View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What forces in a capitalistic society isolate people?
(a) Religious forces.
(b) Economic forces.
(c) Social forces.
(d) Familial forces.

2. Why does Fromm suggest analyzing psychological mechanisms in individuals?
(a) It enables man to improve himself.
(b) He uses it to draw conclusions about the group(s) one belongs to.
(c) Fromm believes it will lead to more freedom.
(d) It helps understand society.

3. What type of character was familiar to the lower, middle class?
(a) Liberal.
(b) Capitalistic.
(c) Wealthy.
(d) Authoritarian.

4. What does Fromm say even a democratic society can pressure individuals to do?
(a) Conform.
(b) Give up their money.
(c) Submit to others.
(d) Dominate others.

5. Whose theory about economic gains driving history have many historians misunderstood?
(a) Marx.
(b) Freud.
(c) Engels.
(d) Bancroft.

6. What psychological idea is destructiveness related to?
(a) Sadism.
(b) Neurosis.
(c) Amnesia.
(d) Psychosis.

7. According to Freud's "psychologistic" approach to understanding human culture, what image inspired early Christianity?
(a) Ambivalence toward society.
(b) Love for the mother.
(c) Ambivalence toward the father.
(d) Ambivalence toward the mother.

8. What is Fromm's theory about Hitler and the success of the Nazi party?
(a) Hitler wanted to unify people.
(b) The explanation is as psychological as Hitler was neurotic.
(c) The German people adored Hitler.
(d) Hitler was well-regarded in world politics.

9. What political ideology is a historical example of authoritarian mechanism?
(a) Nazism.
(b) Communism.
(c) Democracy.
(d) Anarchy.

10. What is "spontaneous" action?
(a) Actions that come from what others do.
(b) Actions that come from what an individual used to do.
(c) Actions that come from what others feel and think.
(d) Actions that come from what a person feels and thinks.

11. What world event left Germany in financial ruin and ultimately fostered support for Hitler among the lower, middle class Germans?
(a) World War II.
(b) Germany's civil war.
(c) The French Revolution.
(d) World War I.

12. What social structure does Fromm suggest should be part of the psychological aspect of society?
(a) Family.
(b) Society.
(c) Economy.
(d) Education.

13. According to Fromm, why does sadism appear natural?
(a) It is how animals survive.
(b) It is not natural.
(c) It emphasizes the survival of the fittest over nature and man.
(d) It emphasizes the survival of nature over man.

14. What is the original self?
(a) Self that thinks like society.
(b) Self that does not think.
(c) Self that originates its own mental activities.
(d) Self that thinks like the leader.

15. What weaknesses do sadists and masochists compensate for?
(a) Lack of money.
(b) Freedom.
(c) Power.
(d) Isolation and fear.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do masochistic people seek?

2. What do both societies and individuals possess that make them unique?

3. What German social class supported Hitler but did not adopt his ideologies?

4. What do masochists receive from their submissive acts?

5. What has a key role in human development?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 477 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample