Psychology Degree Psychology 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which personality theory uses the acronym OCEAN to describe five broad dimensions of personality?
- Eysenck's PEN model
- MBTI framework
- Big Five (Five-Factor Model) (Correct answer)
- Cattell's 16PF
Correct answer: Big Five (Five-Factor Model)
The Big Five model describes personality across Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.
Question 2: The 'foot-in-the-door' technique exploits which psychological principle to gain compliance?
- Reciprocity
- Social proof
- Commitment and consistency (Correct answer)
- Scarcity
Correct answer: Commitment and consistency
People who agree to a small request feel committed to being consistent, making them more likely to comply with larger follow-up requests.
Question 3: Which disorder involves at least two distinct identity states, each with its own pattern of perceiving and interacting with the world?
- Schizophrenia
- Dissociative Identity Disorder (Correct answer)
- Borderline Personality Disorder
- Depersonalization Disorder
Correct answer: Dissociative Identity Disorder
Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly Multiple Personality Disorder) involves two or more distinct personality states.
Question 4: A psychologist measures how consistently a test produces the same results across repeated administrations. This property is called:
- Validity
- Standardization
- Reliability (Correct answer)
- Sensitivity
Correct answer: Reliability
Reliability refers to the consistency and repeatability of a measurement instrument over time or conditions.
Question 5: Milgram's obedience studies found that a majority of participants were willing to administer what they believed were severe electric shocks primarily because of:
- Personal aggression
- Peer pressure from other participants
- Obedience to a legitimate authority figure (Correct answer)
- Financial incentives
Correct answer: Obedience to a legitimate authority figure
Milgram showed that situational authority — represented by a researcher in a lab coat — powerfully overrides personal moral judgment.
Question 6: Which psychoactive drug class works primarily by enhancing the inhibitory effects of GABA in the brain?
- Stimulants
- Hallucinogens
- Opioids
- Benzodiazepines (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Benzodiazepines
Benzodiazepines (e.g., Xanax, Valium) bind to GABA-A receptors and potentiate the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA.
Question 7: The fundamental attribution error refers to the tendency to:
- Overestimate situational factors and underestimate dispositional factors when explaining others' behavior
- Attribute our own failures to situational factors and successes to dispositional factors
- Overestimate dispositional factors and underestimate situational factors when explaining others' behavior (Correct answer)
- Assume others share our own attitudes and beliefs
Correct answer: Overestimate dispositional factors and underestimate situational factors when explaining others' behavior
The fundamental attribution error is the bias toward attributing others' behavior to personality traits while ignoring situational context.
Psychology Degree Psychology 5
Which personality theory uses the acronym OCEAN to describe five broad dimensions of personality?