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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the name of the personality that evolves when a child cannot trust their own feelings and takes on the personality traits of others?

2. Chapter 1 concludes by stating that the yearning to restore the bliss of mother-child oneness is _____________________.

3. Who wrote the book, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret?

4. Some primitive tribes have allowed their men to express what sort of envy?

5. Margaret Mead points out that we have labeled the Oedipal issue as a _______________.

Short Essay Questions

1. What does our superego have to do with resolving the Oedipus complex?

2. Why are we afraid of fantasies that portray socially unacceptable behavior?

3. Why does sibling rivalry tend to diminish with age?

4. Why were Hansel and Gretel so close to each other relationally?

5. Rather than be trapped in mourning for what we did not get as children, what does the author propose we do?

6. Who first discovered the Oedipus complex? How did he/she describe it?

7. Describe repetition compulsion and what we may be trying to accomplish through it.

8. Endocrinologist Estelle Ramey uses what example to support her theory that virtually all differences between male and female are cultural?

9. What did Stanley Milgram's experiment reveal about people?

10. Viorst lists many things that healthy adults know. Name two.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast normal/healthy mourning with that of chronic mourning, according to the book. How are they similar? What is different about the process of chronic mourning? Can grief be resolved through either process?

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast the perception that our image of our mother as an all-loving, all-encompassing being with the reality of what most mother's really must be. Why do we all seem to have such idealistic perceptions of mothers as such selfless, loving beings? Are these perceptions based in some reality or just fantasy? How do these perceptions play out and affect who we become, our expectations for love in other relationships, etc.?

Essay Topic 3

Chapter 15 talks about the "corporate characteristic" of families, specifically mentioning the Bachs and the Kennedys. Explore this idea of family identity and myths. Using support from the book, in what ways is it helpful for families? In what ways could it be problematic? Consider your own experience and whether your family or friends' families have a "corporate characteristic."

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