StudyStore

Free MCAT-style practice, 7A

Personality and Motivation Theories: 8 Free MCAT Questions

By StudyStore · Published 2026-11-09 · 8 original questions · about 12 min

Free MCAT style practice on psychoanalytic, humanistic, trait and social cognitive personality theories, motivation theories and hunger, with full explanations.

Email me free MCAT notes, practice sets and new packs from StudyStore. Double opt-in, unsubscribe in one click. Privacy

Quick concept primer

Personality theories differ in where they locate the causes of behavior. Psychoanalytic theory (Freud) places them in unconscious conflict among the id, ego and superego, managed by defense mechanisms. Humanistic theory (Maslow, Rogers) stresses growth and free will; Rogers held that a close match between self-concept and experience, called congruence, is fostered by unconditional positive regard. Trait theory describes stable dimensions such as the Big Five: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. Social cognitive theory (Bandura) adds reciprocal determinism, in which person, behavior and environment shape one another.

Motivation theories explain why behavior starts. Drive reduction theory says needs create tension that behavior reduces, arousal theory says we seek an optimal level of arousal (the Yerkes-Dodson law), and self-determination theory names three basic needs: autonomy, competence and relatedness. Rewards for an activity already enjoyed can lower intrinsic motivation (the overjustification effect). In hunger, the lateral hypothalamus promotes eating, the ventromedial hypothalamus promotes satiety, ghrelin raises appetite and leptin lowers it. The 7A Individual Behavior pack adds flashcards and more practice across the whole category, and you can try a free sampler first.

Traps: self-actualization is Maslow's term, congruence is Rogers's, and esteem is a level in Maslow's hierarchy, not a need in self-determination theory.

Free notes for this topic: Personality Theories for the MCAT, Compared Side by Side · DSM-5 Categories of Psychological Disorders for the MCAT

8 practice questions

Try each question before opening the explanation. Click "Show answer and explanation" to check yourself. All questions are original and written for study practice.

Question 1

A therapist asks a client to describe recurring dreams and to say whatever comes to mind about early family life, with the goal of bringing hidden conflicts into awareness. Which personality perspective guides this therapist?

  1. Psychoanalytic
  2. Humanistic
  3. Trait
  4. Behaviorist
Show answer and explanation

Answer: A. Psychoanalytic

Dream analysis, free association and the aim of uncovering unconscious conflicts are hallmarks of the psychoanalytic perspective. A humanistic therapist would focus on present experience and growth, a trait approach measures stable dimensions rather than hidden conflicts, and a behaviorist would target observable behavior and its consequences.

Question 2

In Carl Rogers's theory, a close match between a person's self-concept and that person's actual experience is called:

  1. self-actualization.
  2. a strong superego.
  3. congruence.
  4. high conscientiousness.
Show answer and explanation

Answer: C. congruence.

Rogers used congruence for agreement between self-concept and experience, and he linked incongruence to anxiety. Self-actualization is Maslow's term for fulfilling one's potential, the superego is a Freudian structure, and conscientiousness is a Big Five trait.

Question 3

A personality inventory reports one adult's percentile scores on the Big Five.

TraitPercentile
Openness85
Conscientiousness20
Extraversion90
Agreeableness50
Neuroticism15

Which description best fits this profile?

  1. Disorganized, anxious and withdrawn
  2. Sociable, curious and emotionally stable, but disorganized
  3. Reserved, conventional and calm
  4. Organized, outgoing and prone to worry
Show answer and explanation

Answer: B. Sociable, curious and emotionally stable, but disorganized

High extraversion means sociable, high openness means curious, low neuroticism means emotionally stable, and low conscientiousness means disorganized. Choice A conflicts with the low neuroticism and high extraversion, choice C with the high extraversion and openness, and choice D with the low conscientiousness and low neuroticism.

Question 4

Volunteers solved difficult puzzles after a manipulation that set their arousal at one of five levels.

Arousal levelPuzzles solved correctly
1 (lowest)40%
265%
370%
455%
5 (highest)30%

Which conclusion is best supported?

  1. Performance rises steadily as arousal rises.
  2. Performance is best at the lowest arousal level.
  3. Arousal has little effect on performance.
  4. Performance peaks at a moderate arousal level.
Show answer and explanation

Answer: D. Performance peaks at a moderate arousal level.

Accuracy climbs from 40% to a peak of 70% at level 3 and then falls to 30% at level 5, an inverted U consistent with the Yerkes-Dodson law. A steady rise is contradicted by the drop after level 3, the lowest level is not the best, and a 40 point spread between the peak and the highest level is not a small effect.

Question 5

Each of the following is one of the three basic psychological needs in self-determination theory EXCEPT:

  1. autonomy.
  2. competence.
  3. relatedness.
  4. esteem.
Show answer and explanation

Answer: D. esteem.

Self-determination theory names autonomy, competence and relatedness as the basic needs that support intrinsic motivation. Esteem is a level in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, not one of the three needs in self-determination theory.

Question 6

Children who already enjoyed building with blocks were paid a small sum for each tower they built over two weeks. After the payments stopped, they spent less free time building towers than they had before the study began. Which concept best explains this result?

  1. Overjustification effect
  2. Drive reduction
  3. Reciprocal determinism
  4. Yerkes-Dodson law
Show answer and explanation

Answer: A. Overjustification effect

An external reward for an activity that was already intrinsically enjoyable shifted the reason for doing it, so interest dropped once the reward ended, which is the overjustification effect. Drive reduction concerns biological needs, reciprocal determinism concerns person, behavior and environment shaping each other, and Yerkes-Dodson concerns arousal and performance.

Question 7

A laboratory rat receives a lesion that destroys its lateral hypothalamus. Which outcome is most likely?

  1. It overeats and gains weight.
  2. It no longer feels satiety after meals.
  3. It eats very little and loses weight.
  4. Its appetite is unchanged because ghrelin still circulates.
Show answer and explanation

Answer: C. It eats very little and loses weight.

The lateral hypothalamus promotes feeding, so destroying it reduces eating and causes weight loss. Overeating and loss of satiety follow damage to the ventromedial hypothalamus instead, and ghrelin acts through hypothalamic circuits, so its presence does not preserve normal appetite after this lesion.

Question 8

A nurse's confidence leads her to volunteer for a new unit. Her success there earns her more complex assignments, and handling those raises her confidence further. Which concept best describes this cycle?

  1. A cardinal trait
  2. Reciprocal determinism
  3. Drive reduction
  4. Reaction formation
Show answer and explanation

Answer: B. Reciprocal determinism

Her beliefs shape her behavior, her behavior changes her environment, and the environment feeds back on her beliefs, which is Bandura's reciprocal determinism. A cardinal trait is Allport's term for a single dominant trait, drive reduction concerns relieving biological tension, and reaction formation is a defense mechanism that turns an impulse into its opposite.

Free MCAT sampler

Free sample: MCAT cheat sheet (PDF)

Join the list and download a free sample from a paid pack: the 3-page Amino Acids, Proteins and Enzymes cheat sheet (PDF). We also email free MCAT notes and practice sets.

Free sampler, no signup needed: 160 study notes with original diagrams and 5-question quizzes, 86 practice sets (756 questions with full explanations) and the 2027 study schedule generator.

Email me free MCAT notes, practice sets and new packs from StudyStore. Double opt-in, unsubscribe in one click. Privacy

Keep practicing

Written by StudyStore from standard scientific facts as a study aid. These are not official exam questions and are not affiliated with or endorsed by any testing organization. Always check values against the reference provided with your exam or course.

Spotted a mistake in a question? Report a problem or suggest something