Theories of Personality Exam #1 Study Guide

According to Kluckhohn and Murray, "Every man is in certain respects (a) like all other men, (b) like some other men, (c) like no other man." Which section of this quote most closely reflects what trait psychologists study?

"like some other men"

Funder and Ozer (1983) examined the results of three classic social psychological studies. They converted the results to effect sizes and found that the effects were equivalent to correlations in the range of ________ (in absolute value).

.30 to .40

scatter plot

A diagram that shows the relationship between two variables by displaying points on a two-dimensional plot. Usually the two variables are denoted x and y, each point represents a pair of scores, and the x variable is plotted on the horizontal axis while the y variable is plotted on the vertical axis. (page 57)

trait

A relatively stable and long-lasting attribute of personality. (page 45)

experimental method

A research technique that establishes the causal relationship between an independent variable (x) and dependent variable (y) by randomly assigning participants to experimental groups characterized by differing levels of x, and measuring the average behavior (y) that results in each group. (page 55)

correlational method

A research technique that establishes the relationship (not necessarily causal) between two variables, traditionally denoted x and y, by measuring both variables in a sample of participants. (page 55)

state

A temporary psychological event, such as an emotion, thought, or perception. (page 45)

basic approach (to personality)

A theoretical view of personality that focuses on some phenomena and ignores others. The basic approaches are trait, biological, psychoanalytic, phenomenological, learning, and cognitive (the last two being closely related). (page 5)

construct

An idea about a psychological attribute that goes beyond what might be assessed through any particular method of assessment. (page 49)

personality

An individual's characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior, together with the psychological mechanisms behind those patterns. (page 5)

B data

Behavioral data, or direct observations of another's behavior that are translated directly or nearly directly into numerical form. B data can be gathered in natural or contrived (experimental) settings. (page 38) Your Answer

Which definition best describes the meaning of a cross-situational consistency coefficient of r = .70?

Behaviors in one situation strongly predict behaviors in another situation

Which of the following is an expression of Funder's First Law?

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

judgments

Data that derive, in the final analysis, from someone using his or her common sense and observations to rate personality or behavior. (page 29)

research

Exploration of the unknown; finding out something that nobody knew before one discovered it. (page 23)

What is the first step in the empirical method of scale construction?

Gather lots of items.

Funder's First Law

Great strengths are usually great weaknesses, and surprisingly often the opposite is true as well. (page 10)

learning

In behaviorism, a change in behavior as a result of experience. (page 7)

reliability

In measurement, the tendency of an instrument to provide the same comparative information on repeated occasions. (page 45)

Spearman-Brown formula

In psychometrics, a mathematical formula that predicts the degree to which the reliability of a test can be improved by adding more items. (page 48)

I data

Informants' data, or judgments made by knowledgeable informants about general attributes of an individual's personality. (page 29)

Which of the following is the best example of a situationist argument?

Knowing Robert's extraversion doesn't really let us predict his behavior.

L data

Life data, or more-or-less easily verifiable, concrete, real-life outcomes, which are of possible psychological significance. (page 35)

According to the text, what paradox is central to the study of personality development?

People change throughout their lives yet fundamental personality traits maintain rank-order stability in relation to others in their age group.

Which of the following is a limitation of projective tests?

Projective tests are relatively inefficient and expensive to administer.

S data

Self-judgments, or ratings that people provide of their own personality attributes or behavior. (page 24)

Funder's Third Law

Something beats nothing, two times out of three. (page 24)

case method

Studying a particular phenomenon or individual in depth both to understand the particular case and in hopes of discovering general lessons or scientific laws. (page 54)

Based on recent research, what is likely to happen when an aggressive person plays a competitive multiplayer video game?

The aggressive person will evoke aggression from the other players.

aggregation

The combining together of different measurements, such as by averaging them. (page 48)

validity

The degree to which a measurement actually reflects what it is intended to measure. (page 49)

generalizability

The degree to which a measurement can be found under diverse circumstances, such as time, context, participant population, and so on. In modern psychometrics, this term includes both reliability and validity. (page 50)

face validity

The degree to which an assessment instrument, such as a questionnaire, on its face appears to measure what it is intended to measure. For example, a face-valid measure of sociability might ask about attendance at parties. (page 25)

self-verification

The process by which people try to bring others to treat them in a manner that confirms their self-conceptions. (page 27)

behavioral confirmation

The self-fulfilling prophecy tendency for a person to become the kind of person others expect him or her to be; also called the expectancy effect. (page 33)

construct validation

The strategy of establishing the validity of a measure by comparing it with a wide range of other measures. (page 50)

psychometrics

The technology of psychological measurement. (page 48)

expectancy effect

The tendency for someone to become the kind of person others expect him or her to be; also known as a self-fulfilling prophecy and behavioral confirmation. (page 33)

phenomenological approach

The theoretical view of personality that emphasizes experience, free will and the meaning of life. Closely related to humanistic psychology and existentialism. (page 6)

trait approach

The theoretical view of personality that focuses on individual differences in personality and behavior, and the psychological processes behind them. (page 5)

psychoanalytic approach

The theoretical view of personality, based on the writings of Sigmund Freud, that emphasizes the unconscious processes of the mind. (page 6)

psychological triad

The three essential topics of psychology: how people think, how they feel, and how they behave. (page 4)

measurement error

The variation of a number around its true mean due to uncontrolled, essentially random influences; also called error variance. (page 45)

biological approach

The view of personality that focuses on the way behavior and personality are influenced by neuroanatomy, biochemistry, genetics, and evolution. (page 5)

Funder's Second Law

There are no perfect indicators of personality; there are only clues, and clues are always ambiguous. (page 23)

Which of the following is NOT a reason that older people believe their personalities are more consistent than those of younger people?

They have more wealth accumulated.

According to the text, ________ describes a context where social norms tend to restrict what people do.

a strong situation

Sally found that neither caffeine nor extraversion individually predicted problem solving; however, she found that they both worked together to predict problem solving. This is an example of what kind of an effect?

a true interaction

Dr. Grant is creating a new measure of shyness, and she decides to include more than one item in her scale. She believes that using multiple items will lead to a more reliable measure. Dr. Grant is following which principle of measurement?

aggregation

According to recent research, which trait seems to be related to quicker recovery from disabling accidents or illnesses?

agreeableness

With accumulated evidence from personality and developmental psychology we can conclude that personality ________ and ________ over the life course.

changes; is stable

According to a classic study, individuals who grew up during the Great Depression had different attitudes regarding work and financial security than those who did not grow up during this time. These findings provide evidence for ________.

cohort effects

Shy people fear social interactions and often feel lonely. They are typically perceived by others as ________

cold and aloof

The avoidance of drug abuse is associated with what trait?

conscientiousness

The observation "If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it is probably a duck" illustrates the method of ________.

convergent validation

The trait approach is based on empirical research that is mostly from ________.

correlational studies

o obtain S data, a psychologist can ________.

develop a questionnaire

The finding that more observable traits yield better inter judge agreement suggests that peer judgment is based more on ________ than on ________.

direct behavioral observation; a manufactured reputation

Given Snyder's description of self-monitoring, you would expect someone who is low in self-monitoring to be ________ than someone high in self-monitoring.

easier to judge

Abed is a stable, well-adjusted person. His behavior is fairly consistent and predictable; essentially, "what you see is what you get." Abed would most likely be ________.

easy to judge accurately

Which of the following traits would be hardest to judge?

emotional stability

A researcher using factor analysis to identify basic traits is likely to favor the ________ approach.

essential-trait

Which design is best suited for addressing the third-variable problem?

experimental

The unique mandate of personality psychologists is to attempt to ________.

explain whole, functioning persons and real life concerns

Factor analyses have revealed a broader personality factor called plasticity. Which of the following Big Five factors are subfactors of this factor?

extraversion and openness

The most important advantage of Q-sorting is that it ________.

forces the judge to compare all the items directly against each other

The lower your score is on measures of psychological health and well-being, the ________.

higher your score is on neuroticism

The factor analytic technique of test construction is designed to________.

identify groups of test items that seem to be alike

People who enjoy reflective, complex music tend to be higher in what trait?

imagination

According to the textbook, there are no perfect ________ of personality, only ________.

indicators; clues

The strongest advantage of the experimental method is that ________.

it allows the assessment of causality

What is a primary goal of the trait approach to personality?

measuring and conceptualizing individual differences

Which trait is associated with obsessive effort into hairstyles and clothing?

narcissism

Political liberalism is associated with what trait?

openness to experience

A fundamental problem for the trait approach is that ________.

people are inconsistent

Personality psychology and clinical psychology overlap most often when approaching which topic?

personality disorders

The processes by which people respond to, seek out, and create environments that are compatible with their personalities are called ________.

personality-environment transactions

Which of the following characteristics seems to predict increased consistency?

preference for consistency

Which of the following is NOT part of the psychological triad?

psychological health

Personality psychologists are currently debating whether young adults in the 21st century are more ________ than previous generations.

self-centered and narcissistic

If test scores decrease as anxiety increases, then ________.

test scores and anxiety are negatively correlated

Cross-cultural research on the Big Five suggests that ________.

the central attributes of personality are generally similar in other cultures, but there are at least a few important differences

The number between -1 and +1 that indexes the linear association between any two variables is called ________.

the correlation coefficient

Mani is seriously depressed at age 18. Research using the Q-sort suggests that as a child, he probably would have been described as ________.

undercontrolled

What is a primary goal of the psychoanalytic approach to personality?

understanding mental conflicts

The large number of trait terms in the English language indicates that ________.

we need an abundance of trait terms to distinguish between different types of people when it comes to personality, one size does not fit all personality traits are an important part of our culture (All the Above)

The judgments other people make of your personality may affect ________.

your opportunities; expectancies of your behavior; your chances of getting a job