1. Which of the following diagnoses has psychobiographers applied to Adolf Hitler?

1. Amphetamine abuse
2. Borderline personality
3. Hypochondria
4. All of the above

2. Which psychologist wrote several of the first psychobiographies?

1. Carl Jung
2. Erik Erikson
3. Dan McAdams
4. Henry Murray

3. ‘Personology’ is the branch of personality psychology that focuses on …

1. the intensive study of individual lives
2. the application of psychoanalytic theory to life events
3. the development of general rules of personality development
4. the investigation of internal conflict

4. Psychobiography is most similar to which process?

1. Psychiatric diagnosis
2. Psychoanalytic theorizing
3. Psychological assessment
4. Psychic speculation

5. Which of these potential flaws of psychobiographies is correctly defined?

1. Originology: overemphasis on early life events in explaining the person
2. Oathography: insufficiently empathic interpretation of the person
3. Determinism: focussing too much on a single factor in explaining the person
4. Hagiography: portrayal of the person as extremely ugly

6. Freud’s mistaken interpretation of Leonardo da Vinci’s encounter with a ‘vulture’ demonstrates which common problem with psychobiography?

1. Its reliance on psychoanalytic theory
2. Its reliance on inadequate evidence
3. Its overemphasis on psychological disturbance
4. Its overemphasis on unconscious processes

7. According to Runyan, psychobiography can be improved by …

1. using sensible rules of evidence and interpretation
2. restricting its use to trained psychoanalysts
3. applying quantitative methods
4. employing a control group

8. Which of the following lists of personality attributes contains characteristics at McAdams’ levels I, II and III, respectively?

1. Trait, motive, and self-narrative
2. Trait, personal construct, and motive
3. Value, motive, and self-narrative
4. Value, personal construct, and motive

9. According to McAdams, a self-narrative …

1. is an important part of a person’s identity
2. connects the person’s past, present and future
3. is not dictated by the objective events in the person’s life
4. all of the above

10. Which of the following is an example of an ‘agentic’ narrative theme?

1. Striving for independence
2. Being driven by a desire for social approval
3. Seeking love
4. Wanting to work for the government

11. According to McAdams, the roots of narrative tone can be found in which Eriksonian stage?

1. Autonomy versus shame and doubt
2. Industry versus inferiority
3. Initiative versus guilt
4. Trust versus mistrust

12. To the Gergen’s, the ‘comedy-melodrama’ narrative form is one in which …

1. there is much laughter
2. the person’s life is like a soap opera
3. a troubling challenge is faced and successfully overcome
4. the person’s life just gets better and better

13. According to the Gergens, the narrative form someone adopts for their life narrative …

1. is determined by the experiences they have
2. becomes more positive with age
3. is unchanged throughout the person’s life
4. is influenced by the stories present in the person’s culture

14. A ‘redemption narrative’ or ‘redemptive sequence’ in a narrative is one in which …

1. negative beginnings are replaced by positive endings
2. good events are rapidly followed by bad ones
3. good people get their just deserts
4. bad people are forgiven for their sins

15. McLean and Platt (2006) found that young adults who extracted personal meaning from life transitions in their self-narratives were higher in …

1. maturity
2. optimism
3. generativity
4. all of the above