet. He immediately felt an increase in his breathing and heart rate. Which of the following accurately describes Gustav's physiological response?

alarm reaction

Judy believes that her fate is determined by her own actions. Judy's belief best illustrates

an internal locus of control

Which of the following theoretical perspectives supports the claim that an outgoing personality is a result of reinforcement?

behavioral

Psychodynamic theorists believe that the development of personality is largely influenced by unconscious motivations. The theories are most often criticized because they

cannot be disproven

Sigmund Freud developed his theory of personality based largely on

case studies of the patients he treated

According to Kurt Lewin, an approach-approach conflict occurs when a person has to

choose between two outcomes that are both desirable

Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer view emotion as resulting from

cognitive labels of physiological changes

Placing group needs above one's own needs is known as

collectivism

Hans grew up in Germany and later moved to Japan for a job opportunity. Back at home, he never had issues making friends or had interpersonal issues with colleagues at work, but in his new home, Hans is having difficulty interacting with his colleagues. According to psychologists who study how culture influences behavior, his difficulties most likely stem from

cultural differences in emotional expression and body language between Japan and Germany

Exposure to stressors decreases the effectiveness of lymphocytes in the blood stream, which perform the function of

defending the body from viruses

When parents refuse to accept several psychologists' diagnosis of a child's mental illness, they are using which of the following defense mechanisms?

denial

Angry with his professor because of a difficult exam, Martin returns home and takes out his anger on his best friend. Martin's behavior illustrates

displacement

On Diane's first day of work she was offered a cookie. When she bit into the cookie, it tasted horrible, but because she wanted to make a good impression, Diane concealed her disgust and smiled instead. Diane's reaction best illustrates

display rules

Paul Ekman found that when Japanese students watched films of surgery, they masked their expressions of disgust with a smile when an authority figure entered the room but not when alone. American students maintained their expressions of disgust both alone and in the presence of an authority figure. Ekman's findings illustrate what he calls

display rules

Which of the following theories suggests that a physiological need creates a state of tension that motivates an organism to satisfy the need?

drive-reduction

Neo-Freudian theories of psychoanalysis such as those of Karen Horney and Erik Erikson differ from Freud's conceptualization in that they are less likely to

emphasize the libido

According to Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the need to have respect for ourselves and to be valued by others is classified within the category of

esteem needs

Which theory of motivation is most likely to suggest that a younger woman would be attracted to an older man because of his greater ability to provide for her?

evolutionary

Danielle was laid off from her job six months ago and has been unsuccessful at finding a new one. The income from her long hours of temp work barely covers her bills. She has begun to have frequent cold and flu symptoms and has become depressed. Danielle is most likely in the stage of Hans Selye's general adaptation syndrome known as

exhaustion

The final stage of general adaptation theory is known as

exhaustion

In the James-Lange theory of emotion, which of the following immediately precedes an emotion?

experience of physiological changes

The overjustification effect has led some psychologists to question the value of

extrinsic motivation

Nick is smiling even though he does not feel happy. After a short time he feels happier. The best explanation for Nick's change in mood is

facial feedback

A statistical technique that would allow a researcher to cluster such traits as being talkative, social, and adventurous with extroversion is called

factor analysis

A hostile person with a type A personality is most at risk for developing which of the following?

heart disease

John is generally pleasant, but during final exams he experiences more intense stress than other students experience. He is irritable and easily frustrated. According to the Big Five model of personality, John would be

high in neuroticism

According to Freudian theory, the component of the personality that is "blind, impulsive, and irrational" is the

id

Aashna works at a florist's shop. She enjoys the work so much that she often comes in to work early or stays late, even though she does not get paid extra for doing so. Aashna's behavior is best explained by

intrinsic motivation

In Sigmund Freud's view, the role of the ego is to

mediate among the id, the superego, and reality

Which of the following is considered the most basic of needs?

obtaining food and water

Studies of the Big Five personality traits have revealed that

people show fairly high levels of stability in the traits from year to year

Alfred Kinsey used a method that allowed for extensive information to be collected from discussions with individual participants. The research method that he used, and his research contributions, were

personal interviews; sexual behavior in women

One feature that distinguishes Carl Rogers' person-centered approach to personality development from behaviorist approaches to personality development is that the person-centered approach suggests that

personality is shaped by unconditional love and support for children's behavior, whereas behaviorist approaches suggest that personality is conditioned through rewards and punishments

Sentence-completion tests, the Rorschach inkblot test, and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) are all examples of which of the following types of tests?

projective

Which of the following Freudian constructs is believed to protect the organism from anxiety by making memories inaccessible?

repression

Melvin, a server at a restaurant, is in the middle of a lunch rush. He is completing orders, serving customers, and seating new guests. He has adapted to this level of stress and is coping. Which of the following terms identifies a stage in Hans Selye's general adaptation syndrome that Melvin is currently experiencing?

resistance

Individuals who exhibit a strong moral sense, accept themselves as they are, are deeply democratic in nature, and are willing to act independently of social and cultural pressures would be described by Abraham Maslow as

self-actualized

Most tests of personality are in the form of

self-report inventories

An example of a primary drive is

sleeping

Paris tends to view personality as fairly stable and therefore her personality is more stable, whereas Lane tends to view personality as fairly changeable and therefore her personality is more changeable. These differences in attitudes and personality are most consistent with the

social cognitive view of personality

Ted is hiking along a mountain trail when he sees a large snake slithering across the path ahead of him. According to the James-Lange theory, after seeing the snake, Ted will most likely

start trembling and then feel fear without explicitly processing the snake

Transforming frustrated urges, especially sexual urges, into more socially acceptable forms of behavior is the defense mechanism known as

sublimation

In Freudian theory, which of the following components of personality most resembles a conscience or censor?

superego

Karen had been working overtime to complete a project so that she could go skiing at the end of the month. On the day of her trip, Karen got sick with the flu and had to cancel. Stress hormones had most likely affected her immune system by

suppressing white blood cells called T lymphocytes

Tahani is hiking in the woods and sees some movement in the trees. She immediately tenses up. A few moments later, after she realizes that the trees were just rustling in the wind, she calms down. According to Joseph LeDoux, Tahani's reaction is due to the fact that

there is a fast processing path that sends sensory information directly to the amygdala, causing Tahani's initial fear response, and a slower processing path that processes the content of sensory information first, which overrode Tahani's fear response

Nick admitted to his parents that he was not working to his potential in his academics and sports. Even though his parents were disappointed, instead of yelling at Nick, they accepted him and wanted to help him work through his feelings. His parents' behavior exemplified

unconditional positive regard