Chapter 11: personality Flashcards
An individual’s unique constellation of psychological traits that is relatively stable over time
a. personality
b. personality assessment
c. personality trait
a. personality
The measurement and evaluation of psychological traits, states, values, interests, attitudes, worldview, acculturation, sense of humor, cognitive and
behavioral styles, and/or related individual characteristics
a. personality
b. personality assessment
c. personality trait
b. personality assessment
“Any distinguishable, relatively enduring way
in which one individual varies from another”
a. personality
b. personality assessment
c. personality trait
c. personality trait
argued that most
people can be categorized as one
of six personality types; Developed the Self-Directed Search test
John Holland
a self-administered and
self-scored aid to offer vocational assistance
Self-Directed Search test
personality characterized by competitiveness, haste, restlessness, impatience, feelings of being time-pressured, and strong needs for achievement and dominance
Type A personality
personality that is mellow or laid-back
Type B personality
A narrative description of the extent to which a person has demonstrated certain personality traits, states, or types
personality profile
The transitory exhibition of some personality
trait, a relatively temporary predisposition
personality state
Aspects of personality could be explored in
- Identifying determinants of knowledge about health
- Categorizing different types of commitment in intimate relationships.
- Determining peer response to a team’s weakest link
- Identifying those prone to terrorism in the service of national defense
- Tracking trait development over time
- Studying some uniquely human characteristic such as moral judgment
One’s attitudes, beliefs, opinions, and related thoughts about oneself
Self-concept
very common when exploring an assessee’s self-concept
Self-report methods
The degree to which a person has different
self-concepts in different roles
Self-concept differentiation
T or F: In some situations, the best available method for assessment of personality and/or behavior involves a third party (e.g., a parent,
teacher, or spouse)
true
A tendency to respond to a test item or interview
question in some characteristic manner regardless of the content of the item or question
Response style
The attempt to manipulate others’ impressions through “the selective exposure of
some information…coupled with suppression of [other] information
Impression management
T or F: Response styles can affect the validity of the outcome and can be countered through the use of a validity scale
true
A subscale of a test designed to assist in
judgments regarding how honestly the test taker responded and whether responses were products of response style, carelessness, deception, or misunderstanding
Validity scale
Aspects of the focus
of exploration such as the time frame (the past, present, or future) as well as other contextual issues that involve people, places, and events
Frame of reference
An assessment technique in which the task is to sort a group of statements, usually in perceived rank order ranging from most to least descriptive
Q-sort technique
Characterized by efforts to learn how a limited
number of personality traits can be applied to all people
a. Nomothetic approach
b. Idiographic approach
c. Normative approach
d. Ipsative approach
a. Nomothetic approach
Characterized by efforts to learn about each individual’s unique constellation of personality traits
a. Nomothetic approach
b. Idiographic approach
c. Normative approach
d. Ipsative approach
b. Idiographic approach
A test taker’s responses and the presumed strength of a measured trait are interpreted relative to the strength of
that trait in a sample of a larger population
a. Nomothetic approach
b. Idiographic approach
c. Normative approach
d. Ipsative approach
c. Normative approach
A test taker’s responses and the presumed
strength of measured traits are interpreted relative to the strength of
measured traits for that same individual
a. Nomothetic approach
b. Idiographic approach
c. Normative approach
d. Ipsative approach
d. Ipsative approach
T or F: Personality assessment that relies exclusively on self-report is vulnerable to false outcomes
true
The use of logic and reason in the development of test items is sometimes referred to as
the content or content-oriented approach to
test development
a measure of five major dimensions of personality and 30 facets that define each dimension (extraversion, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness, and
conscientiousness)
The Revised NEO Personality Inventory
A standard on which a judgment or decision can be made
Criterion
A reference group of test takers who share specific
characteristics and whose responses to test items serve as a standard
according to which items will be included or discarded from the final
version of a scale
Criterion group
The process of using criterion groups to develop test items
Empirical criterion keying
An ongoing process
by which an individual’s thoughts, behaviors, values, worldview, and
identity develop in relation to the thinking, behavior, customs, and
values of a particular cultural group
Acculturation
Guiding principles to help one attain some objective (example: honesty and ambition)
Instrumental values
Guiding principles and a mode of behavior that is an endpoint objective (example: a comfortable life and a sense of
accomplishment)
Terminal values
T or F: Important to a discussion of acculturation is a understanding of
values and concept of personal identity
true
Assessees’ unique way of interpreting their perceptions as a result of their experiences, cultural background, and related variables
Worldview
The idea that an individual supplies structure to unstructured stimuli in a manner consistent with the individual’ s own unique pattern of conscious
and unconscious needs, fears, desires, impulses, conflicts, and ways of perceiving and responding
Projective hypothesis
conducted and the assessor attempts to determine what features of the inkblot played a role in formulating the testtaker’s percept
inquiry
developed a comprehensive system for the administration, scoring, and interpretation of Rorschach tests
John E. Exner Junior
T or F: Traditional test-retest reliability procedures may be inappropriate for use with the Rorschach
true
Designed by Christiana Morgan and Henry Murray, 1935; 30 picture cards contain a variety of
scenes that present the testtaker with “certain classical human situations.”
Thematic Apperception Test
material used in deriving
conclusions in the Thematic Apperception Test
- The stories as they were told by the examinee
- The clinician’s notes about the way or the
manner in which the examinee responded
to the cards - The clinician’s notes about extra-test behavior and verbalizations
Consists of nine cards with pictures of hands on them and a tenth blank card; Testtaker is asked what the hands on each
card might be doing
Hand test
Employs cartoons depicting frustrating
situations; Testtaker is asked to fill in the response of the cartoon figure being frustrated
Rosenzweig Picture-Frustration Study
Semistructured, individually administered, projective technique of personality assessment that involves the presentation of a list of stimulus words; Assessee is expected to respond with whatever comes
to mind first upon exposure to the stimulus word
Word association tests
Semistructured projective
technique of personality assessment that involves the presentation of a list of words that begin a sentence
Sentence completion test
May be developed for use in specific settings or for specific purposes
Sentence completion stems
Assessee produces a drawing that is analyzed on the basis of its content and related variables
Figure drawing test
Testtaker’s task is to draw a picture of a house, a tree, and a person; it is considered symbolically significant
House-Tree-Person test
Helps learn about the examinee in relation to his/her family in the form of examinee verbalizations while the drawing is being executed
Kinetic Family Drawing (KFD)
Emphasis is on what a person does in situations rather than on inferences about what attributes he/she has more globally
Behavioral Assessment Methods
tests/tools are employed to gather data regarding constructs (traits, states,
motives)
a. traditional
b. behavioral
a. traditional
diagnoses and inferences are made concerning the existence and strength of
psychological constructs
a. traditional
b. behavioral
a. traditional
sign approach: test responses are signs/clues to underlying personality/
ability; inferences are made regarding what attributes the person has globally
a. traditional
b. behavioral
a. traditional
sample approach focuses on the behavior itself
a. traditional
b. behavioral
b. behavioral
emitted behavior is viewed as a sample to be interpreted in its own
right
a. traditional
b. behavioral
b. behavioral
“what a person does in situations”
a. traditional
b. behavioral
b. behavioral
data: to diagnose and classify
a. traditional
b. behavioral
a. traditional
data: Described targeted behaviors & maintaining conditions
a. traditional
b. behavioral
b. behavioral
causes: Evaluate personality
a. traditional
b. behavioral
a. traditional
causes: Attention on environmental conditions instrumental in establishing the target behavior
a. traditional
b. behavioral
b. behavioral
procedure: Inferences about personality from sample behavior
a. traditional
b. behavioral
a. traditional
procedure: Focus on meaning of the behavior itself
a. traditional
b. behavioral
b. behavioral
behavioral history: Predictive of future behavior
a. traditional
b. behavioral
a. traditional
behavioral history: baseline information
a. traditional
b. behavioral
b. behavioral
timing: Pre and post intervention
a. traditional
b. behavioral
a. traditional
timing: Peri-intervention
a. traditional
b. behavioral
b. behavioral
Originally designed for use in the context of a clinical interview for the purpose of assessing
alcohol abuse; Has been used to evaluate problem behaviors, such as gambling, maternal smoking, and HIV risk behaviors
Timeline followback (TLFB) methodology
Used to analyze the immediate antecedents of cigarette smoking
Ecological momentary assessment
observer notes the presence/ intensity of targeted behaviors
a. behavior rating scale
b. self-monitoring
c. analogue behavioral observation
a. behavior rating scale
act of systematically observing and recording aspects of one’s own
behavior and/or events related to the targeted behavior
a. behavior rating scale
b. self-monitoring
c. analogue behavioral observation
b. self-monitoring
Research investigation in which one or more variables are similar or analogous to the real variable that the investigator wishes to examine
analogue study
Observation of a person in an environment designed to increase the chance that the assessor can observe targeted behaviors and interactions
a. behavior rating scale
b. self-monitoring
c. analogue behavioral observation
c. analogue behavioral observation
Procedure that allows for observation and evaluation of an individual under a
standard set of circumstances
Situational performance measure
Several people are organized into a group for the purpose of carrying out a task as an observer records their information related to individual group members’ initiative, cooperation, leadership, and related variables
Leaderless group technique
acting an improvised or partially improvised part in a simulated situation
Role play
Designed to gauge, display, and record a continuous monitoring of selected biological processes
a. biofeedback
b. plethysmograph
c. penile plethysmograph
d. polygraph
a. biofeedback
Biofeedback instrument that records changes in the volume of a part of the body arising from variations in blood supply
a. biofeedback
b. plethysmograph
c. penile plethysmograph
d. polygraph
b. plethysmograph
Instrument designed to measure changes in blood flow, but more specifically blood flow to the penis
a. biofeedback
b. plethysmograph
c. penile plethysmograph
d. polygraph
c. penile plethysmograph
Lie detector test
a. biofeedback
b. plethysmograph
c. penile plethysmograph
d. polygraph
d. polygraph
Behavioral rating may be excessively positive or negative because a prior rating was excessively negative or positive
Contrast effect
solution to contrast effect
Composite judgment can be used
Averaging of multiple judgments
Composite judgment
Changes in an assessee’s behavior, thinking, or performance; May arise in response to being observed, assessed, or evaluated
Reactivity
solution to reactivity
Hidden observers or clandestine recording techniques can be used
