This Document Contains Chapters 3 to 4 Chapter 03 Traits and Trait Taxonomies Multiple Choice Questions 1. Which of the following is NOT a major question addressed by the dispositional domain? A. How many traits exist? B. How do traits interact with situations to produce behavior? C. How can we best measure traits? D. Which traits are unconscious? Answer: D. Which traits are unconscious? 2. The dispositional domain deals with personality problems A. through psychoanalysis. B. through cognitive therapy. C. by examining important similarities and differences between people. D. by altering reward and punishment contingencies. Answer: C. by examining important similarities and differences between people. 3. The dispositional domain focuses on traits that A. are enduring over time. B. change over time. C. change when situations change. D. are similar in all people. Answer: A. are enduring over time. 4. Which of the following is NOT a fundamental question of people who study traits? A. How can traits be changed? B. How should "trait" be defined? C. How can we identify which traits are most important? D. How can we develop a comprehensive taxonomy of traits? Answer: A. How can traits be changed? 5. The "traits as causes" perspective on personality characteristics is useful in all of the following areas EXCEPT A. ruling out alternative explanations for behavior. B. explaining why a person's behavior seems inconsistent with a trait at times. C. viewing traits as internal structures. D. counting how often a behavior is performed. Answer: D. counting how often a behavior is performed. 6. Ellen works into the night studying for chemistry and biology examinations to reach her goal of entering medical school. She studies so hard that she often appears bored and uninterested in class. Which of the following trait formulations best explains Ellen's personality characteristics? A. Traits as internal causes. B. Traits as purely descriptive summary. C. Traits as biological structure. D. Traits as genetic predisposition. Answer: A. Traits as internal causes. 7. From the "traits as descriptive summaries" point of view, which of the following would be the most convincing evidence that a person has a given trait? A. The person behaves in ways consistent with that trait. B. The person says that they have the trait. C. The person's behavior is caused by situations. D. The person's traits are caused by biology and heredity. Answer: A. The person behaves in ways consistent with that trait. 8. If the trait of stinginess is viewed as a purely descriptive summary of behavior, it can be represented best by A. Mary's constant thoughts about spending too much money. B. Andrew always leaving a very small tip at restaurants. C. Beth living with several roommates. D. George not contributing for a gift for a stranger. Answer: C. Beth living with several roommates. 9. Which of the following is an example of the view that traits are descriptive summaries? A. Eysenck's theory B. Theoretical scale construction C. The act frequency approach D. The sociosexual orientation scale Answer: C. The act frequency approach 10. If you collect the central behaviors for a category and assess how frequently people perform those behaviors you would be using the act _______________ approach to studying personality. A. manipulation B. selection C. frequency D. analysis Answer: C. frequency 11. A robin is a more _______________ example of bird than is a penguin. A. prototypical B. aerodynamic C. orthodontic D. elemental Answer: A. prototypical 12. The "frequency" part of the "act frequency approach" represents how often an individual performs a behavior in a period of time. This element of the act frequency approach is assessed by act _______________ ratings. A. nomination B. performance C. occurrence D. repetition Answer: B. performance 13. The _______________ identifies how much of a trait a person has by counting relevant behaviors. A. circumplex model B. act frequency approach C. rational approach to scale construction D. theoretical approach to scale construction Answer: B. act frequency approach 14. Which of the following is NOT typically a step in the act frequency approach? A. Act nominations B. Assessing synonym frequency C. Recording of act performance D. Prototypicality judgments Answer: B. Assessing synonym frequency 15. What procedure do researchers use to identify the potential hundreds of acts that belong to a trait category? A. Act nominations B. Act effectiveness C. Act performance D. Act likelihood Answer: A. Act nominations 16. Roberto is interested in studying the trait of empathy using the act frequency approach. He asks each of the participants in this phase of his study to write down several behaviors highly empathetic people might perform. Roberto collects a pool of 251 empathetic acts. This is called the act _______________ procedure of the act frequency approach. A. nominalization B. nomenclature C. nomination D. nomonthetic Answer: C. nomination 17. _______________ used by the act frequency approach to figure out which acts are most central to a trait category. A. Act nominations are B. Assessing synonym frequency is C. Recording of act performance is D. Prototypicality judgments are Answer: D. Prototypicality judgments are 18. If the act "she made direct eye contact and smiled" is central to the category of flirting, it would be considered a(n) _______________ act for that category of behavior. A. effective B. likely C. prototypical D. centrifugal Answer: C. prototypical 19. Which of the following is NOT one of the criticisms of the act frequency approach to studying personality? A. The amount of context for the performance of acts is not specified by the act frequency approach. B. The act frequency approach does not assess acts that are covert or directly observable. C. The act frequency approach assesses explicit behavioral phenomenon. D. The act frequency approach may not assess complex traits easily or accurately. Answer: C. The act frequency approach assesses explicit behavioral phenomenon. 20. The approach that uses natural language to identify important traits is the _______________ approach. A. lexical B. theoretical C. statistical D. act frequency Answer: A. lexical 21. The idea that all important individual differences have been encoded within the natural language is know as A. the lexical hypothesis. B. the projective hypothesis. C. factor analysis. D. a personality taxonomy. Answer: A. the lexical hypothesis. 22. The lexical approach assumes that A. the lexicon is an unchanging catalog of human traits. B. humans invented words to describe all of the important personality traits. C. statistical techniques, like factor analysis, are poor ways of discovering important personality traits. D. new words in the lexicon are better at describing personality traits than old words. Answer: B. humans invented words to describe all of the important personality traits. 23. Dr. Larsen is interested in researching the personalities of dweebs. He collects all the terms in the Dweeb Talk Dictionary that can differentiate one dweeb from another dweeb. Dr. Larsen is the using the _______________ approach to identifying important traits. A. maniacal B. statistical C. prototypical D. lexical Answer: D. lexical 24. If a trait-descriptive word is found in only one or two languages the word A. will probably be imported by other languages. B. will probably be important to a universal personality taxonomy. C. will probably not be included in a universal personality taxonomy. D. is probably known only to personality psychologists. Answer: C. will probably not be included in a universal personality taxonomy. 25. Which of the following would be one way that you might determine the importance of a trait using the lexical strategy? A. Find the number of synonyms for that characteristic in the lexicon. B. Determine if that trait is represented in all parts of the lexicon (noun, verb, adjective, etc.). C. Examine the lexicon for biological words that represent that trait. D. Determine if there are words representing each pole (end) of that trait in the language. Answer: A. Find the number of synonyms for that characteristic in the lexicon. 26. Which approach would most likely be used to undertake cross-cultural comparisons of language? A. Lexical approach B. Theoretical approach C. Statistical approach D. Act frequency approach Answer: A. Lexical approach 27. If a trait is sufficiently important that it appears in the lexicon of most human languages, then that trait demonstrates the concept of _______________ universality. A. act B. cross-cultural C. trait D. synonym Answer: B. cross-cultural 28. The idea that Eskimo language has many words for snow is most consistent with the _______________ approach. A. lexical B. theoretical C. statistical D. act frequency Answer: A. lexical 29. The fact that there are trait-descriptive adjectives that few people know is a problem for the _______________ approach. A. lexical B. theoretical C. statistical D. act frequency Answer: A. lexical 30. Which of the following approaches would utilize the technique of factor analysis? A. Lexical approach B. Theoretical approach C. Statistical approach D. Act frequency approach Answer: C. Statistical approach 31. When Cattell used factor analysis to reduce the number of trait descriptive adjectives in his pool, he was combining the _______________ approaches. A. lexical and statistical B. theoretical and statistical C. act frequency and statistical D. theoretical and act frequency Answer: A. lexical and statistical 32. Factor analysis can be applied to A. adjective ratings. B. a true/false questionnaire. C. self-ratings on personality relevant statements. D. all of these choices. Answer: D. all of these choices. 33. _______________ is a statistical approach that identifies groups of items that are similar to each other. A. Orthogonality B. Factor analysis C. The act frequency approach D. Rational scale construction Answer: B. Factor analysis 34. Factor loadings indicate the _______________ between an item and a factor. A. correlation B. deviation C. analysis D. kurtosis Answer: A. correlation 35. Which of the following is useful in reducing the number of personality traits to a more manageable number? A. Synonym frequency B. The act frequency approach C. Factor analysis D. Cross-cultural universality Answer: C. Factor analysis 36. A problem with factor analysis is that A. it leads to an unmanageable number of traits. B. you can only identify traits that you include in your analysis. C. factor loadings are like correlations. D. it reduces the number of traits being studied. Answer: B. you can only identify traits that you include in your analysis. 37. A researcher who defines a specific set of traits as a part of a model of personality before conducting any empirical investigation of that model of personality is taking the _______________ approach to theory development. A. lexical B. theoretical C. statistical D. empirical Answer: B. theoretical 38. Psychologists Simpson and Gangestad developed the concept of socio-sexuality based on evolutionary theory. Then they developed the sociosexual orientation inventory. They employed the _______________ approach to developing a model of personality. A. lexical B. theoretical C. statistical D. act frequency Answer: B. theoretical 39. Fred believes that the having a large big toe is related to how extraverted a person may be and having a large small toe is an indicator of how conscientious a person may be. He then starts measuring toe size and personality traits. Fred's research represents the _______________ approach to studying personality. A. act frequency B. lexical C. statistical D. theoretical Answer: D. theoretical 40. A Freudian scholar develops personality measures to assess oral, anal, and phallic fixations. The scholar is using the _______________ approach to identifying important individual differences. A. psychoanalytic B. theoretical C. regressive D. clinical Answer: B. theoretical 41. Which of the following is a criticism of the theoretical approach? A. The approach can only be as good as the theory. B. It is theoretically based. C. It depends on the lexical hypothesis. D. It has restricted investigations to adjectives. Answer: A. The approach can only be as good as the theory. 42. Which of the following researchers was born in Germany and wanted to study physics before studying psychology? A. Cattell B. Wiggins C. Eysenck D. Leary Answer: C. Eysenck 43. Whose model of personality includes three main traits? A. Cattell B. Wiggins C. Eysenck D. Leary Answer: C. Eysenck 44. Which taxonomy was developed by identifying traits that were thought to be heritable and thought to have biological substrates? A. PEN model B. Cattell's taxonomy of 16 traits C. The Leary circumplex D. The five factor model Answer: A. PEN model 45. A worrier would likely score high on the trait of A. extraversion. B. neuroticism. C. psychoticism. D. quarrelsomeness. Answer: B. neuroticism. 46. Juanita is observed as being somewhat aloof and distant. She tends to lead a predictable and well-organized life. Juanita is demonstrating behaviors related to Eysenck's dimension of A. introversion. B. conscientiousness. C. agency. D. psychoticism. Answer: A. introversion. 47. Fu is an excessive worrier, who always seems tense and has trouble sleeping. His friends report that Fu has very low self-esteem and is moody much of the time. Fu is demonstrating behaviors related to Eysenck's dimension of A. introversion. B. quarrelsomeness. C. psychoticism. D. neuroticism. Answer: D. neuroticism. 48. A person who is antisocial and lacks empathy would score high on the trait of A. extraversion. B. neuroticism. C. psychoticism. D. introversion Answer: C. psychoticism. 49. Jerry is a loner who likes to catch flies and pull their wings off. He is also addicted to violent movies. Jerry most likely scores high on the personality trait of A. introversion. B. psychoticism. C. sensation seeking. D. neuroticism. Answer: B. psychoticism. 50. Which taxonomy includes a four-level hierarchy of specific acts, habitual acts, traits, and super traits? A. The PEN model B. Cattell's taxonomy of 16 traits C. The Leary circumplex D. The five-factor model Answer: A. The PEN model 51. Eysenck put the most important traits at A. the top of his hierarchy. B. the bottom of his hierarchy. C. an intermediate level in his hierarchy. D. the third level of his hierarchy. Answer: A. the top of his hierarchy. 52. Which of the following is NOT an attribute of Eysenck's taxonomy? A. Hierarchical structure. B. Traits are heritable. C. Traits have many synonyms. D. Traits have physiological substrates. Answer: C. Traits have many synonyms. 53. According to Eysenck, which of the following traits is related to central nervous system arousal and reactivity? A. Extraversion B. Neuroticism C. Psychoticism D. Dominance Answer: A. Extraversion 54. Eysenck's taxonomy has been criticized on which one of these issues? A. The traits in Eysenck's model are not heritable in the population. B. Eysenck failed to include some important personality traits in his model. C. Eysenck did not take the physiological substrates of traits into consideration in his model. D. There is a dispute about whether or not personality traits are arranged hierarchically. Answer: B. Eysenck failed to include some important personality traits in his model. 55. Which of the following psychologists was born in England, moved to America, and used factor analysis to identify major traits? A. Cattell B. Wiggins C. Eysenck D. Leary Answer: A. Cattell 56. Which personality researcher named his traits with letters (similar to the way vitamins are named)? A. Cattell B. Wiggins C. Eysenck D. Leary Answer: A. Cattell 57. Cattell's taxonomy included _______________ traits. A. two B. three C. five D. 16 Answer: D. 16 58. Cattell believed that the true factors of personality were A. based primarily in human biology. B. found across different sources of data. C. arranged in a circumplex. D. found only in the natural language. Answer: B. found across different sources of data. 59. Cattell's model of personality has been criticized on the grounds that A. he published over a thousand pages a year during his most productive years. B. his empirical strategies were weak and ill-defined. C. his model of personality has failed to be replicated by other researchers. D. his views on personality traits were biased and, therefore, were ignored by most researchers. Answer: C. his model of personality has failed to be replicated by other researchers. 60. Who of the following was the first to propose a circumplex model of personality? A. Cattell B. Wiggins C. Eysenck D. Leary Answer: D. Leary 61. _______________ are traits that describe how people act with other people. A. Factor loadings B. Adjacent traits C. Bipolar traits D. Interpersonal traits Answer: D. Interpersonal traits 62. Circumplex models are composed of _______________ primary dimensions of personality. A. two B. three C. five D. eight Answer: A. two 63. The primary dimensions in Wiggins's circumplex model are love and A. hate. B. dominance. C. interpersonal behavior. D. neuroticism. Answer: B. dominance. 64. Wiggins' circumplex model of personality is limited to traits that A. have a biological basis in the nervous system. B. pertain to what people do to and with each other. C. show how people interact with the environment. D. were found in the LSD experiences of subjects. Answer: B. pertain to what people do to and with each other. 65. Which of the following is NOT a clear advantage of Wiggins's circumplex model of personality? A. The relationship of each and every other trait is specified in the model. B. There is an explicit definition of the nature of interpersonal behavior. C. It alerts researchers to gaps in knowledge about some interpersonal behaviors. D. The relationships between traits can be traced to biological-based traits. Answer: D. The relationships between traits can be traced to biological-based traits. 66. The concept of _______________ holds that items near one another in a circumplex are positively correlated. A. adjacency B. bipolarity C. orthogonality D. factor loadings Answer: A. adjacency 67. In Wiggins' model of personality, bipolar traits are A. related to clinical disorders. B. uncorrelated with other. C. on opposite sides of the circle. D. orthogonal with each other. Answer: C. on opposite sides of the circle. 68. Traits that are orthogonal _______________ with each other. A. are not correlated B. have a strong positive correlation C. have a negative correlation D. are causally linked Answer: A. are not correlated 69. _______________ describes the relationship between traits that are perpendicular to one another in a circumplex. A. "Adjacency" B. "Bipolarity" C. "Orthogonality" D. "Polarity" Answer: C. "Orthogonality" 70. In Wiggins' circumplex, the traits of dominance and warmth-agreeableness are A. adjacent. B. bipolar. C. orthogonal. D. polar opposites. Answer: C. orthogonal. 71. Which of the following is NOT a strength of the Wiggins interpersonal circumplex? A. It identifies new areas of research by mapping the interpersonal domain. B. It includes all the traits needed to understand interpersonal behavior. C. It specifies the relationships between items in the circumplex. D. It explicitly defines what interpersonal behavior is. Answer: B. It includes all the traits needed to understand interpersonal behavior. 72. More research in the past few decades has focused on this taxonomy than other taxonomies. A. PEN model B. Cattell's taxonomy of 16 traits C. The Leary circumplex D. The five factor model Answer: D. The five factor model 73. The five-factor model is a combination of _______________ and _______________ approaches to studying personality taxonomies. A. lexical and statistical B. lexical and biological C. theoretical and statistical D. statistical and causal Answer: A. lexical and statistical 74. Where did Allport and Odbert locate 17,953 trait terms? A. Act nominations B. Self reports C. Dictionary D. Peer ratings Answer: C. Dictionary 75. Which one of the following is NOT one of the four categories into which Allport and Odbert divided the 17,953 trait terms? A. Stable traits B. Instable traits C. Temporary states D. Social evaluations Answer: B. Instable traits 76. Who took the Allport and Odbert list of trait terms and grouped them logically into 171 clusters of terms by grouping them together and eliminating some terms? A. Cattell B. Fiske C. Norman D. Christal Answer: A. Cattell 77. The first researcher to discover the five factor model of personality by analyzing the structure of trait descriptive adjective was A. Cattell. B. Allport. C. Fiske. D. Tupes. Answer: C. Fiske. 78. Researchers have found empirical evidence for the five-factor model in all of these ways EXCEPT A. similar factor structures for men and women. B. different factor analytic techniques. C. extensively in English-speaking samples. D. in five robust biological structures. Answer: D. in five robust biological structures. 79. The five-factor model of personality consists of these five traits: A. surgency, sensation seeking, conscientious, psychoticism, and openness-intellect. B. extraversion, surgency, agreeableness, intellect, and dominance. C. psychoticism, extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, and openness-intellect. D. surgency, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness-intellect. Answer: D. surgency, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness-intellect. 80. A problem with the five-factor model is that A. the five factors are only found in males. B. the structure does not replicate across item formats. C. researchers disagree about what to call the fifth factor. D. most factors do not replicate across cultures. Answer: C. researchers disagree about what to call the fifth factor. 81. In the five-factor model, the fifth factor is NOT called A. intellect. B. openness. C. openness-intellect. D. surgency. Answer: D. surgency. 82. What is one of the reasons that researchers have had trouble agreeing about the nature of the fifth factor of the five-factor model of personality? A. Cross-cultural researchers have been unable to study the fifth factor across many languages. B. Different researchers use different item pools in the factor analysis of big five data. C. Researchers using questionnaire items favor "openness to experience" as the trait label. D. Researchers using trait descriptive adjectives favor "intellect" as the trait label. Answer: B. Different researchers use different item pools in the factor analysis of big five data. 83. A person who is good natured and cooperative would score high on the trait of A. surgency. B. agreeableness. C. conscientiousness. D. emotional stability. Answer: B. agreeableness. 84. A person who is responsible and tidy would score high on the trait of A. surgency. B. agreeableness. C. conscientiousness. D. emotional stability. Answer: C. conscientiousness. 85. A person who engages in risky sexual behavior would have this combination of five factor traits: A. high neuroticism, low conscientious, and low agreeableness. B. high extraversion, low conscientiousness, and moderate emotional stability. C. high extraversion, high openness to experience, and low conscientiousness. D. high neuroticism, low intellect, and low extraversion. Answer: A. high neuroticism, low conscientious, and low agreeableness. 86. A person who tends to happy and experience positive affect in life would have this combination of five factor traits: A. high conscientious and high agreeableness. B. high extraversion and high agreeableness. C. high extraversion and low neuroticism. D. high intellect and low neuroticism. Answer: C. high extraversion and low neuroticism. 87. The five-factor model has been criticized because A. it lacks a research tradition. B. it may not include some important traits. C. it lacks circumplex structure. D. most factors do not replicate across cultures. Answer: B. it may not include some important traits. 88. Proponents of the five factor model have not included more traits A. as they are unwilling to go beyond five traits. B. as additional traits lack a theoretical basis. C. as they see the newly proposed traits as already included in the "big five." D. as no one has suggested additional traits. Answer: C. as they see the newly proposed traits as already included in the "big five." Chapter 04 Theoretical and Measurement Issues in Trait Psychology Multiple Choice Questions 1. Trait psychologists are most interested in A. how people are different from each other. B. how human nature works. C. understanding the uniqueness of each individual. D. general laws of human behavior. Answer: A. how people are different from each other. 2. Trait psychology is sometimes also called _______________ psychology. A. social B. differential C. cognitive D. developmental Answer: B. differential 3. Compared to other approaches to personality, the trait approach is more concerned with A. measurement. B. the unconscious. C. the theory of evolution. D. disorders of personality. Answer: A. measurement. 4. Because trait psychology focuses on the amounts of various traits, it tends to focus on A. psychopathology. B. measurement. C. situational selection. D. integrity testing. Answer: B. measurement. 5. The text compares the complexities and richness of human personality to the way a color wheel, consisting of a mere three colors, can create the entire spectrum of colors visible to the human eye. This analogy illustrates how A. the color spectrum varies with different human emotions. B. individuals are as unique and diverse as the range of color spectrum. C. a few basic and primary traits could be responsible for the idiosyncrasies of every personality. D. the use of color therapy over an extended period of time may change the amount of a trait in an individual. Answer: C. a few basic and primary traits could be responsible for the idiosyncrasies of every personality. 6. Vicki has been your friend for several years. Generally she is a very friendly, outgoing, and sociable person. Based on what you know about Vicki's personality you predict that she A. will have greater amounts of these traits in the future. B. was probably a unfriendly, nonsocial, and withdrawn child. C. will be as friendly, outgoing, and sociable as she is now in the future. D. will have far lower amounts of these traits in the future. Answer: C. will be as friendly, outgoing, and sociable as she is now in the future. 7. Traits are A. assumed to be consistent over time. B. expected to vary over time. C. expected to be consistent only if they have a biological basis. D. expected to be consistently meaningful over time Answer: A. assumed to be consistent over time. 8. At 20 years of age, Joe is the life of the of the party, hanging off of the chandelier and leading everyone at the party in a rousing chorus of the latest hit song. Later in life, he most likely will be the senior citizen A. who encourages everyone in the senior citizen home to have a shuffleboard tournament. B. most likely to sneak out to the local college bar to have a drink with students. C. who will stubbornly refuse to be admitted to a retirement community. D. most likely to be the loneliest member of his peer group. Answer: A. who encourages everyone in the senior citizen home to have a shuffleboard tournament. 9. If a trait changes over time, test-retest correlations A. will always be low. B. will always be high. C. are high if rank order remains the same. D. are low if rank order remains the same. Answer: C. are high if rank order remains the same. 10. The concept of rank order consistency suggests that A. traits are not consistent over time within an individual. B. trait levels in an individual may decrease with age when compared to the general population. C. a person with more of a trait at one time will have a different trait score at another time. D. trait levels are unaffected by the chronological age of an individual. Answer: D. trait levels are unaffected by the chronological age of an individual. 11. A study by Hartshorne and May (1928) found that children who cheated in games were A. much more likely to cheat on written exams. B. not much more likely to cheat on written exams. C. more likely to help strangers. D. more likely to be aggressive. Answer: B. not much more likely to cheat on written exams. 12. _______________ challenged the idea that traits are consistent across situations. A. Cattell B. Eysenck C. Mischel D. Larson Answer: C. Mischel 13. Mischel thought that _______________ were most important in determining behavior. A. situations B. attitudes C. traits D. intellectual abilities Answer: A. situations 14. The idea that traits are less important than immediate circumstances in determining behavior is known as A. aggregation. B. situationism. C. acquiescence. D. social desirability. Answer: B. situationism. 15. Most personality and social psychologists agree that actual behavior is based on A. constant interaction between the individual's personality and the situation. B. the consistent behavior across a multitude of situations. C. extremely strong situations that constantly change behavior. D. the need to disagree. Answer: A. constant interaction between the individual's personality and the situation. 16. Vince is watching his school's team play in the championship basketball game. He is wildly cheering his team on to victory, talking to everyone around him, even though they are strangers, and shouting at the referees for making bad calls on his team. From psychologist Walter Mischel's perspective, Vince is primarily behaving due to A. his extremely strong competitiveness and extraversion. B. the extremely strong effects of the six tacos he ate for lunch. C. his extremely strong long-term commitment to the basketball team. D. the extremely strong effects of the immediate situation. Answer: D. the extremely strong effects of the immediate situation. 17. One result of Mischel's critique of trait approaches has been A. an increased interest in person-situation interactions. B. a decreased interest in person-situation interactions. C. a decrease in the practice of aggregation. D. that personality traits are no longer studied. Answer: A. an increased interest in person-situation interactions. 18. Mischel has pointed out that personality psychologists are NOT very good at predicting A. the effects of important situations on most individuals. B. how a particular individual will behave in a specific situation. C. how personality traits direct individuals to specific situations. D. the effects of personality test scores on an individual. Answer: B. how a particular individual will behave in a specific situation. 19. According to the person-situation interaction point of view, behavior A. = f(P). B. = f(S). C. = f(P × S). D. = f(P + S). Answer: C. = f(P × S). 20. The equation B = f(P × S) A. shows that the appearance of a trait is related to an interaction between the phenotype and stereotype. B. is a way to determine heritability estimates for behavior of personalities in situations. C. specifies that behavior is the result of an interaction between the person and the situation. D. indicates that behavior is primarily the result of personality and secondarily the situation. Answer: C. specifies that behavior is the result of an interaction between the person and the situation. 21. _______________ is the concept that refers to the idea that a person may act in a certain way only in particular circumstances. A. Faking response B. Situational specificity C. Extreme responding D. Aggregation Answer: B. Situational specificity 22. Peter is a very brave man, but otherwise a laid-back guy. One day he hears tires squealing and metal crashing. He turns to the street, and upon seeing an accident, rescues a young child from one of the cars involved in the accident. The combination of Peter's trait of bravery and the dangerous situation illustrate the idea of situational A. specificity. B. generalization. C. reactivity. D. synergism. Answer: A. specificity. 23. Personality is likely to have the least effect on behavior A. in ambiguous situations. B. when people are older. C. in strong situations. D. when behaviors are aggregated. Answer: C. in strong situations. 24. After spending time in this class you notice the wide range of personalities in your family while attending a family gathering. During the gathering at Aunt Millie's home she insists on everyone singing traditional holiday songs together. The neurotic, the extraverted, the shy, the anxious, the open, and all of the other personality types in your family join in song at Aunt Millie's request. Her success at getting all of these personalities to join in song is due to the A. common family environment. B. social influence effect. C. strong situation. D. shared family environment. Answer: C. strong situation. 25. You are in a traffic jam and are not able to discern the cause of the delay. While waiting you observe the behavior of the individuals in the cars around you. The angry woman is honking her horn. The narcissistic man is carefully combing his hair. A patient girl is sitting back calmly listening to music. And you're thinking your analytic skills are going to make you a great psychologist! The variety of behaviors being exhibited by the drivers in this situation are most likely due to the A. ambiguity of the situation. B. different cars the drivers own. C. your misinterpretation of the situation. D. differences of driver's personalities. Answer: A. ambiguity of the situation. 26. The idea that personality traits influence which situations people put themselves in is known as A. situational selection. B. evocation. C. manipulation. D. aggregation. Answer: A. situational selection. 27. Which of the following might NOT explain why a person often acts in a friendly manner? A. The person has the trait of friendliness. B. The person is often in social situations. C. The person chooses to go to many parties and social events. D. The person thinks of himself or herself as being friendly. Answer: D. The person thinks of himself or herself as being friendly. 28. A study by Diener et al. discussed in the text did NOT find that A. people who scored high on the need for achievement spent more time working. B. extraverts spent more time engaging in social forms of recreation. C. individuals' personalities were related to the situations they were in. D. people selected different situations when wearing pagers then they usually selected. Answer: D. people selected different situations when wearing pagers then they usually selected. 29. Andrea likes to draw pictures, enjoys solving complex mathematical problems, and enjoys building things. Her decision to major in architecture would best demonstrates A. situational selection. B. evocation. C. manipulation. D. equivocation. Answer: A. situational selection. 30. A person who acts aggressively and often finds himself in uncomfortable conflicts demonstrates the concept of A. situational selection. B. evocation. C. manipulation. D. aggregation. Answer: B. evocation. 31. Whenever Ling walks into a room everyone always smiles and seeks him out for conversation. He does not understand why people react to him that that way. Most likely Ling is demonstrating the idea of A. evocation. B. equivocation. C. elocution. D. elation. Answer: A. evocation. 32. The main difference between evocation and manipulation is that A. evocation is the result of personality but manipulation is not. B. manipulation is the result of personality by evocation is not. C. evocation is not intentional, but manipulation is. D. manipulation is not intentional but evocation is. Answer: C. evocation is not intentional, but manipulation is. 33. A person who intentionally charms others to get what he or she wants demonstrates the concept of A. situational selection. B. evocation. C. manipulation. D. aggregation. Answer: C. manipulation. 34. You call your parents and tell them about a terrific opportunity you have been given by your university to go to an important conference. You tell your parents about all of the opportunities for career development and networking that the conference will offer. Then, you tell your parents that you need only $500 from them to make the trip. You are demonstrating the concept of A. situational selection. B. evocation. C. manipulation. D. guilt initiation. Answer: C. manipulation. 35. _______________ refers to adding up or averaging several single observations of behavior to assess personality. A. Situational selection B. Evocation C. Manipulation D. Aggregation Answer: D. Aggregation 36. Aggregation usually results in a A. more reliable measure than single behaviors. B. less reliable measure than single behaviors. C. measure that does a good job of predicting individual behaviors. D. measure that predicts group behaviors Answer: A. more reliable measure than single behaviors. 37. The correlation between _______________ and _______________ would likely be the highest. A. shyness averaged over a month; shyness on a given day B. shyness averaged over a month; shyness averaged over a week C. shyness averaged over a month; shyness averaged over a different month D. shyness on a given day; shyness on another day Answer: C. shyness averaged over a month; shyness averaged over a different month 38. Single measures of behavior A. predict behavior well in other situations. B. predict behavior well over time. C. are poor measures of anything. D. are typically face valid. Answer: C. are poor measures of anything. 39. Which of the following assessments would you expect to be the best predictor of behavior? A. A single observation of behavior B. A short questionnaire C. A long questionnaire D. A single experiment Answer: C. A long questionnaire 40. The concept of aggregation suggests that traits are A. internal causes. B. mere descriptions. C. average tendencies. D. blended concepts. Answer: C. average tendencies. 41. A baseball player's statistical batting average is an example of A. aggregation. B. reliability. C. validity. D. variance. Answer: A. aggregation. 42. Your grade point average best indicates your average performance in your college classes over time. This illustrates the concept of A. amalgamation. B. aggregation. C. amelioration. D. aggrandizement. Answer: B. aggregation. 43. The concept of aggregation A. does not predict performance on a specific occasion. B. predicts performance on specific occasions. C. predicts behavior based of traumatic events. D. predicts behavior from single measures. Answer: A. does not predict performance on a specific occasion. 44. The key issue in measuring traits is determining A. what causes traits. B. how much of a trait a person has. C. how many traits exist. D. how traits change over time. Answer: B. how much of a trait a person has. 45. We might include the same questions in a questionnaire multiple times to assess A. carelessness. B. faking. C. social desirability. D. response sets Answer: A. carelessness. 46. The item "Whenever I walk up stairs, I always do so on my hands" on a questionnaire assesses A. carelessness. B. faking. C. extraversion. D. seriousness. Answer: A. carelessness. 47. _______________ is most likely to be a measurement issue when important decisions will be based on the outcome of the measure. A. Acquiescence B. Faking C. Carelessness D. Restriction of range Answer: B. Faking 48. Josh has been required to complete an anger management course as part of his sentencing for his conviction in a road rage incident. He completes a personality test and answers the questions in a way that he believes will reduce the amount time he will spend in the course. In terms of psychological measurement issues Josh is A. faking good. B. faking bad. C. false negative. D. false positive. Answer: A. faking good. 49. If a psychologist thinks a truthful person is "faking good," the psychologists has A. demonstrated a false positive. B. demonstrated a false negative. C. created a response set. D. created a criterion problem. Answer: B. demonstrated a false negative. 50. The term _______________ refers to making the mistake of thinking that a person was answering a questionnaire truthfully when that person was actually faking. A. false positive B. false negative C. extreme responding D. restriction of range Answer: A. false positive 51. The history of integrity testing has included all of the following EXCEPT A. questionnaires. B. interrogation. C. polygraphs. D. rice powder. Answer: B. interrogation. 52. Today, polygraph tests are most often used A. by fast food restaurants. B. by government agencies. C. in courtrooms. D. to select graduate students. Answer: B. by government agencies. 53. Polygraph machines measure A. distortions in honesty. B. the truth. C. physiological arousal. D. self deceptive enhancement. Answer: C. physiological arousal. 54. Federal regulations prohibit many uses of polygraph tests in the private sector because A. integrity tests are an invasion of privacy. B. polygraph tests cannot be faked. C. polygraph tests often lead to employment discrimination. D. polygraph tests may unfairly affect federally protected groups. Answer: C. polygraph tests often lead to employment discrimination. 55. Some individuals have raised concerns about the use of personality tests in hiring decisions. All of these are legitimate concerns EXCEPT that they feel the A. tests' questions are unrelated to job requirements. B. tests are evaluated poorly. C. tests do not accurately predict job performance. D. tests lack statistical reliability. Answer: D. tests lack statistical reliability. 56. In order to select personnel for a job, a psychologist would NOT A. determine the special challenges of the job. B. develop hypotheses about the kinds of personality traits best suited to the job. C. measure the traits of job applicants. D. use a series of Barnum statements to assess personality. Answer: D. use a series of Barnum statements to assess personality. 57. Federal guidelines require that personality tests used in selecting employees A. will be lower then the correlation using the full range of scores. B. must predict job performance. C. must not measure psychiatric symptoms. D. must be free from Barnum effects. Answer: B. must predict job performance. 58. _______________ refers to the process of determining the special requirements of a particular job. A. Job analysis B. Integrity testing C. Aggregation D. Situationism Answer: A. Job analysis 59. Which of the following would an employer most want to have if taken to court for using personality tests to select employees? A. The expert opinion of a psychologist. B. Data showing that the tests predict job performance. C. Written consent of applicants. D. Data showing that the test predicts psychopathology. Answer: B. Data showing that the tests predict job performance. 60. Which of the following traits is NOT associated with successful police performance? A. Need for adventure B. Need to influence others C. Self-confidence D. Sociability Answer: D. Sociability Test Bank for Personality Psychology: Domains of Knowledge About Human Nature Randy J. Larsen, David M. Buss 9780078035357, 9780071318525
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