Chapter 6: Traits and Types: The Big Five and Beyond

Researchers using the factor analytic approach to studying personality take a series of steps to uncover a few essential traits. Place the following factor analytic steps in order from first to last.

1. gathering a large number of items 2. creating a correlation matrix 3. determining which items are more related to one another and grouping them together to form psychological "factors"

Raymond Cattell was among the first to use the factor analytic approach to determine essential personality traits. After creating a massive correlation matrix of hundreds of items on the University of Illinois basketball court, how many essential traits did Cattell discover?

16

In recent years, personality research has considered how many traits to be essential traits?

5

Why is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) so popular?

Correct Answer(s) It offers only positive descriptions of individuals. It offers individuals seemingly rich and intriguing descriptions of themselves. Incorrect Answer(s) It has strong psychometric properties. It is particularly good at predicting important life outcomes. It is free to use.

Identify the three personality types that are considered to be the most replicable.

Correct Answer(s) well adjusted overcontrolled undercontrolled Incorrect Answer(s) introvert type A thinker

Which of the following are considered facets of conscientiousness by Costa & McCrae (1995)?

Facet(s) dutifulness deliberation achievement striving order competence Not Facets(s) creativity compliance

According to Mark Snyder, there is no reason to apply value judgment to high or low self-monitoring. What describes a benefit of being a high self-monitor?

High self monitors are adaptable, flexible, popular and sensitive

The California Q-Set has been used to determine whether childhood personality traits predict one's political orientation in adulthood. Based on the results from this study, match each political orientation to the California Q-Set items that characterize it.

LIBERAL resourceful, independent, and self-reliant CONSERVATIVE: guilty, anxious in unpredictable environments

What are the Big Five personality traits?

extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness

What method of research seeks to explain the pattern of correlation between certain traits and specific behaviors?

many-trait approach

Match each approach to studying personality to the appropriate personality test.

many-trait approach: the California Q-Set single-trait approach: a self-esteem scale essential-trait approach: the Big Five Inventory

Which trait is associated with someone putting more effort into their hairstyle, clothing, and makeup?

narcissism

Which trait refers to excessive self-love?

narcissism

According to Jack and Jeanne Block, what term is equivalent to being high in the ego-control dimension?

overcontrolled

What is a "factor" in the factor analytic approach to personality?

personality trait

Sonja is a strong proponent of the lexical hypothesis. Where would she likely begin her search for the essential traits of personality?

the dictionary

Ciara, an advertiser, is interested in labeling consumers in terms of their spending habits and shopping behavior so as to efficiently target groups of people for different products. What approach to personality should Ciara use in her assessment?

the typological approach

What is one important use of personality types?

they serve as a way to summarize how someone stands on several traits

The ___ approach to personality usually assumes that all people can be characterized by points on a continuous score of measurement; the ___ approach to personality suggests that people might differ in kind more than in degree.

trait, type

Why is the typological approach to personality traits less valid than trait-based approaches?

Correct Answer(s) Researchers have to know which personality types are sufficient, which is very difficult. Knowing a person's personality type lends a researcher little ability to better predict behavior beyond traits. Personality is more diverse than typological approaches would lead us to believe. Incorrect Answer(s) Only clinicians find it helpful to classify someone based on their personality type. Personality types may summarize many traits within an overarching label.

According to the text, which of the following terms are more likely to be used by close acquaintances to describe low self-monitors than high self-monitors?

Correct Answer(s)/ LOW SELF MONITORS: perfectionist independent introspective Incorrect Answer(s)/ HIGH SELF MONITORS: skilled in imaginative play and pretending verbally fluent facially expressive self-dramatizing

Which of the following are essential characteristics of personality, according to Jack and Jeanne Block?

ego resilience and ego control

Match each approach to studying personality to the research question it seeks to answer.

"What do people like that do?" single-trait approach "Which traits are more important?" essential-trait approach "What types of people are there?" typological approach "Who does that?" many-trait approach

Which of the following are advantages of using the California Q-Set to assess personality?

Advantage(s) The California Q-Set forces the judge to compare all of the items directly against each other. The California Q-Set limits the judge's ability to rate someone as all good or all bad. Not Advantage(s) The California Q-Set allows the judge to rate the target person consistently high or low on every trait. The California Q-Set can only be used by trained clinicians, thus preventing problems with untrained judges. The California Q-Set does not require the judge to make subtle discriminations between trait ratings.

Which of the following are criticisms of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)?

Criticism(s) Its scales are distributed normally and not bimodally. The theory behind personality types and job placement is not supported empirically. Its assessment of personality types is not reliable over time. Not Criticism(s): It offers individuals confusing and overly complex insight into their personality. It offers predominantly negative feedback.

Which of the following traits did Hans Eysenck consider essential?

Essential Trait(s) extraversion neuroticism psychoticism Not Essential Trait(s) conscientiousness positive emotionality openness to experience agreeableness

Of the Big Five personality traits, which one is associated with a tendency to be cooperative?

agreeableness

Match each Big Five trait to the corresponding facet.

altruism agreeableness creativity openness assertiveness extraversion anxiety neuroticism productiveness conscientiousness

Match each trait to the most relevant behavior or emotional outcome.

creative hobbies openness involvement in religious activities agreeableness higher social status extraversion lower emotional well-being neuroticism higher grade point average conscientiousness

How were the items in the California Q-Set derived?

efforts by researchers to develop a complete list of items sufficient to describe any person

In a previous study, the use of certainty words (such as "exactly" or "absolutely") was not found to be associated with what characteristic?

emotional instability WAS: verbal fluency straightforwardness and candor high intellectual capacity

What method of research examines which traits are the most important?

essential- trait approach

Of the Big Five Personality traits, which one relates to being popular, sensitive to rewards, and happy?

extraversion

Positive emotionality in Auke Tellegen's three-factor model is closest to what trait in Eysenck's model?

extraversion

The Big Five trait of _____ captures the tendency for individuals to experience positive emotions, whereas the trait of ______ captures the tendency for individuals to experience negative emotions.

extraversion, neuroticism

Psychologists use the ______ approach to identify essential traits of personality. The first step in this approach is to compute a _____ where every measure variable is correlated with every other variable.

factor analytic, correlation matrix

People who adjust their behavior to best fit the situation are _____, and people whose behavior is guided by their personality are ______.

high self-monitors, low self-monitors

The concept of self-monitoring states that some individuals have very different "inner" and "outer" selves. __________ are individuals who really do vary in their inner and outer selves and who modulate their personalities greatly depending on their setting. __________ are largely the same outside as they are inside and do not vary much from one setting to another.

high self-monitors; low self-monitors

According to psychologist Jonathan Haidt, conservatives are likely to strongly value what?

in-group loyalty

According to Jack and Jeanne Block's theory of personality as based on ego resilience and ego control, overcontrolled people tend to __________, while undercontrolled individuals are more prone to__________.

inhibit impulses; act on them immediately

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is intended to measure one of two opposing tendencies that best characterizes the test taker. Match each MBTI tendency to the opposing tendency.

introversion - extraversion perception - judgment feeling - thinking intuition - sensing

What is the most important advantage of the Q-sorting method?

it forces a judge to compare all of the test items directly against each other within one individual

What description best characterizes the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)?

it is a long questionnaire, often used by corporations to assess potential employees, that tests which of two opposing tendencies characterize an individual

The __________ is the idea that the important aspects of human life will be labeled with words, and that if something is truly important and universal, many words for it will exist in all languages.

lexical hypothesis

Research has discovered a long list of negative behaviors associated with people who score high on narcissism. What behavior is not associated with narcissism?

maintaining long term relationships IS: driving aggressively not handling failure well swearing a lot

A researcher seeks to understand the reasons a person uses drugs. What approach is the researcher most likely to adopt to study this?

many trait approach

Identify each example as describing someone who is likely a high self-monitor, low self-monitor, or narcissistic.

narcissism: Charlie is an executive at a major corporation and is described by people he first meets as charming and attractive. Yet people who know him well describe him as selfish and uncaring. low self-monitor: Nicki is an entrepreneur who is described by her friends as being blunt and always tending to speak her mind. high self-monitor: Arjun was the prom king in high school and is described by his friends as funny and talkative.

People who score high on the openness to experience/intellect trait are likely to do what?

play a musical instrument

Even though personality types may not be very good at _____, they may still be useful in summarizing how a person stands on a large number of traits, which has applications in fields such as ____.

predicting behavior, advertising

What method of research examines the behavior patterns of certain types of individuals?

single-trait approach

High self-monitors are likely to be described as what?

skilled in social techniques

What method of research focuses on the patterns of traits that characterize whole persons, rather than on the traits directly?

typological approach

According to Jack Block, _____ gets people into trouble, but ______ gets people out of trouble.

undercontrol, ego resilience

Joaquim is trying to eat healthier, but when a coworker brings donuts to work, he has a hard time not eating a couple. Joaquim is likely what type of individual?

undercontrolled

Beyond simply pigeonholing individuals into convenient categories, measuring personality traits can be thought of as having two larger purposes. One is to predict behavior. Another is to do what?

understand behavior

Research using the typological approach has focused on which three personality types?

well adjusted, overcontrolling, and undercontrolling