Personality Theories MCQs 2026

In Cattell's terminology, surface traits are:

1. A Moral ideals ✓
2. B Unconscious symbols ✓
3. C Observable clusters of related behaviors ✓
4. D Deep biological drives ✓

Social-cognitive theories of personality strongly emphasize:

1. A Only unconscious instincts ✓
2. B Learning, cognition, and situational influences ✓
3. C Fixed cranial types ✓
4. D Four bodily humors ✓

The pleasure principle is most closely associated with which Freudian structure?

1. A Id ✓
2. B Ego ✓
3. C Superego ✓
4. D Ideal self ✓

In Jungian theory, archetypes are best described as:

1. A Universal symbolic patterns in the collective unconscious ✓
2. B Learned response chains ✓
3. C Temporary emotional states ✓
4. D Statistical test norms ✓

In Maslow's hierarchy, the most basic needs are:

1. A Self-actualization needs ✓
2. B Belongingness needs ✓
3. C Physiological needs ✓
4. D Esteem needs ✓

Dollard and Miller attempted to explain personality using psychoanalytic ideas and:

1. A Humanistic therapy ✓
2. B Learning theory ✓
3. C Trait taxonomies ✓
4. D Somatotypes ✓

Lewin's formula B = f(P, E) means behavior is a function of the person and the:

1. A Environment ✓
2. B Id ✓
3. C Superego ✓
4. D Archetype ✓

The ancient temperament approach is commonly associated with sanguine, choleric, melancholic, and:

1. A Phlegmatic ✓
2. B Superegoic ✓
3. C Introjective ✓
4. D Operant ✓

Compared with Freud, many neo-Freudians placed greater emphasis on social factors and less emphasis on:

1. A Culture ✓
2. B Conscious goals ✓
3. C Sexual drives ✓
4. D Learning ✓

In Eysenck's PEN model, the P dimension stands for:

1. A Psychoticism ✓
2. B Perseverance ✓
3. C Plasticity ✓
4. D Pragmatism ✓

A central assumption of trait theories is that personality consists of:

1. A Relatively stable dispositions ✓
2. B Only temporary moods ✓
3. C Dream images without behavior ✓
4. D Random learned reflexes ✓

Freud described repression as a defense mechanism that:

1. A Keeps threatening thoughts out of conscious awareness ✓
2. B Converts anxiety into physical exercise ✓
3. C Increases the likelihood of rewarded behavior ✓
4. D Measures personality traits objectively ✓

Jung's introversion and extraversion are examples of basic:

1. A Psychosexual conflicts ✓
2. B Attitudes or orientations of psychic energy ✓
3. C Defense mechanisms ✓
4. D Schedules of reinforcement ✓

Murray's personology is especially known for emphasizing psychological:

1. A Humors ✓
2. B Archetypes ✓
3. C Needs such as achievement and affiliation ✓
4. D Reflexes ✓

The Type A behavior pattern is commonly characterized by competitiveness, time urgency, and:

1. A Hostility ✓
2. B Unconditional acceptance ✓
3. C Collective imagery ✓
4. D Sensory deprivation ✓

Humanistic personality theories place special emphasis on:

1. A Free will, meaning, and personal growth ✓
2. B Inherited reflexes only ✓
3. C Punishment schedules ✓
4. D Cranial measurements ✓

Allport used the term proprium to refer to aspects of personality related to:

1. A Body build ✓
2. B The self ✓
3. C Reflex arcs ✓
4. D Dream censorship ✓

Eysenck proposed that extraverts seek stimulation partly because they have:

1. A More archetypes ✓
2. B Lower baseline cortical arousal ✓
3. C Higher superego strength ✓
4. D No learned habits ✓

Sullivan's personality theory is best described as:

1. A Strictly behaviorist ✓
2. B Psycho-physical ✓
3. C Interpersonal ✓
4. D Constitutional ✓

The Five-Factor Model is most associated with Costa and:

1. A McCrae ✓
2. B Pavlov ✓
3. C Watson ✓
4. D Terman ✓

In Freud's psychosexual stages, the anal stage centers on control issues linked with:

1. A Toilet training ✓
2. B Peer identity ✓
3. C Mate selection ✓
4. D Archetypal dreams ✓

Bandura's term for belief in one's capability to perform a task is:

1. A Introjection ✓
2. B Self-efficacy ✓
3. C Libido ✓
4. D Cardinal trait ✓

Erikson's crisis of generativity versus stagnation is usually linked with:

1. A Middle adulthood ✓
2. B Infancy ✓
3. C Early childhood ✓
4. D Late adolescence ✓

Rogers described a fully functioning person as one who is open to experience and:

1. A Dependent on punishment ✓
2. B Fixed in traits ✓
3. C Lives existentially with trust in the organismic self ✓
4. D Ruled by the id ✓

In Freud's structural model, which part of personality operates mainly on the pleasure principle?

1. A Id ✓
2. B Ego ✓
3. C Superego ✓
4. D Persona ✓

Jung used the term collective unconscious to refer to:

1. A Inherited universal patterns shared by humankind ✓
2. B Forgotten personal memories only ✓
3. C Learned habits acquired through reinforcement ✓
4. D Conscious plans for future behavior ✓

According to Alfred Adler, feelings of inferiority mainly motivate people to:

1. A Return to childhood dependency ✓
2. B Strive for superiority and competence ✓
3. C Avoid all social relationships ✓
4. D Suppress every aggressive impulse ✓

Carl Rogers believed psychological maladjustment often results from incongruence between experience and:

1. A Biological temperament ✓
2. B Collective archetypes ✓
3. C The self-concept ✓
4. D Conditioned reflexes ✓

In the Big Five model, which trait is most closely linked with organization and dependability?

1. A Conscientiousness ✓
2. B Extraversion ✓
3. C Neuroticism ✓
4. D Openness ✓

Bandura's reciprocal determinism proposes interaction among person factors, behavior, and:

1. A Environment ✓
2. B Dream symbols ✓
3. C Body type ✓
4. D Birth order only ✓

In Eysenck's personality theory, neuroticism primarily refers to:

1. A Creativity and intellectual curiosity ✓
2. B Emotional instability and anxiety proneness ✓
3. C Preference for social stimulation ✓
4. D Moral development and conscience ✓

Karen Horney's concept of basic anxiety arises chiefly from:

1. A Failure of operant conditioning ✓
2. B Dominance of the collective unconscious ✓
3. C Feelings of helplessness in an insecure social world ✓
4. D Excessive cortical arousal ✓

In Maslow's hierarchy, the highest level of personality growth is called:

1. A Self-actualization ✓
2. B Reaction formation ✓
3. C Classical conditioning ✓
4. D External locus of control ✓

Skinner's view of personality explains behavior mainly through:

1. A Operant conditioning and reinforcement histories ✓
2. B Dream interpretation ✓
3. C Inherited archetypes ✓
4. D Unconditional positive regard ✓

Allport used the term cardinal trait for a trait that:

1. A Is produced by classical conditioning ✓
2. B Dominates and organizes much of a person's life ✓
3. C Appears only during childhood ✓
4. D Exists only in unconscious fantasy ✓

Cattell's 16PF is based on the idea that personality can be described by:

1. A Defense mechanisms only ✓
2. B Psychosexual conflicts only ✓
3. C Underlying source traits ✓
4. D Four temperaments only ✓

In Freud's theory, the superego is most directly associated with:

1. A Internalized moral standards ✓
2. B Immediate instinctual discharge ✓
3. C Sensory adaptation ✓
4. D External rewards ✓

Erikson linked adolescence most closely with the psychosocial crisis of:

1. A Identity versus role confusion ✓
2. B Trust versus mistrust ✓
3. C Integrity versus despair ✓
4. D Autonomy versus shame ✓

Mischel's cognitive-affective personality system stresses that behavior depends on situations and:

1. A Genetic reflex arcs only ✓
2. B Person variables such as expectancies and goals ✓
3. C Fixed body humors ✓
4. D Dream symbols alone ✓

Rotter's locus of control concerns whether people believe outcomes are controlled by themselves or by:

1. A Archetypes ✓
2. B Psychosexual stages ✓
3. C External forces such as luck or powerful others ✓
4. D Cardinal traits ✓

Sheldon's constitutional theory classified body types as endomorph, mesomorph, and:

1. A Ectomorph ✓
2. B Introvert ✓
3. C Authoritarian ✓
4. D Ambivert ✓

Rogers considered which therapist attitude essential for healthy personality change?

1. A Unconditional positive regard ✓
2. B Punitive discipline ✓
3. C Dream censorship ✓
4. D Token punishment ✓

Kelly's personal construct theory says people mainly function like:

1. A Containers of instinct only ✓
2. B Scientists forming and testing interpretations ✓
3. C Passive reflex machines ✓
4. D Fixed bundles of humors ✓

Attachment theory explains personality development largely through early bonds with:

1. A Unconscious archetypes ✓
2. B Random rewards only ✓
3. C Caregivers ✓
4. D Economic institutions ✓

Existential approaches to personality focus heavily on freedom, responsibility, and:

1. A Meaning ✓
2. B Reinforcement schedules ✓
3. C Factor scores ✓
4. D Body humors ✓

Erich Fromm is particularly associated with ideas about escape from freedom and:

1. A Social character ✓
2. B Operant schedules ✓
3. C Cortical arousal ✓
4. D Psychophysical laws ✓

The trait approach is most useful for predicting behavior when traits are:

1. A Measured without norms ✓
2. B Relevant to the situation and strongly expressed ✓
3. C Completely unconscious ✓
4. D Unrelated to past behavior ✓

Situationism argues that behavior is often influenced more by situations than by:

1. A Dream symbolism ✓
2. B Physiological needs ✓
3. C Stable personality traits ✓
4. D Test reliability ✓

Object relations theories focus mainly on internalized representations of early:

1. A Relationships ✓
2. B Reinforcers ✓
3. C Questionnaires ✓
4. D Temperaments ✓

Classical behaviorists explain personality primarily through observable behavior shaped by:

1. A Learning histories ✓
2. B Archetypal imagery ✓
3. C Self-actualization ✓
4. D Cardinal traits ✓