NIU Multiphasic Psychophilosophical Inventory

Would you like to determine your "psycho-philosophical" orientation?

Are there historical figures in the field of psychology that may have influenced your understanding of psychology in ways that you did not even realize?

Would you like to discover which psychological theorists' writings may pique your interest?

Take the "NIU Multiphasic Psychophilosophical Inventory" (NMPI). You will answer a series of questions designed to evaluate the similarity of your thoughts and opinions with various schools of thought that have been advanced throughout the history of psychology. After scoring your responses, you will be directed toward a series of profiles. The profile will provide descriptors that capture the nature of your responses as well as a listing of historical figures who may share your views.

This questionnaire has no empirical basis. The questions and profiles are intended to help you to explore and classify your psychological views, point you toward possible areas of interest, and prompt you to think more deeply about individuals who may have inspired the development of your current thoughts and philosophies with regard to psychology.

Please record your answers to the following questions on a sheet of paper.  Answer them to the best of your ability. When you are finished, you will be able to tabulate your own psychophilosophical profile.

 

1. The best way to study the human mind is to study people's thoughts and perceptions.

    True    False

2. If I was doing research in the field of psychology, I would be more likely to observe particular behaviors than to ask about thoughts.

    True    False

3. I believe people have free will; they choose their own behaviors and are not without choice.

    True    False

4. You should not rely on your own logic to understand the world; you should rather rely on observation of your surroundings.

    True    False

5. All living things are imbued with a life force that science cannot explain.

    True    False

6. It is necessary for the methods used to study thought and behavior be falsifiable.

    True    False

7. It is essential to determine and document all possible contents of consciousness before studying any mental activities and processes.

    True    False

8. It is important to start with a theory before gathering data.

    True    False

9. It is important to break down information into its smallest parts in order to understand it.

    True    False

10. I believe that everything we see and experience in the world is a construction of our own mind.

    True    False

11. We are born with pre-wired information in our brains.

    True    False

12. Nature requires some sort of transcendent guidance to explain and operate its various aspects.

    True    False

13. It is important to establish general laws about human behavior.

    True    False

14. The pursuit of knowledge should be tempered by the usefulness of the results.

    True    False

15. Distilling a person's responses through the use of numbers loses the essence of the person's information.

    True    False

16. I believe people are largely unaware of important mental processes happening in their minds.

    True    False

17. If I was doing research in the field of psychology, I would be more likely to ask participants about their thoughts than observe their behaviors.

    True    False

18. I believe that most human behaviors are caused by a stimulus or trigger of some kind in the environment.

    True    False

19. Your senses can be deceiving, so it is better to rely on your ability to think things through than rely on external information.

    True    False

20. All human behavior can be completely explained scientifically through physiological and chemical means.

    True    False

21. It is just as important, if not more, to study the individual experience of each person as it is to design "objective" studies.

    True    False

22. It is better to evaluate ideas by their utility than by their contents.

    True    False

23. You should not draw conclusions before you have examined a number of facts or observations.

    True    False

24. The mind seems to organize experiences into wholes which are worth more than the sum of their parts.

    True    False

25. The experience of my thoughts are only a byproduct of the body's natural processes.

    True    False

26. Human beings are born with the mental equivalent of a blank slate.

    True    False

27. The development of mankind occurred via evolution over millions of years through the process of natural selection.

    True    False

28. There are too many differences between individuals to establish a general idea of the processes of human behavior.

    True    False

29. The activity of seeking knowledge should be performed for no other reason than because answers exist.

    True    False

30. Statistically significant numerical differences are the best indication that new information can be obtained.

    True    False

31. I believe introspection is a method that can be used for the study of the human mind.

    True    False

32. It is more important to predict and control human behavior than to understand human thoughts.

    True    False

33. I believe in fate or destiny.

    True    False

34. I believe the mind and all knowledge arise out of concrete experience.

    True    False

35. There is a limit to the possible scientific understanding of physiological processes.

    True    False

36. When two people observe an event they should be able to report exactly the same knowledge learned from that event.

    True    False

37. You cannot break down thoughts or consciousness without changing or eliminating the underlying meaning of the thought.

    True    False

38. Starting with preconceived notions or ideas about a subject may mislead you to only consider select ideas and observations related to the subject.

    True    False

39. The essence of information does not lie in the specific elements but rather in the relationship between elements.

    True    False

40. There is no mind, only the experience of the body.

    True    False

41. Most information is learned; the input of inheritance is minimal.

    True    False

42. I believe there is more to nature than conventional laws of science can explain.

    True    False

43. In order to get the most accurate picture of psychological constructs, it is more important to study very limited events or the experience of individuals, versus aiming for sweeping generalizations that may not apply to everyone.

    True    False

44. A research program should have specific goals and should lead to knowledge that can be applied.

    True    False

45. Non-parametric tests are for psychologists who have no knowledge of science - they are not true ways of acquiring knowledge.

    True    False

46. Pick one of the following statements. Choose the statement that most accurately describes you beliefs.

    A. All physiological processes are understandable in terms of ordinary physiological and chemical means

    B. The experience of the mind is only a byproduct of the physiological processes of the body; it has no causal    abilities

    C. The mind and the body may seem to interact but they actually do not. Instead, there is a perfect correlation between the processes of the mind and the processes of the body so that they seem to act in concert.

    D. You can understand life as both a process of the mind and a process of the body; they represent two different characteristics of existence

    E. The mind and the body do interact, most likely because that is the way that a higher power created it.

    F. The mind or the will strongly affects the physiological processes of the body.

    G. There is actually no such thing as the body. The belief that we have a body is just an illusion created by our mind.

Please make sure to write down your answers. When you have answered all the questions, hit the "Answers" button to take you to the scoring page!

Answers