Personality
Textbook Study Guide
IMPORTANT: This document is intended to guide your study of the textbook only. It does not
completely cover the content included in exams. Exams can include content from the book,
lecture slides, videos shown in class or online lectures, and other content discussed in class or
online lectures.
Module 46: Into to Personality & Psychodynamic Theories
 What do psychologists mean when they talk about “personality?”
 How did Freud become interested in psychological disorders?
 Why did Freud begin using free association with his clients?
 How did Freud view the psyche? How much of the psyche did he think was conscious vs.
unconscious?
 What are the id, ego and superego, and how do they interact to bring about personality?
 What are the psychosexual stages of development? (see Table 46.1)
o How does identification lead to the development of the super ego?
o What does it mean if a person becomes “fixated” in a particular psychosexual stage?
 What are different types of defense mechanisms and why do they arise? (see Table 46.2)
 How have neo-Freudians and psychodynamic theories adapted Freud’s views?
o In particular, what were the views of Alfred Adler, Karen Horney, and Carl Jung?
o What is the collective unconscious?
 What tools can be used to assess unconscious processes?
 How has Freud’s views stood up to scientific investigation? In what ways are they accurate
and in what ways are they inaccurate?
o What are common criticisms of Freud’s theories?
o What have researchers discovered about repression?
o What have researchers discovered about the workings of the unconscious mind?
 What is terror-management theory and how has it provided evidence for the
presence of unconscious anxiety around death?
Module 47: Humanistic Theories and Trait Theories
 What is self-actualization and why is it at the top of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?
 What are the three core tenets of Carl Roger’s person-centered perspective?
 What are the positive qualities of humanistic theories of personality?
 What is a self-concept?
o How is this made up of both actual and idealized selves?
 How has the humanistic perspective influenced the field of psychology?
 What are criticisms of the humanistic perspective?
 What are “trait theories” of personality? What do they try to measure and how?
o How have psychologists created trait measures through factor analysis and
physiological measures?
o How might personality be measured in non-human animals?
 What is the MMPI, how was it developed, and what does it attempt to measure?
 What are the Big Five personality factors? (see Table 47.1)

o How stable are these traits?
o How heritable are these traits?
o Do these traits reflect differences in brain structure?
o How are these traits differ across time and cultures?
o What behavior do these traits predict?
How are “person-situation” interactions a problem when trying to predict people’s behavior
based on their personality traits alone?
o Why is this not such a problem when trying to predict “average” behavior (i.e.,
general behavioral tendencies seen across many different situations)?
o How do people inadvertently give hints to others about their own personality?
 E.g., music preferences, real-world and online spaces, etc.
Module 48: Social-cognitive Theories and the Self

How can the social-cognitive perspective explain the development of stable personality
traits?
 How does reciprocal determinism play a role in this? What are the three steps of
reciprocal determinism?
 What are the benefits to assessing behavior “in realistic situations?”
 What are criticisms of the social-cognitive perspective?

What is the “possible selves” theory posited by Hazel Markus?

What is the “spotlight effect?”

What are the “benefits” of high self-esteem? Does high self-esteem actually cause more
positive life outcomes or is it the other way around?
 What are the disadvantages of having low self-esteem?

What are the dangers of “excessive optimism?”
 How is this related with “ignorance of one’s own incompetence” (i.e., overconfidence)?

What is self-serving bias and how does it help people maintain high self-esteem?
 What might be some disadvantages to having a self-serving bias?
 How might it lead to narcissism?

What are the differences between defensive and secure self-esteem?