Personality Psychology Exam 1

Personality is an individual's characteristic patterns of a. All of the answer options are correct. b. emotion. c. behavior. d. thought.

a. All of the answer options are correct.

Why haven't personality psychologists combined all paradigms into One Big Theory? a. A theory that tries to explain everything would probably not provide the best explanation for any one thing. b. The manageability of research programs would be lost. c. The different basic approaches to psychology address the same sets of questions. d. Applying principles of behaviorism helps reduce negative behaviors, making the cognitive approach the best one.

a. A theory that tries to explain everything would probably not provide the best explanation for any one thing.

What is one of personality psychology's biggest advantages over other areas of psychology? a. It appreciates the uniqueness of the individual. b. It created the One Big Theory to explain whole persons. c. It focuses on the two most important aspects of the psychological triad. d. It uses more rigorous methods.

a. It appreciates the uniqueness of the individual.

What is the big disadvantage of the case study method? a. It is not generalizable. b. It does not usually apply to particular individuals, only to groups. c. It is rarely the source of testable hypotheses. d. It describes isolated variables, not the whole phenomenon.

a. It is not generalizable.

________ tests aim to gain insight into personality by interpreting individuals' open-ended responses, whereas ________ tests evaluate individuals' responses to specific questions with predetermined response options. a. Projective; objective b. Subjective; objective c. Quantitative; qualitative d. Clinical; nonclinical

a. Projective; objective

Which of the following is NOT one of the concerns associated with the practice of null-hypothesis significance testing? a. The smaller the sample size, the easier it is to find a significant effect. b. A statistically significant result is not necessarily important or meaningful. c. The p-value is easy to interpret and its logic is easy to describe. d. The criterion for a significant result (p < .05) is arbitrary.

a. The smaller the sample size, the easier it is to find a significant effect.

Which of the following illustrates converging criteria that could be used to establish the accuracy of a personality judgment? a. You always show up to work on time, and your colleagues say that you are dependable and conscientious. b. You tend to get into arguments, and you throw tantrums frequently. c. One of your friends describes you as an extravert. d. You describe yourself as intelligent, but you score low on an IQ test.

a. You always show up to work on time, and your colleagues say that you are dependable and conscientious.

Personality psychology shares with clinical psychology a. a common obligation to try to understand the whole person. b. a requirement that psychologists be licensed. c. the fact that both personality psychologists and clinical psychologists are usually in private practice rather than employed by universities. d. an emphasis on mental disorders and the treatment of psychological problems.

a. a common obligation to try to understand the whole person.

The trait approach, the behaviorist approach, and the psychoanalytic approach a. address different sets of questions about human psychology. b. are all part of the One Big Theory (OBT). c. all address the biological basis of human psychology. d. are irreconcilable and contradictory views of human psychology.

a. address different sets of questions about human psychology.

In simple language, questions about reliability concern ________, whereas questions about validity concern ________. a. consistency; accuracy b. consistency; dependability c. stability; dependability d. accuracy; consistency

a. consistency; accuracy

In addition to serving as a way for psychologists to construct objective tests, the factor analysis method has also been used to a. decide how many fundamental traits exist. b. construct projective tests. c. design experimental studies. d. determine reliability.

a. decide how many fundamental traits exist.

Peer acceptance is associated with what trait? a. extraversion b. conscientiousness c. self-monitoring d. openness to experience

a. extraversion

A variable that affects the relation between two other variables is known as a a. moderator. b. transmitter. c. catalyst. d. residual.

a. moderator.

A judge may see a target's behavior, pay attention to the behavior, and use the behavior in his or her judgment about the target's personality. However, for the personality judgment to be accurate, the a. observed behavior must be relevant to the trait being judged. b. judge must have observed the behavior on multiple occasions. c. personality trait must be cross-situationally consistent. d. behavior must be unusual and distinctive.

a. observed behavior must be relevant to the trait being judged.

What are the steps in the Realistic Accuracy Model (RAM) of personality judgment? a. relevance/availability/detection/utilization b. recall/activation/matching/detection c. recall/adjustment/manipulation d. realism/accuracy/manipulation

a. relevance/availability/detection/utilization

If measurement errors are truly random, then they should a. sum to zero. b. never occur. c. not attenuate the validity of a measure. d. not affect the reliability of a measure.

a. sum to zero.

What dramatic conclusion did some psychologists and non-psychologists draw from Mischel's claims regarding personality and behavior? a. that personality did not exist b. that correlations cannot test the link between the person and the situation c. that personality does not change over the life span d. that people are in some ways similar and in some ways different than other people

a. that personality did not exist

Situationism is the position that a. the ability of personality traits to predict behavior is severely limited. b. situations are less important than personality traits in determining behavior. c. trait words are more than mere descriptions of situations. d. situations do not influence behavior.

a. the ability of personality traits to predict behavior is severely limited.

In a study of social expectancies, Snyder, Tanke, and Berscheid (1977) found that if male participants were shown a photograph of an attractive woman and told they would be interacting with her by telephone, the female participant they actually spoke with a. was rated by other people as behaving in a warm, humorous, and friendly manner. b. rated herself as more attractive than the woman in the photograph. c. was rated by other people as behaving in a cold, aloof, and unfriendly manner. d. rated herself as less attractive than the woman in the photograph.

a. was rated by other people as behaving in a warm, humorous, and friendly manner.

Which of the following is an expression of Funder's First Law? a. There are no perfect indicators of personality. b. Characteristics that are strengths in one sense are weaknesses in other ways. c. Individual differences should not be put into the "error" term in statistical analysis. d. People vary in terms of their trait levels.

b. Characteristics that are strengths in one sense are weaknesses in other ways.

According to the text, personality's greatest strength, understanding whole persons, is also its greatest weakness. Which term describes this fundamental observation? a. One Big Theory b. Funder's First Law c. pigeonholing d. psychological triad

b. Funder's First Law

What is one advantage of collecting descriptions of a participant's personality from his or her acquaintances? a. The acquaintances are likely more accurate in judging the participant's internal state. b. The acquaintances' descriptions of the participant are likely based on many behaviors in many situations. c. There is little to no bias with acquaintance descriptions. d. The acquaintances are likely smarter.

b. The acquaintances' descriptions of the participant are likely based on many behaviors in many situations.

The MOST important and generally useful way to enhance reliability is to a. use the smallest possible number of items. b. aggregate your measurements. c. maximize error variance. d. measure something that is important.

b. aggregate your measurements.

According to the text, correlational and experimental methods are not entirely different. For example, they both a. always use S data. b. assess the relationship between two variables. c. focus on one phenomenon in depth. d. assess causality.

b. assess the relationship between two variables.

Shy people fear social interactions and often feel lonely. Others typically perceive them as a. warm and friendly. b. cold and aloof. c. shy. d. sensitive and intelligent.

b. cold and aloof.

When gathering data or clues about personality, the best policy is to a. gather only a very small number of clues and focus on the important ones. b. collect as many clues as possible. c. rely solely on self-report data. d. gather only clues that are certain not to be misleading.

b. collect as many clues as possible.

The Binomial Effect Size Display is a method for illustrating the size of a. reliability coefficients. b. correlation coefficients. c. p-values. d. validity coefficients.

b. correlation coefficients.

The trait approach is based on empirical research that is mostly from ________ studies. a. experimental b. correlational c. case d. archival

b. correlational

The finding that more observable traits yield better interjudge agreement suggests that peer judgment is based more on ________ than on ________. a. a manufactured reputation; direct behavioral observation b. direct behavioral observation; a manufactured reputation c. expectancies; the target's self-judgments d. stereotypes; expectancies

b. direct behavioral observation; a manufactured reputation

The Big Five a. are steps in the construction of rational tests. b. factor analytically derived dimensions of personality. c. are the primary methods of test construction used by personality psychologists. d. are the five key steps in the process of factor analysis.

b. factor analytically derived dimensions of personality.

The factor analytic technique of test construction is designed to a. identify individuals who are attempting to lie or sabotage a test. b. identify groups of test items that seem to be alike. c. identify items that mean the same thing to the respondent as they do to the researcher. d. create projective tests.

b. identify groups of test items that seem to be alike.

The primary criterion for item selection in the empirical method of test construction is determining whether the item a. makes the scale more reliable. b. is cross-validated between two known groups. c. loads highly on its primary factor. d. will be challenged in a legal context.

b. is cross-validated between two known groups.

According to recent research, individuals high in ________ might actually be more consistent. a. extraversion b. preference for consistency c. self-esteem d. self-control

b. preference for consistency

According to Lee Jussim (1991), the source of real-life expectancies is likely a. authoritarian personality traits. b. previous observations of behavioral tendencies. c. erroneous stereotypes about groups. d. a cognitive bias to seek incongruent information

b. previous observations of behavioral tendencies.

Which of the following is NOT an open science practice? a. reporting studies that failed and succeeded b. refraining from using deception in experimental studies c. describing all aspects of all studies d. freely sharing data with other scientists

b. refraining from using deception in experimental studies

Which of the following behaviors would be the easiest to predict accurately? a. Mary will smile at 10:00 A.M. tomorrow. b. At a party on Friday, Susan will talk to at least 10 people. c. David will generally be on time for work most days next week. d. None of the answer options is correct; each of these behaviors would be equally easy to predict.

c. David will generally be on time for work most days next week.

A major advantage of personality psychology is that it focuses on the whole person and real-life concerns, yet this can often lead to overinclusive and unfocused research. Which of the following is a major theme of your textbook that speaks to this conflict? a. A single basic approach must be chosen on the basis of rigorous data analysis. b. The personality puzzle will never be solved. c. Great strengths are usually great weaknesses. d. The One Big Theory (OBT) can account for everything in personality.

c. Great strengths are usually great weaknesses.

Which of the following does NOT describe a type of person-situation interaction? a. People change the situations they occupy. b. People react differently to the same situation. c. People generally prefer situations that are pleasant. d. People choose the situations they occupy.

c. People generally prefer situations that are pleasant.

According to the text, which of the following is NOT part of the situationist argument? a. Situations are more important than traits for determining behavior. b. Everyday intuitions that people have about personality are wrong. c. Persons and situations interact to predict behavior. d. There is an upper limit to how well we can predict behavior based on a personality trait measure.

c. Persons and situations interact to predict behavior.

Which of the following conclusions does Funder draw about the role of persons versus situations in affecting behavior? a. Situations matter, but only under particular conditions, because people tend to be inconsistent. b. Situations have a minimal influence on behavior, because people tend to be consistent. c. Situations have an important influence on behavior, but people also tend to be consistent. d. Situations matter more than persons, because people tend to be inconsistent.

c. Situations have an important influence on behavior, but people also tend to be consistent.

Imagine that a researcher conducts a study and fails to find a statistically significant correlation between exercise and weight loss. However, there is a real association between exercise and weight loss in the population. What kind of error has this researcher made? a. Type III b. Type I c. Type II d. correlational

c. Type II

Which of the following is LEAST likely to be considered B data? a. a participant's records of his daily activities in a daily research "diary" b. measures of heart rate and other physiological measurements c. a psychologist's interpretation of a participant's responses to an unstructured clinical interview d. observation of how many times a participant spoke during a five-minute conversation

c. a psychologist's interpretation of a participant's responses to an unstructured clinical interview

According to the text, ________ describes a context where social norms tend to restrict what people do.a. an unstructured conversation b. a weak situation c. a strong situation d. situationism

c. a strong situation

Funder and Ozer (1983) converted the results of three classic social psychological studies to effect sizes. After comparing those effect sizes with those typically obtained by personality psychologists, Funder and Ozer concluded that a. the upper limit for a situation coefficient is only .20. b. the three studies were so fundamentally flawed that they do not allow us to conclude anything about the predictability of behavior from situational variables. c. both situational and personality variables are important determinants of behavior. d. situational variables, like personality variables, cannot predict behavior.

c. both situational and personality variables are important determinants of behavior.

The ________ method is NOT a basic method for constructing objective personality tests. a. factor analytic b. rational c. consensus validation d. empirical

c. consensus validation

Which design is best suited for addressing the third-variable problem? a. case study b. repeated measures c. experimental d. correlational

c. experimental

The phenomenological approach leads to which two directions of research? a. trait and cross-cultural perspectives on personality b. humanistic and social-learning perspectives on personality c. humanistic and cross-cultural perspectives on personality d. cross-cultural and cognitive perspectives on personality

c. humanistic and cross-cultural perspectives on personality

Researchers must use clues to personality in their research because personality a. tests are unethical. b. is defined by responses to self-report questionnaires. c. is something difficult to measure that resides inside an individual. d. is defined solely by biological factors that cannot be observed.

c. is something difficult to measure that resides inside an individual.

Someone who is ________ is likely to express his or her personality consistently from one situation to the next. a. low in self-efficacy b. high in self-efficacy c. low in self-monitoring d. high in self-monitoring

c. low in self-monitoring

According to the principles on enhancing reliability described in the text, it would be relatively difficult to create a reliable measure of attitudes toward a. outgroup members. b. casual sexual encounters. c. lumber tariffs. d. the self (like self-esteem).

c. lumber tariffs.

According to research that shows a link between a trait's observability and the accuracy with which it is judged, which of the following traits would be easiest to judge accurately? a. creativity b. empathy c. talkativeness d. moodiness

c. talkativeness

The task of an employer who attempts to identify dependable, conscientious, and hard-working job applicants is similar to the task of the ________ psychologist, who attempts to identify and assess individual differences. a. psychoanalytic b. behavioral c. trait d. cognitive

c. trait

A researcher computes a correlation coefficient between variables X and Y using a handheld calculator. Which of the following values would automatically tell the researcher that he or she made a mistake? a. −.98 b. 0 c. .75 d. 2.50

d. 2.50

Which of the following is NOT an example of something that can limit how reliable a measure is? a. A research assistant dozes off when they should be observing participants' behavior. b. A study is conducted during finals and all college student participants are sleep-deprived. c. A fire alarm goes off in the middle of an experiment. d. After comparing the self-report to informant reports, a researcher realizes their measure isn't accurate.

d. After comparing the self-report to informant reports, a researcher realizes their measure isn't accurate.

After Lenny Skutnik dove in to a freezing river to save a woman in danger of drowning, he rejected the media's assertion that he was a hero and claimed that anyone would have done the same thing. According to Funder, why was it difficult for Lenny to accept that he had behaved heroically? a. He did appreciate his heroism but was too modest to admit it to the media. b. He had a low IQ score and therefore could not analyze his own behavior. c. He did not behave in a heroic manner. d. He did not have the perspective to judge his actions against that of others.

d. He did not have the perspective to judge his actions against that of others.

Which of the following is NOT one of the responses to the situationist argument? a. Personality researchers started to think more carefully about the importance of a correlation of .40. b. Personality researchers searched for certain kinds of people who were more consistent than others. c. Personality researchers argued that Mischel's literature review was selective. d. Personality researchers worked harder to find single traits that could strongly predict single responses at a particular point in time.

d. Personality researchers worked harder to find single traits that could strongly predict single responses at a particular point in time.

What was the boundary on the acquaintanceship effect identified by Colvin and Funder (1991)? a. Judgments made by acquaintances who have known the target for 5 years are as valid as judgments made by parents and acquaintances who have known the target for 20 years. b. Strangers' judgments, based on a 5-minute videotape of the target's behavior, demonstrated these judges' ability to generalize to situations and contexts that were very different from the videotaped interactions. c. Strangers' judgments are more accurate than acquaintances' judgments when the criterion is self-other agreement. d. The advantage of close acquaintances vanishes when the criterion is the ability to predict behavior in a situation similar to one that strangers have seen but acquaintances have not.

d. The advantage of close acquaintances vanishes when the criterion is the ability to predict behavior in a situation similar to one that strangers have seen but acquaintances have not.

Which of the following is NOT one of the basic approaches to personality? a. learning b. psychoanalytic c. phenomenological d. assessment

d. assessment

The personality paradigm that focuses on rewards and punishments is known as the ________ paradigm. a. trait b. phenomenological c. psychoanalytic d. behaviorist

d. behaviorist

Eliminating the use of personality tests in employment screening will a. decrease the likelihood that women and minorities will be discriminated against in hiring. b. increase the use of lie detector tests and drug tests in employment screening. c. prevent biases from affecting hiring decisions. d. not prevent traits from being judged but will change the ways traits are judged.

d. not prevent traits from being judged but will change the ways traits are judged.

What is the correct definition of the p-value? a. probability that the null hypothesis is true b. probability that the observed result occurred by chance given that the null hypothesis is false c. probability that the null hypothesis is false d. probability that the observed result occurred by chance given that the null hypothesis is true

d. probability that the observed result occurred by chance given that the null hypothesis is true

Funder notes that the person who is most talkative at a party is also likely to be the most talkative at the department of motor vehicles (DMV). Which of the following terms describes this principle? a. absolute change b. relative change c. absolute consistency d. relative consistency

d. relative consistency

The basic reason that research on the accuracy of personality judgments experienced a lengthy hiatus between 1955 and the mid-1980s was that a. early researchers had already identified the characteristics of a good judge of personality. b. researchers turned their attention to the content of personality judgments. c. early research indicated that personality judgments are relatively inconsequential. d. researchers lacked consensual criteria for deciding the accuracy of personality judgments.

d. researchers lacked consensual criteria for deciding the accuracy of personality judgments.

What is the largest and most dominant approach in personality psychology today? a. psychoanalytic b. trait c. learning and cognitive d. biological

trait