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(ii) Content of the response, nature of the object and
activities seen
(iii) Determinants, those aspects of the card that prompted
response
(iv) Correctly utilized, test is both reliable and permits
valid assessments about the underlying personality
b) The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), developed by Henry
Murray
(i) Respondents shown pictures of ambiguous scenes
and asked to generate stories about them, describing
what people are thinking and doing, what led up to
each event, and how each situation will end
(ii) Individual administering test evaluates structure and
content of stories, as well as behavior of individual
telling them, attempting to discover respondent’s
major concerns motivations, and personality
characteristics
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CHAPTER 14: UNDERSTANDING HUMAN PERSONALITY
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Have the class suppose that there was no continuity in behavior or personality and that we
faced each situation anew, without reference to prior experiences and reactions. Discuss
with the class the changes this scenario might evoke in one’s self-concept.
2. What might be the advantage or disadvantage to describing the personality of a
developmentally delayed child using the trait orientation? What about use of the type
orientation? Ask the class for a show of hands indicating how many prefer each
perspective. Have individual class members indicate why they prefer one perspective to the
other.
3. In what sense does our personality limit our freedom to act? In what sense does our
personality give us greater freedom to act than a cat or dog enjoys?
4. Discuss the five-factor model of personality. Aside from the obvious applications in the
mental health industry, ask the class what other applications they see for this model. Have
students expand on their perspective.
5. Of the various approaches to personality detailed in this chapter, which do students find to
be most satisfying in a personal sense? Is this an emotional or an intellectual choice?
Discuss the implications.
6. We all assume somewhat different roles and personalities in different social situations. If
you could be only one of these “people,” which would you choose? How would other
people’s reactions to you be changed in those situations where you now displayed a new
set of characteristics?
7. A surprisingly large percentage of college students (about 50 percent) describe themselves
as “shy.” Can such a self-imposed label be changed by the time one reaches college age? If
so, how? How does someone come to be “shy”? What is the difference between being a
“shy person” and being “situationally shy”?
8. You might want to discuss Judith Rich Harris’s book, The Nurture Assumption: Why Children
Turn Out the Way They Do; Parents Matter Less than You Think and Peers Matter More, in which
she argues that peers, not parents, play the most important role in shaping a child’s
personality. As the text explains, there is abundant research that consistently indicates that
parents play a large, if not critical, role in shaping a child’s personality. As the text
suggests, if parents had little or no impact, then there would be no observable birth order
effects. Additionally, Harris ignores the fact that since children tend to grow up in
neighborhoods where many families have similar values and behavior standards, they are
surrounded by other children with fairly similar values to their own. Children may also
self-select friends based on how similar their attitudes and interests are to their own. While
peers clearly have some effect, especially during the middle school and high school years,
there is no evidence that the effects of peer influence override parental influences in the
long run to the degree argued by Harris. How do students feel about this?