THEORIES OF PERSONALITY OA EXAM 2 FINAL
ASSESSMENT 2026 COMPLETE QUESTIONS
ANSWERS SCRIPT A+
◉ approach-avoidance conflict
Answer: in Dollard and Miller's social learning theory, the
psychological conflict induced by a stimulus that is at once attractive
and aversive (e.g., sky-diving).
◉ five key assumptions of the approach-avoidance conflict
Answer: 1. an increase in drive strength will increase the tendency
to approach or avoid a goal. 2. whenever there are two competing
responses, the stronger one (i.e., the one with greater drive strength
behind it) will win out. 3. the tendency to approach a positive goal
increases the closer one gets to the goal. 4. the tendency to avoid a
negative goal also increases the closer one gets to that goal 5. most
important, tendency 4 is stronger than tendency 3.
◉ expectancy value theory
Answer: Rotter's theory of how the value and perceived attainability
of a goal combine to affect the probability of a goal-seeking behavior.
◉ expectancy
,Answer: in Rotter's social learning theory, the degree to which an
individual believes a behavior will probably attain its goal.
◉ efficacy expectations
Answer: in Bandura's social learning theory, one's belief that one can
perform a given goal-directed behavior.
◉ learning
Answer: in behaviorism, a change in behavior as a result of
experience.
◉ behaviorism
Answer: the theoretical view of personality that focuses on overt
behavior and the ways in which it can be affected by rewards and
punishments in the environment.
◉ functional analysis
Answer: in behaviorism, a description of how a behavior is a
function of the environment of the person or animal that performs
it.
◉ empiricism
Answer: the idea that everything a person knows comes from
experience.
,◉ tabula rasa
Answer: Latin for 'blank slate,' term used by 19th century
philosopher John Locke used to describe the mind of a newborn
baby ready to be written on by experience.
◉ associationism
Answer: the idea that all complex ideas are combinations of two or
more simple ideas.
◉ hedonism
Answer: the idea that people are motivated to seek pleasure and
avoid pain.
◉ rewards and punishment on motivation
Answer: the fundamental motivations of pleasure and pain explain
why rewards and punishments shape behavior.
◉ utilitarianism
Answer: the idea that the best society is the one that creates the
most happiness for the largest number of people.
◉ habituation
, Answer: the decrease in response to a stimulus on repeated
applications; this is the simplest kind of learning.
◉ classical conditioning
Answer: the kind of learning in which an unconditioned response
(such as salivating), that is naturally elicited by one stimulus (such
as food), becomes elicited also by a new, conditioned stimulus (such
as a bell).
◉ learned helplessness
Answer: a belief that nothing one does matters, derived from an
experience of random or unpredictable reward and punishment, and
theorized to be a basis of depression.
◉ respondent conditioning
Answer: Skinner's term for classical conditioning.
◉ operant conditioning
Answer: Skinner's term for the process of learning in which an
organism's behavior is shaped by the effect of the behavior on the
environment.
◉ reinforcement
ASSESSMENT 2026 COMPLETE QUESTIONS
ANSWERS SCRIPT A+
◉ approach-avoidance conflict
Answer: in Dollard and Miller's social learning theory, the
psychological conflict induced by a stimulus that is at once attractive
and aversive (e.g., sky-diving).
◉ five key assumptions of the approach-avoidance conflict
Answer: 1. an increase in drive strength will increase the tendency
to approach or avoid a goal. 2. whenever there are two competing
responses, the stronger one (i.e., the one with greater drive strength
behind it) will win out. 3. the tendency to approach a positive goal
increases the closer one gets to the goal. 4. the tendency to avoid a
negative goal also increases the closer one gets to that goal 5. most
important, tendency 4 is stronger than tendency 3.
◉ expectancy value theory
Answer: Rotter's theory of how the value and perceived attainability
of a goal combine to affect the probability of a goal-seeking behavior.
◉ expectancy
,Answer: in Rotter's social learning theory, the degree to which an
individual believes a behavior will probably attain its goal.
◉ efficacy expectations
Answer: in Bandura's social learning theory, one's belief that one can
perform a given goal-directed behavior.
◉ learning
Answer: in behaviorism, a change in behavior as a result of
experience.
◉ behaviorism
Answer: the theoretical view of personality that focuses on overt
behavior and the ways in which it can be affected by rewards and
punishments in the environment.
◉ functional analysis
Answer: in behaviorism, a description of how a behavior is a
function of the environment of the person or animal that performs
it.
◉ empiricism
Answer: the idea that everything a person knows comes from
experience.
,◉ tabula rasa
Answer: Latin for 'blank slate,' term used by 19th century
philosopher John Locke used to describe the mind of a newborn
baby ready to be written on by experience.
◉ associationism
Answer: the idea that all complex ideas are combinations of two or
more simple ideas.
◉ hedonism
Answer: the idea that people are motivated to seek pleasure and
avoid pain.
◉ rewards and punishment on motivation
Answer: the fundamental motivations of pleasure and pain explain
why rewards and punishments shape behavior.
◉ utilitarianism
Answer: the idea that the best society is the one that creates the
most happiness for the largest number of people.
◉ habituation
, Answer: the decrease in response to a stimulus on repeated
applications; this is the simplest kind of learning.
◉ classical conditioning
Answer: the kind of learning in which an unconditioned response
(such as salivating), that is naturally elicited by one stimulus (such
as food), becomes elicited also by a new, conditioned stimulus (such
as a bell).
◉ learned helplessness
Answer: a belief that nothing one does matters, derived from an
experience of random or unpredictable reward and punishment, and
theorized to be a basis of depression.
◉ respondent conditioning
Answer: Skinner's term for classical conditioning.
◉ operant conditioning
Answer: Skinner's term for the process of learning in which an
organism's behavior is shaped by the effect of the behavior on the
environment.
◉ reinforcement
