Psychology C01 Midterm Study Questions Fall, 1997

9 questions will be chosen from this list, and you will be expected to answer 6 of them.

  1. Hans Eysenck has developed a theory of personality which ranges from physiological differences to social behavior. Briefly summarize his theory of introversion-extraversion.

  2. How does Eysenck's theory relate to the paradoxial effect of amphetamines when used for treating hyperactivity?

  3. How does Eysenck's theory explain anti-social behavior such as that found in psychopaths?

  4. Jeffrey Gray has claimed that "Revelle's data are a dagger in the heart of Eysenck's theory". What are these data and why are they relevant to Eysenck's theory?

  5. Social psychologists frequently suggest that individual differences are not important. Are they right, or is there some reason to study individual differences in personality?

  6. What do coffee, impulsivity, and time of day have to do with each other? How do they relate to sociopathy?

  7. John Atkinson's theory of achievement motivation has evolved from a theory of risk preference to a theory of cumulative achievement. Briefly summarize the important parts of his theory.

  8. Atkinson's theory predicts different patterns of behavior for people who are approach motivated than those who are avoidance motivated. Explain what predictions the theory makes that are different for these two groups of subjects.

  9. What are contingent paths, and why are they important to our understanding of human achievement?

  10. Discuss how anxiety affects performance. Is there any situation in which it is beneficial to be anxious?

  11. What is the distinction between traits and states? Why is this important?

  12. Atkinson and Eysenck are both concerned with the interaction of personality with the environment. Is it possible to integrate their respective models into one?

  13. Some theorists have attempted to distinguish between effort and arousal as two components of motivation. Is this a legitimate distinction? Is it a useful one? Explain.

  14. How do effort and arousal affect cognitive performance? How do these effects relate to individual differences in personality or to situational manipulations?

  15. Suppose a friend asks why you are studying personality. Your friend suggests that most of what psychologists in general and personality researchers in particular say is trivial and obvious. Your friend says that personality theory is merely common sense. How do you answer this person, do you agree or disagree?

  16. "If something exists, it exists in some amount, if it exists in some amount, it can be measured." This statement is perhaps the fundamental hypothesis of psychometric theory. Briefly discuss why the study of basic principles of measurement is imporant to the study of personality.

  17. It has long been argued that there are two different disciplines in the study of psychology: the study of general laws and the study of individual differences. How do these two approaches differ? Is there a way to reconcile these two approaches in the study of personality?
William Revelle
Revised October 25th, 1997.