PSY260 EXAM 1
According to the book, a central question motivating the study of personality is
"Who am I?"
Which of the theoretical approaches to personality is best?
-All of them provide some insight -It is a difficult question to answer
________ is/are an important potential drawback to using case studies.
-Finding an unrepresentative person to study -Observer bias
According to one ancient typology of personality, popular through the middle ages, there are four types of personalities (based on four humours). Two of these are
-Sanguine (even-tempered; blood) -Choleric (irritable; yellow-bile) -Melancholic (depressed; black bile) -Phlegmatic (low energy; phlegm)
Through history, measurement has evolved toward
-agreed upon standards (and away from variable standards) -better specification of measurement conditions -greater precision of measurement.
Personality psychology can be
-an inspiration for films and and art -a basis of some forms of economic theory. -critical in politics and diplomacy.
Personality psychology helps people learn about themselves by
-developing tests and measures of personality -offering a sophisticated language for parts of personality -providing a meaningful language about the organization of personality.
Personality variables can be used to predict future performance. For example, good police officers generally score
-high on intelligence (cognitive capacity), conscientiousness, maturity, and commitment to values. -high on extraversion, friendliness, moderate on openness, and field dependence -low on neuroticism, anxiety, and absorption
Once personality psychologists have conducted a study, they publish their results in
-peer-reviewed scientific journals -chapters in edited books -full length books
The brain influences personality through its
-size, as in the case of intelligence -neurochemistry, as in the case of neurotransmitters -influence on the immune system
Personality assessment often or always involves
-sizing people up -using psychological tests or other forms of measurement -answering a particular question about a person depending upon the context.
One difficulty with experimental manipulations of personality is that
-they are short-term whereas real personality characteristics often are long-term -they are isolated changes rather than coherent systematic changes.
Paul Erdos
-worked 19 hours a day during the last 25 years of his life -believed he might die at any moment -published with over 400 coauthors.
A rough sequence of the modern history of personality psychology would proceed
1) grand theories of personality 2) expansion of graduate training and research 3) development of a common language and integrated frameworks.
Perfect relationships between two variables are represented by correlation(s) of
1.0 and -1.0
A theory says that there are four types of aggression. A test is constructed based on the theory and a factor analysis indicates that the test measures two factors. What can you conclude?
According to the theory, the test is structurally invalid
________ are individuals who pursue a relatively collectivist culture, seeing themselves as interdependent with others.
Allocentrics
"What motives have evolved to help the person adapt to the environment and reproduce?" This question would most likely arise from which perspective?
Biological
________ validity can be determined by knowing a correlation between a test and a criterion.
Criterion
ITEM FACTORS I II Happy-go-lucky .90 .14 Outgoing .88 -.10 The correlation of .90 between Happy-go-lucky and Factor I above is known as a
Factor loading
An early personality psychologist who collected definitions of "personality" and applied the term to the field was
Gordon Allport
The psychologist who was centrally responsible for defining "personality" and applying the label to the field was
Gordon Allport
An ancient figure who developed a four-fold classification of personality types, based on bodily humours
Hippocrates
Four test items, L, M, N, & O were administered to 200 people and intercorrelated between r =.40 to .60. The test is known to measure one factor. Why weren't the correlations closer to 1.00?
Individual items typically are low in reliability, which reduces their intercorrelation
________ data are an example of external-source data that come from a system that is molar relative to personality.
Institutional
What new statistical technique was developed in the 1970's?
Meta-analysis
A book that suggested that people's behavior changes from situation to situation was
Mischel's (1968) "Personality and Assessment."
________ twins share all their genes in common.
Monozygotic
Two psychologists whose careers are highlighted in the case study box of the chapter are
Nancy Cantor and David Buss
________ describes how organisms with certain characteristics are better able to adapt to hostile forces of nature than others
Natural selection
________ data arises from within personality.
Self-judgment data
What theoretical perspective do most psychotherapists employ?
Systems, Including Eclectic and Integrative
________ are five traits that were identified from trait terms in English and other languages.
The Big Five
What role did Wilhelm Wundt envision for personality psychology?
The discipline that would be responsible for describing how all the parts of a person's psychology worked together
According to Classical Test-Score Theory, if the unchanging characteristic of a person were measured ten times over ten weeks, which scores would be likely to change over those ten times?
The error score and the obtained score
________ data arises when an individual constructs a response to an ambiguous stimulus or stimuli.
Thematic
An ancient figure who described various types of people (e.g., flatterer, garrulous, tactless), was
Theophrastus
Please select "Funder's Second Law" from the list below. (Hint: It is the only actual law below from Funder's list).
There are no perfect indicators of personality; there are only clues, and clues are always ambiguous
A theory is developed that there are multiple forms of intelligence. Researchers from different laboratories develop different tests to measure intelligence. Factor analyses of all the tests together suggest that they collectively measure only one factor. What makes the most sense to conclude?
There may be one general type of intelligence
A theory is developed that there are specific individual emotions. Researchers from different laboratories develop different tests to measure emotions. Factor analyses of every test agree that each test measures only two factors: pleasant-unpleasant emotion and arousal-calm emotion. What makes the most sense to conclude based on the logic of factor analysis?
There may be two dimensions of felt emotion
The fundamental formula describing the relation between data and what is measured in Classical Test-Score Theory is
X = T + e.
When a test has no reliability
X = e
A field of science can be best described as
a coherent body of knowledge created and renewed by an organized group of individuals who study it by developing theories and using publicly observable, empirical methods to test the theories
The concept of structural validity can best be described as referring to
a match between how many things a test claims to measure and how many things it actually measures. (as determined by empirical mathematical analyses
The correlation of r = 0.90 would define
a nearly perfect relationship
Trait theories in general emphasize that
a person's behavior is consistent in some ways over many different situations and different times
"Trait" theories in general hold that
a person's behavior is in many ways consistent over time
Predictions from traits to an individual's behavior can be enhanced if
a person's individual behaviors are aggregated together to form a more reliable criterion
Mischel suggested that r = .30 was generally the upper limit of any correlation between
a personality trait and an individual behavior in a situation
The scope of personality psychology centrally includes all of the following except
a philosophical treatment of the best ways to live an ethical life
If a student wants to be trained in personality psychology, he or she would probably attend ________ for a Ph.D. in the subject.
a psychology department with a specialization in personality or personality/social psychology
A personality perspective is
a set of assumptions or beliefs about what the most important influences on personality are
What is the best definition of a system?
a set of interrelated parts
Classical test theory (CTT) is
a set of scientific assumptions about tests, from which mathematical derivations are derived and used to describe how tests operate
When Freud studied his patients, he often instructed them to say whatever came into their minds,
a technique called free association.
The dominant field-wide framework for personality psychology in the latter half of the 20th century was
a theory by theory approach, covering psychodynamic, humanistic, trait, and other theories
A micro-theory is
a theory concerning the operation of a relatively specific aspect of personality under carefully described conditions
In the cross-cultural view of personality
an individual is a carrier of his or her own cultural knowledge
Operant conditioning emphasizes
an individual's behaviors and their consequences
A field-wide framework can be considered
an outline of the key topics that a field studies, and the findings related to them
Personality traits such as intelligence and extraversion
are moderately to highly heritable
Process-report data
arises from the individual's report of an ongoing mental process such as an emotion or thought at the time it arises
Gottman and Silver found that successful marriage partners
asked each other how their days were and mentioned positive aspects of each other
X = T + e, means that every obtained test score is
assumed to possess error
According to the four-fold division of personality popular in ancient Greece and the middle ages, a person with a preponderance of the humour "phlegm", who would be called "phlegmatic", would
be overweight, sleep too much, dream of watery things or fish, and be slow, dull of intellect, and cowardly
The ________ perspective emphasizes the influence of biology on an individual's mental and social functioning.
biological
Which of the following are two examples of personality perspectives?
biological and intrapsychic
The idea that traumatic memories cause symptoms, arose through
case studies and observationism
The intensive study of a single individual over some period of time is referred to as a ________ design.
case study
A tall, lean irritable individual would fit the label of
choleric
People view themselves as highly interdependent in ________ cultures and focus more on their personal goals in ________ cultures
collectivist; individualist
Factor analysis is a multivariate technique in that it
concerns the analysis and grouping of multiple variables
ITEM FACT ORS I II III IV Conscientious .90 .14 .01 .01 Responsible .89 -.10 -.02 -.02 Thoughtless -.70 .02 .11 .11 Cultured .15 .76 .08 .08 Artistic -.12 -.73 -.07 -.07 Intense .00 .05 .71 .02 Test-takers indicated the degree to which each trait above described them. The best interpretation of factor I is that it measures
conscientiousness-carelessness
Freud's topographic model divides personality into the
conscious, preconscious, and unconscious
In the social-cognitive view of personality, the individual is viewed as
constantly adjusting to external situations so as to look for personal advantage and to meet society's demands
A class arithmetic test is composed of items that were carefully chosen so as to correspond to the exact types of problems the students were taught. The resulting test has ________ validity for what was taught in class.
content validity
A test that possesses a high correlation with a predictor variable (such as, GPA, job success, or a different test) is said to have
criterion validity
If a test asks a question, and the test-taker's answer is then scored according to how correct it is, the test data is called
criterion-report or mental ability data
As an infant develops into toddlerhood
cuddliness recedes in importance and self-control grows in importance
The systems framework for personality uses this set of primary topics for studying the personality system
defining personality, its parts, organization, and development
Personality ________ involves the changes that a person makes or undergoes over their lifetime.
development
Freud, Jung, Adler, and other early systematizers were known for their
development of grand theories that organized the psychology of the individual to that time
Personality ________ concern(s) the ways in which self-control, honesty (as opposed to defensiveness) and social skills bring about, or cause, certain patterns of behavior.
dynamics
Rogers emphasized that one characteristic of the therapist that would promote good therapeutic outcomes was
empathy
Microtheories usually emerge from ________.
empirical research work in psychological laboratories
In Morokoff's study of sexual guilt among women, high sex-guilt women who watch erotic videos report less sexual arousal to the experimenter although they are
experiencing more sexual arousal, measured by physiological indicators
Which of the following is NOT the name for a way of computing reliability?
external repetition
Data that originates from the systems surrounding personality (e.g., groups, the situation, and the brain) are called
external source data
ITEM FACTORS I II Happy-go-lucky .90 .14 Outgoing .88 -.10 Lively .70 -.02 Hostile .15 -.12 Frustrated -.12 .13 Intense .00 .05 The best interpretation of factor I is that it measures
extraversion
Today, a ________ is basically an outline for outlining and organizing all that is known about a field so that others can learn about the field.
field-wide framework
A ________ outlines a field's most significant topics
framework
Becoming a personality psychologist
generally leads a person to question and think about why other people are the way they are, more often than others
If the researchers who wrote an Honesty Test were trying to predict cheating at chess, and the correlation between the test and cheating at chess was r = 0.40 for a large sample, then the researchers could most directly conclude that the test
had predictive validity for predicting honesty at chess
The humanistic approach is most centrally concerned with
healthy human development toward self-actualization
Humanistic and positive approaches to personality centrally emphasize
how a person can grow holistically, developing positive attributes, and growing into a state of fulfillment
Psychology is best defined as the study of
how a person's mind works
When personality psychology addresses questions of psychology and life, the focus is on explaining
how an individual's psychology works and how he or she functions best
Classical conditioning emphasizes
how an organism's natural responses to certain environmental stimuli can become paired with other stimuli
The concept of structural validity can best be described as referring to a match between
how many things a test claims to measure and how many things it measures according to empirical mathematical analyses
Factor analysis most directly tells you about
how many things a test measures
The biopsychological approach to personality examines
how the nervous system, brain, and surrounding biology influence a person's mental life
What is one possible empirical indication of which theories are most correct as mentioned in the book?
how well psychotherapies based on the theory work
In which occupation is someone with some training and interest in personality psychology most likely to be found?
human resource officers interested in executive development
If genetic influences help determine a trait, the correlation of the trait should be highest among pairs of ________, medium for pairs of ________, and lowest for pairs of ________.
identical twins, siblings, unrelated individuals
Exemplification refers to the use of case studies to
illustrate examples of a particular part, process, or cause of personality
Students who begin a personality course often hold ________ such as that "unconscious influences help direct people's behavior," and "it is as important to watch a person's actions as to listen to what the person says."
implicit personality theories
Our own informal and sometimes unstated theory of who we are and how others behave is called
implicit personality theory
According to Erikson, trust is learned by the infant
in Erikson's first stage, through testing and tasting, in a manner similar to Freud's idea of the oral stage
Some examples of hormones that influence personality
include sex hormones such as estrogen and testosterone
The study of how people differ from one another - their relatively consistent characteristic behaviors that vary from one another - is most central to a personality psychology defined as the study of
individual differences
A central dimension of difference across cultures, studied today in cross-cultural psychology, is the difference along a continuum of
individualism-collectivism
"How do people form mental models of themselves and the world and what are those mental models?" This question might most likely arise from which perspective?
intrapsychic
"What are a person's most important psychological motives?" This question might most likely arise from which perspective?
intrapsychic
In a 1954 book entitled "Social Learning and Clinical Psychology," Julian Rotter proclaimed the principle, central to the social-cognitive approach, that
investigators should focus on the interaction between the individual and his or her meaningful environment
Observationism is related to case studies in that it
involves the multiple, repeated examination of many different cases
Research on self-judgment and observer data indicate that observer data
is best when judges record readily observable ("subjectively observable") traits such as extraversion
A love test claims to measure three types of love and yields three scores for each person. Factor analysis suggests the test measures two things. From this, you can conclude the test
is not structurally valid
The use of psychiatric drugs to improve personality
is now a real possibility, referred to as "cosmetic" psychopharmacology
When X = T, the reliability coefficient
is perfect (r = 1.0)
A love test provides subscores for three types of love; factor analysis suggests the same test measures three things. From this, you can conclude the test
is structurally valid
A mental test is considered reliable if
it consistently measures whatever it measures
If a test has construct validity it means
it has a number of relationships with various criteria that are consistent with theory or concept it measures
More molar psychological parts, relative to molecular parts, are
larger and combine more parts
The areas surrounding personality are sometimes referred to as the
life space or life sphere
Four central topics covered in the book that are used to organize the study of personality are
location/identification, components, organization, and development
A test in which one half does not correlate with the other half is said to have
low or no reliability
A beginning definition of personality psychology views it as the study of a person's
major psychological subsystems such as motives and emotions
The molecular -- molar dimension is used by scientists and philosophers of science to locate the position of ________ along a continuum.
many different objects of scientific study
The "natural" part of a natural experiment refers to the fact that
membership in the comparison groups arises naturally rather than by using random assignment
Evolutionary theory predicts that men, relative to women, should be more concerned about their partner's sexual fidelity because
men need to ensure their genes are passed on under conditions of potential uncertainty as to being the father of a child
The idea below most central to the theory called evolutionary psychology is that
mental adaptations that enhance survival are selected for by evolutionary processes
Micro-theories are also known as
mid-level and limited-domain theories
The personality system can be located amidst other objects of scientific study according to several important dimensions. Two such dimensions are
molecular-molar, internal-external
ITEM FACTORS I II III My mood is clear. .90 .14 .01 I understand my feeling. .89 -.10 -.02 My mood is confused. .70 .02 .11 I accept how I am feeling. .15 .76 .08 How I am feeling is wrong. -.12 -.73 -.07 I am feeling intensely. .00 .05 .02 The best interpretation of factor I is that it measures
mood clarity
ITEM FACTORS I II III My mood is clear. .90 .14 .01 I understand my feeling. .89 -.10 -.02 My mood is confused. .70 .02 .11 I accept how I am feeling. .15 .76 .08 How I am feeling is wrong. -.12 -.73 -.07 I am feeling intensely. .00 .05 .02 The best interpretation of factor II is that it measures
mood-acceptance-rejection
A micro-theory is ________ specific in comparison to a perspective
more
In a study of criminals, higher levels of testosterone were associated with
more interpersonally violent crimes, such as rape and murder
Neurotransmitters are different from hormones because
neurotransmitters are mostly released by neurons into synapses; hormones are produced by glands
A correlation of 1.25 between two variables indicates
nothing because it is impossible
ITEM FACTORS I II Happy-go-lucky .90 .14 Outgoing .88 -.10 Lively .70 -.02 Hostile .15 -.12 Frustrated -.12 .13 Intense .00 .05 The best interpretation of factor II is that it measures
nothing important
ITEM FACTORS I II III My mood is clear. .90 .14 .01 I understand my feeling. .89 -.10 -.02 My mood is confused. .70 .02 .11 I accept how I am feeling. .15 .76 .08 How I am feeling is wrong. -.12 -.73 -.07 I am feeling intensely. .00 .05 .02 The best interpretation of factor III is that it measures
nothing important
Freud maintained that
observationism, when done properly, represented the best of all possible scientific methods for studying psychology
If a friend describes the personality of someone he or she knows, the kind of data involved is
observer or informant data
Four test items, L, M, N, & O were administered to 200 people and intercorrelated between r = .40 and .60. A factor analysis of this data would probably conclude
one single (underlying) variable was being measured
A person begins to attend parties, and finds that others respond positively to him, making him feel good. As a consequence, he attends more parties. This description explains how extraversion might emerge through
operant conditioning
An individual might take two forms of a test considered to be identical (on a theoretical basis), so as to examine the test's
parallel forms reliability
In a true experimental design
participants are assigned randomly to control and treatment groups
In Classical Test-Score Theory, a true score is one that
perfectly reflects a person's actual ability or quality
Data that originates from inside personality is called
personal report data
The temporal-developmental perspective focuses on
personality viewed over the lifespan, including optimal development
A systems approach to personality is best described as the study of
personality's parts, the organization of those parts, and their development
Personality is caught between the individual's biological desires, on the one hand, and society, on the other. This is a central idea of
psychodynamic theory
Two examples of theories of personality given in the book are
psychoevolutionary and trait
Interest in understanding relationships among psychological processes and how they influence a person's life is called
psychological mindedness
The subdiscipline of psychology that is concerned most centrally with measurement is called
psychometrics
The correlation matrix used in factor analysis contains correlations that
range from -1.0 to 1.0
Better self understanding is a(n)
reason for studying personality psychology
A test in which one half correlates highly with the other half is said to have
reliability
Bathroom scales typically produce a slightly different weight each time you step on one. The reason for that has to do with the scales'
reliability
The expression "measure twice, cut once," was intended to remind the carpenter to be certain the measure taken was accurate before going ahead and cutting the wood. The fact that measures of length (or height, etc.) vary a bit from one time to the next is an issue of
reliability
George Kelly compared the individual to a
scientist, always trying to anticipate events so as to control the environment
Freud's claim that observationism was a reliable method
seemed plausible until Jung, Adler, and others claimed to observe different material than Freud
Idiocentrics tend to feel more ________ relative to others.
self esteem and loneliness
If a person describes him or herself, the kind of data is called
self-judgment data
A personality theory is a(n)
set of statements or assumptions about how personality operates
) Freud's version of psychodynamic theory proposed two primary instinctual motives
sex and aggression
Adaptation is a process by which a mental (or physical) feature of the individual is
shaped, generation after generation, for current advantage
Contemporary training programs in personality psychology are often part of
social/personality areas within psychology departments
In psychosocial stage theory, an individual's psychological development is mirrored or marked by
specific social activities, rituals, observances, and institutions tailored to each phase of life
At Camp Wediko, each camper's aggression was examined in situations with adults and with their peers. The researchers found that
stable patterns of aggression existed for different situations. For example, a given camper might always exhibit more aggression with adults than with peers
Structural organization refers to
stable, basic, divisions of personality
Factor analysis is most closely related to determining this type of validity
structural
A test or scale consists of a(n) ________ procedure of administration during which people's ________ or responses to ________ are collected.
systematic; answers; items
A person's physiologically-based motivational and emotional styles is best described as his or her
temperament
Psychodynamic theory is most centrally concerned with the
tensions, conflicts, and interactions among personality's parts
A group of people take a given test on October 3rd, and then again on October 20th. This group of people's scores correlate r = .90 between the two testings. From this, one can most directly conclude the
test has test-retest reliability
If-then traits are traits
that are triggered if a certain cues within a situation are present
Measurement can be defined as
the assignment of numerals to properties of objects
According to the book, the scientific systems typically described as surrounding personality are
the brain and nervous system, the external situation, and groups including personality
The technical definition of reliability is
the correlation between a test's true score (T) and obtained score (X)
Characterology involves
the literary description of individual types of people
Intrapsychic perspectives emphasize
the parts and organization of the mental system itself
The integrated approach used here places its emphasis on
the personality system itself, and uses all the historical and contemporary perspectives on personality, as needed
A correlation describes
the relationship between two variables
A scientist believes personality psychology is, most centrally, the scientific activity of measuring differences among people, classifying people according to those differences, and predicting people on the basis of those differences. This scientist would most likely define personality as
the study of individual differences
The analysis of how people differ from one another is called
the study of individual differences
The best definition of personality psychology (according to the book) is that it is
the study of the organized, developing system within the individual that represents the collective action of that individual's major psychological subsystems
One very important contribution of Maslow to the field of personality has been his emphasis on
the study of very healthy people
Which approach focuses on the idea that multiple theories are complementary of each other?
the systems approach
Walter Mischel concluded that people's behavior was far more inconsistent from situation to situation than previously had been appreciated. Central to his argument was that
the typical correlation between a person's trait and his/her behaviors was r = .30
According to Freud, non-rational, instinct-driven, associational thinking is most likely to take place in
the unconscious
According to Freud, unacceptable urges, feelings, and ideas reside in
the unconscious
When different psychologists use observationism to study individuals
they often do not agree as to why a person thinks, feels, and/or behaves as they do
According to the book, ________ is an important dimension that helps identify the personality system and relate it to other systems.
time
What is the role of a meta-analysis?
to combine the results of smaller studies into a larger analysis in order to clarify the collective meaning
Two examples of intrapsychic perspectives are the
trait and psychodynamic
If people are asked how "happy" they are on a mood scale, and later how "joyful" they are, and their responses were highly positively intercorrelated (e.g., people answered them the same way) then their responses will best be described by
two items and one factor
If people are asked whether they are "moody" and whether their "mood goes up and down," and their responses were highly positively intercorrelated (e.g., people answered them the same way) then their responses will best be described by
two items and one factor
If people are asked whether they are "moody" and whether they are "even-tempered," and their responses were negatively correlated (e.g., people answered the items in opposite ways) then their responses will best be described by
two items and one factor
) If people are asked whether they are "moody" and whether they are "outgoing," and their responses were uncorrelated then their responses will best be described by
two items and two factors
Clinicians like Erikson and Freud believed
you could learn a lot by observing people in depth
