PYC2601 Personality Theories Exam Pack 2021.

PYC2601 Personality Theories Exam Pack 2021. Losita believes that she is from another planet and has come to visit the earth in order to save its inhabitants. She tells you that the reason her psychiatrist says she is psychotic is because she speaks in a language that human beings do not have the intellectual capacity to understand, and he is too defensive to admit his own ignorance and so rather regards her as having a mental disability. How would Rogers explain Losita’s behaviour? (a) Rogers would understand Losita’s view of her psychiatrist as defensive, as her psychiatrist would need to protect his self concept against the incongruent experience that he may not be intelligent. (b) Rogers would explain Losita’s psychosis as arising from a ‘defenseless state’ in which her incongruities became conscious, with her personality becoming disorganised as a result. (c) Rogers would view Losita’s behaviour as proof of the malfunctioning that can occur when a person’s defense mechanisms no longer function effectively. (d) Rogers would regard Losita’s behaviour as resulting from the use of denial as a way of dealing with her misconceptions rather than the more effective defense mechanism of distortion. The correct answer is: (1) (a) & (b) (2) (b) & (c) (3) (c) & (d) (4) (b) & (d) Feedback on Question 5 The correct answer is Alternative 2 containing Statements (b) and (c) that clearly illustrate the severe degree of malfunctioning in Losita, which could be referred to as psychotic. Please note, however, that Rogers was opposed to labels. Statements (a) and (d) are clearly incorrect. Statement (a) is incorrect because the emphasis is on Losita’s defenseless state and malfunctioning, and not on her psychiatrist’s self concept. Statement (d) is incorrect as both defense mechanisms, denial and distortion, are used to protect the self concept. One is not better than the other. They merely serve different functions. Questions on Frankl’s theory Question 6 There may have been times in your life that you felt extremely anxious. Virtually all you could think about was how to protect or somehow defend yourself against what you were experiencing. Which of the following statements would fit what Frankl had to say about such situations in the lives of human beings? (a) Freedom of choice only operates when we are in situations of relative safety and security. (b) The most effective way of dealing with extreme stress is to back away or withdraw from confrontation with the problem or situation causing the stress and to find relieving ways or techniques of coping with it. (c) The greatest sense of triumph and joyous relief comes from the realisation that we are not the hapless victim of circumstances but that, even in the worst situations, we still have the freedom to determine what kind of person we are going to be in the face of the stressful situation. (d) Like the animal, we as human beings have strong survival instincts which can prompt us, under extreme situations, to act in ways that under other circumstances we will not think of doing (e.g. in securing our own safety at the cost of others; in being deceitful, even in stealing or, at the extreme, plotting the downfall or even killing those whom we feel are a threat to us). The correct answer is: (1) (a) & (b) (2) (a) & (d) (3) (c) (4) (c) & (d) Feedback on Question 6 Frankl maintained that even under the most adverse circumstances, we still retain the freedom to choose whether we will deal in a moral or immoral way with that which threatens us. Statement (a) is therefore incorrect. The realisation that we are not the hapless victim of circumstances, enables us to face up to and deal with difficult or stressful events in our lives. We will not try to escape the situation but courageously confront it. Statement (b) is therefore incorrect and Statement (c) correct. However, we share survival instincts with the animals which at times can be so predominant that we can act in cruel, thoughtless and destructive ways. We are not compelled to act that way, but can be tempted to do so. Statement (d) is therefore correct. The correct answer is thus Alternative 4 which includes Statements (c) and (d). Question 7 We live in a world that is highly competitive. It is also a world that sharply distinguishes between the haves and the have nots or the achievers and the non-achievers. What ideas have you developed and what beliefs do you hold with regard to your own position in life? Indicate which of these ideas and beliefs correspond to the views of Frankl. (a) Success is a measure of your worth as a person. Failure is the experience of the weak and the inadequate. (b) Every person should strive to actualise whatever potential and talent he or she has. The highest goal in life is self-actualisation. (c) Every person has a destined role to play. The secret is to discover what life requires of us and to do it, no matter what it brings in its wake. (d) The law of nature is the law of human society as well: it is the fittest that survive or make it in this world. The correct answer is: (1) (a) & (d) (2) (a), (b) & (c) (3) (b) & (c) (4) (c) Feedback on Question 7 Frankl maintained that all of life has meaning, even failure. Failure, like suffering, can cause us to realise truths and learn things about ourselves and about life which we may never have done otherwise. Success therefore cannot be seen as the yardstick of a worthwhile or meaningful life. Statement (a) is thus incorrect. Frankl clearly maintained that we best actualise ourselves by not placing the focus on ourselves and on our success or reputations in life, but on a worthy cause that we commit ourselves to. In serving others, we serve ourselves! Statement (b) is therefore also incorrect. Frankl maintained that we have only our own lives to live with its own problems, challenges and opportunities. Often the road we feel destined to travel requires that we choose to realise one rather than the other thing that we are good at. Not all of our talents get realised, only those that serve to let us fulfill our peculiar tasks or destined duties in life. This view of Frankl further highlights the incorrectness of making selfactualisation our focus in life, and is expressed in Statement (c), the correct option. Frankl’s concentration camp experiences further illuminated the fact that, even if this was no guarantee of survival, it was not so much the physically fit or hardy individuals that survived, but those with a strong spirit, even if they were physically weak and not so hardy constitutionally. In human society, therefore, the law of the jungle does not prevail, but the exact opposite. The greatness of human society or of human beings is measured not in how physically fit and hardy they are, but in how much they care for the weak and to what extent they commit themselves in alleviating the suffering of others. Statement (d) is therefore incorrect. Since only Statement (c) reflects the view of Frankl, Alternative 4 is the correct answer. Question 8 How strongly does religion feature in your life? What views do you hold as a result of your religious mind-set? Which of the following views, that may or may not reflect your own views, correspond to the views held by Frankl? (a) Religion is a conscious commitment, and only those who have committed themselves in such a conscious way are included in the community of true believers. (b) Everyone relates to God or to a Higher Power, whether this relationship is expressed consciously or is unconscious and also whether this relationship is a positive or a negative one (e.g. expresses itself in faith in the existence of God or in a denial of such existence). (c) If we are convinced of the truth of our particular religious persuasions, it is our duty to persuade others to believe likewise. (d) Unconditional faith in the unconditional meaningfulness of life allows us to say: Yes! To life under all circumstances, even the incomprehensible ones. The correct answer is: (1) (a) & (c) (2) (a) & (d) (3) (b) & (d) (4) (a), (c) & (d) Feedback on Question 8 Few areas in life are as provocative as those relating to religious views and persuasions. Frankl’s views are particularly thought-provoking when applied to religious beliefs and mind-sets. Statement (a), and with it Statement (c), are popular opinions among the religiously devout. The only problem is that there is more than one religion espousing these views, often making for conflict among them! Frankl’s dimensional ontology can make for greater religious tolerance. He maintained that just as the human dimension overarches the subhuman or animalistic dimensions, so the Supra-human dimension overarches the human. This means that the Supra-human dimension or God cannot be fully explained in human terms nor be encapsulated within just one belief system at the exclusion of all others. Since faith, to be genuine, must be something personally meaningful and real to the individual person, it makes little sense to condemn others who do not feel exactly the same way we do about ultimate (or religious) issues. Statements (a) and (c) therefore, do not correspond to Frankl’s views. Frankl further maintained that at the heart of every human life is a will to meaning, however much this will may have been thwarted or even willfully suppressed. These views are reflected in Statement (b), which, unlike Statements (a) and (c), expresses Frankl’s view. Statement (d) is another refreshing view of Frankl, indicating that our faith often transcends the need to have all the answers to everything in life. We can therefore live life the way we feel it should be lived, even if we do not fully understand everything about it! Since Statements (b) and (d) reflect the views of Frankl, Alternative 3 is the correct answer. Question 9 You may have considered the impact of your childhood experiences on the shaping of your personality and how it still impacts on your present life and your views of the future. Considering Frankl’s views on the dynamics of the personality, which of the following statements correctly reflect/s what he believed? (a) We are not absolutely free. Our freedom is contained in what we do with the influences we have undergone and the circumstances in which we have been placed. (b) Human freedom means that we have the power to disregard the unhappy things we suffered in our formative years and that we can triumph in total victory over it all. (c) It is possible that childhood influences could have been so bad, hardships so severe or an illness so devastating, that we experience ourselves as helpless to do anything about it. (d) The true view of what it means to be human cannot be found in averages since those who reach full human stature in manifesting what human beings are capable of, are in the minority. The correct answer is: (1) (a) & (c) (2) (a), (c) & (d) (3) (b) (4) (b) & (d) Feedback on Question 9 It is important to realise that Frankl contended that his illumination of the higher reaches of personality development does not cancel out what transpires on the lower levels of being. He regarded logotherapy as a complement to other types of therapies which deal with physical or organic diseases like schizophrenia, or with the psychodynamic psychotherapies dealing with emotional and social conflict. Frankl maintained that we are not absolutely free and that sometimes, like in schizophrenia or some extreme stress situation, we do indeed experience our wills as not free. It does ask exceptional courage and the grace of circumstances to reach the highest levels of being. Those who reach it, have the responsibility of feeling compassion for, and helping those, who have not or even cannot reach those levels of supreme being. Statement (b) is therefore incorrect while Statements (a), (c) and (d), correct. The correct answer is therefore Alternative 2. Question 10 What do you long for in your life? What are your prospects for the future? In considering the answer to these questions, which of the following ideas correspond to what Viktor Frankl had to say on these subjects? (a) To gain optimum security and a sense of belonging to a group, religion, nation or country which one has designated as one’s own, is the foothold we all need to feel optimally happy and satisfied. (b) To do your own thing, at your own discretion, time and to your own personal liking, even if it upsets the apple cart, or goes against the grain of what your family, religion or group want of you, is the only way to feel good about yourself. (c) The greatest challenge is to live with uncertainty and to realise that you are not the complete master of your own destiny. (d) The secret of human fulfilment is to discover where you are needed and to give of yourself even if this, at times, depletes, depresses or exhausts you.The correct answer is: (1) (a) (2) (b) (3) (b) & (d) (4) (c) & (d) Feedback on Question 10 Frankl contended that the more open and receptive to change we are, the more able to live with uncertainty, the greater our sense of awe at the beauty, wonder and order or meaning of human existence in a world that needs us. It is in a sense of responsibility towards someone or something outside of ourselves and a realisation of being dependent on something greater than ourselves, that a sense of the true worthwhileness of life can be found. In view of this particular life’s orientation espoused by Frankl, Statements (a) and (b) are incorrect and Statements (c) and (d) (Alternative 4) correct. Questions on the African Perspectives Question 11 Which of the following most accurately explain why an indigenous African psychology did not develop? (a) Most of the studies undertaken with African people have been conducted from a Western-oriented framework, which has resulted in understandings that are not always applicable to African people. (b) Mainstream psychology is predominantly a Euro-Americocentric science, which was exported to Africa and the East, with the result that to date a specific personality theory from a purely African perspective has not been developed. (c) According to Nsemang most African people have neither heard nor know the meaning of the term psychology, thereby reducing the likelihood of research on an indigenous African psychology being conducted. (d) The theories and methods of psychology are still eurocentric, resulting in its primary focus being on topics that exclude indigenous African knowledge and ways of being. The correct answer is: (1) All of the above (2) (a) & (b) (3) (b), (c) & (d) (4) None of the above Feedback on Question 11 The correct answer is Alternative 1, all of the above. This style of question is designed to test your theoretical knowledge with the answers being extracted almost verbatim from the prescribed book. Read through the answer to the question posed on pages 529-530 of the 4th edition of the prescribed book, which asks: What is the stance of psychology in Africa and why did an indigenous psychology not develop? Can you identify the source of Statements (a), (b), (c) and (d)? Question 12 Thandi is very ill and goes to see her local doctor. After two weeks she has still not recovered and on the advice of her mother goes to visit the local sangoma. Which one of the following statements most accurately reflects the different understandings of Thandi’s illness arrived at by the Western doctor and traditional African sangoma? (1) According to the doctor, Thandi is personally responsible for her illness as she eats too much unhealthy food, while the sangoma understood the cause of Thandi’s illness as resulting from her neighbour having bewitched her. (2) Thandi’s doctor believed that the cause of her illness resulted from the stress she was under as her work environment is very competitive. The sangoma agreed with this diagnosis and believed that Thandi did not recover after two weeks because she failed to take the doctor’s advice. (3) The doctor believed that the cause of Thandi’s illness could be explained in terms of her interpersonal dynamics, whereas the sangoma tended to emphasise her intrapsychic dynamics in his causal explanation. (4) According to the doctor, Thandi is not personally responsible for her illness or how it has progressed, as she cannot control the germs in the air. The sangoma however viewed Thandi as personally responsible as she must have upset the ancestors in order to develop the type of illness that she did. Feedback on Question 12 This question tests your ability to understand and accurately apply the factual information in your prescribed book within the context of a story. Hence, information in the prescribed book (4th edition), about the traditional African worldview and how it differs from a Western worldview, has been drawn from the sections on the meso- and microcosmos and applied to Thandi and her illness. Read through these two sections and ensure that you understand the links between the facts and the story. All of the alternatives express a view on the general belief expressed in the meso-cosmos section of your prescribed book, that the traditional African worldview attributes behaviour to external agents outside of the person, while Western-oriented theories tend to explain behaviour in terms of factors within the person. This general principle is then further coupled with the principles expressed under the section on the microcosmos. Alternative 1 is the most correct answer, as the Western oriented doctor regards Thandi as personally responsible for her illness, while the traditional African sangoma allocates the cause to an external agent. Alternative 2 is incorrect as it downplays the general belief that a difference does exist between the two worldviews. Thus, believing that illness is caused from the stress created in a competitive environment is more in keeping with a Western worldview than a traditional African one, where cooperation would be considered a more natural way of being. Alternative 2 therefore applies the factual information in the schematic comparison of the Western and African worldviews provided under the micro-cosmos section of the prescribed chapter. Alternative 3 is incorrect as it reflects the facts incorrectly by linking the Western notion of intrapsychic dynamics to the traditional African perspective, while in a similar manner Alternative 4 is incorrect as it links the Western notion of individual responsibility to both the Western and African perspectives. Question 13 Betty uses a logical approach to plan her work activities and moves systematically through the 10 items she has prioritised, while Veronica prefers to select a task to focus on, in terms of the time of day and her available energy levels. Which one of the following statements about this story’s reflection on the cognitive functioning and conception of time favoured by traditional Africans and Westerners is the most correct? (1) Betty’s logical systematic approach reflects the Western view of time as a mathematical construct and is better than the more haphazard traditional African approach to planning exemplified by Veronica. (2) Veronica’s approach is more in keeping with the traditional African view of being in time rather than on time’ and will ensure a better quality of work output than Betty’s Western approach, which forces her to work against her own natural rhythms. (3) Betty’s logical approach to planning exemplifies the Western preference for intuitive rationality in cognitive functioning, while Veronica’s approach may be said to reflect the traditional African preference for pure rationality. (4) Betty’s logical and systematic approach reflects the Western preference for ‘the logic of reason’ while Veronica’s more intuitive approach better reflects the traditional African preference for the logic of the heart’ in cognitive functioning. Feedback on Question 13 This question tests your ability to integrate your understanding of the different sections of the theory. It is important when you study this chapter to see how the traditional African worldview is reflected in the view of the person, views on cognitive functioning and concept of time, as well as in what is regarded as optimal and pathological functioning. Remember each theory is like a story and has a golden thread running through it. The facts of the theory will be easier to remember and understand once you have grasped this golden thread. Alternative 4 is the correct answer to this question as it is the one with the most accurate comparisons between Betty’s and Veronica’s approaches, with the traditional African and Western notions of cognitive functioning and time. Alternative 3 is similar but has inaccuracies. Can you pinpoint which facts are incorrect? Refer to the relevant sections in the prescribed chapter. Alternatives 1 and 2 are incorrect as they reflect a judgmental stance, implying that one approach is better than another. Question 14 Solomon, who holds traditional African beliefs, has recently begun to feel very ill. Within the context of his belief system, which one of the following most accurately explains his understanding of the cause of his ill health and the appropriate medium for healing? Solomon feels that he is (1) Responsible for the cause of his behaviour and is dependent on a sangoma to heal him. (2) Responsible for the cause of his behaviour and is dependent on God to heal him. (3) Not responsible for the cause of his behaviour and is dependent on a psychiatrist’s medication to reverse the power of the spell in his own mind in order to be healed. (4) Not responsible for the cause of his behaviour and is dependent on the good will of his ancestors to heal him. Feedback on Question 14 This question explores your understanding of the traditional African view on health and pathology, combined with the theoretical information detailed under the meso-cosmos section, which explores how the African perspective attributes behaviour to external agents. By applying these understandings to Solomon, we would expect him to view a power outside of himself as responsible for his illness. This eliminates Alternatives 1 and 2 as the correct answer. Alternative 4 completes this correct understanding by linking Solomon’s belief regarding causation to the appropriate medium, namely his ancestors. For this reason, Alternative 3 is incorrect, as it links Solomon’s beliefs regarding causation to the Western medium of psychiatry. Question 15 Simphiwe is referred to you for psychotherapy. As you are practising within the framework of the traditional African worldview, what would you consider to be an optimal outcome for Simphiwe’s therapy? (1) Therapy will be successful when Simphiwe is able to function as an autonomous, independent human being. (2) Your aim will be to increase his analysis of the circumstances surrounding his mental health difficulties.