Chapter One

Question 1

What is the human nature of personality?

Answer 1

Traits and mechanisms of personality that are typical to our species and are processed by everyone or nearly everyone. Ex. Need to belong and capacity for love

Question 2

What is the idiosyncratic approach of personality?

Answer 2

People who are sustained by their own feelings and belief systems, whether or not others accept or understand their particular worldview or approach to life. Self-directed requiring few close relationships.

Question 3

What are the 6 domains of personality?

Answer 3

1. Dispositional
2. Biological
3. Intrapsychic
4. Cognitive-Experimental
5. Social/Cultural
6. Adjustment

Question 4

Dispositional Domain

Answer 4

Ways individuals differ from one another. To identify and measure the most important ways in which individuals differ from one another. Origins of said differences and how they develop and are maintained.

Question 5

Biological Domain

Answer 5

Focuses on genetics, psychophysiology, and evolution. Specific genes underlying traits. Nervous system functioning, and how evolution has shaped human psychological functioning.

Question 6

Intrapsychic Domain

Answer 6

Mental mechanisms of personality, many of which operate outside of conscious awareness. Frued’s theory of psychoanalysis. Also includes defense mechanisms like repression, denial, and projection.

Question 7

Cognitive-Experimental Domain

Answer 7

Focuses on thought processes and subjective experience, such as cognitive ideas , feelings, beliefs, and desires about ourselves and others.

Question 8

Social and Cultural Domain

Answer 8

Personality is not something that merely resides within the heads, nervous system, and genes but is affected and affects social and cultural contexts.

Question 9

Adjustment Domain

Answer 9

Personality plays a role in how we cope, adapt, and adjust to the flow of events in our day to day lives. (Linked to how long we may/do live)

Question 10

Should traits ideally be stable over time?

Answer 10

Yes, they have a stable test-retest stability. Researched by Mccrae & Costa

Question 11

Should traits ideally be constisent across situations?

Answer 11

No, Cervona and Shodea in 1999 proved it by their stability within context study with Jeff and Cindy and their personalities at class and at a party.

Question 12

What do S.O.T.L stand for?

Answer 12

S = Self report
O = Observer report
T = Test data
L = Life outcome data

Question 13

What do projective measures look like? Do these tests fit into any of the S.O.T.L area?

Answer 13

It could be looking at a picture and being tasked with writing a story on what you see and perceive to be occurring. They fit into the T data section.

Question 14

What is face validity?

Answer 14

It looks at the item and asks if they seem to be measuring the quality in question.

Question 15

What is predictive validity?

Answer 15

Predicts what should occur, like ACT and college grads.

Question 16

What are the key elements of an experiment?

Answer 16

1. Manipulation of one or more variables
2. Ensuring that participants in each experimental condition are equivalent to each other at the beginning of the study.

Question 17

What is an independent variable?

Answer 17

The external condition

Question 18

Do personality psychologists typically use structure or unstructured tests?

Answer 18

They use both, but it’s more common to use structured, in which the response options are provided. These can be statements or series of individual ratings.

Question 19

What is the 20 statement test?

Answer 19

The Twenty Statements Test (TST) is when a participant receives a sheet of paper that is essentially blank, except for the words “I am” repeated 20 times.

Question 20

Should self-other statements be higher for visible or less visible traits?

Answer 20

Less visible traits

Question 21

According to Shedler, should we trust self reports of metal health?

Answer 21

No, because people lack self insight and honesty when asked about traits that are undesirable.

Question 22

What is the act frequency approach to personality measurement?

Answer 22

That traits are categories of acts. Just like “birds” has specific birds as members of the category, trait categories such as “dominance” have specific acts as members.

Question 23

What are the traits of the EPN model of personality?

Answer 23

E = extraversion, a super trait.
P = Psychoticism, psychopath basically.
N = Neuroticism, emotional stability

Question 24

Who proposed the EPN model of personality?

Answer 24

Hans Eysenck

Question 25

In the interpersonal Circumplex, what sort of correlation should we observe for traits that have a 90 degrees angle to each other? 45? 180?

Answer 25

90 degrees: They’re entirely unrelated to each other, there is 0 correlation between traits. Ex. Dominance and agreeableness.

45 degrees: When they’re adjacent, they are positively correlated. Ex. gregarious-extraverted is correlated with warm agreeableness.

180 degrees: They are bipolar, negativiely correlated. Ex. Dominance and submissive

Question 26

What is a conscientious person like?

Answer 26

They tend to be efficient and organized as opposed to easy-going and disorderly. They tend to show self-discipline, act dutifully, and aim for achievement.

Question 27

What is a agreeable person like?

Answer 27

Naturally experience empathy and tend to get tremendous pleasure from serving others and taking care of them.

Question 28

In terms of mean-level changes, what happens to the big 5 traits from ages 20 to 30?

Answer 28

Extraversion and Openness were negatively associated with age whereas Agreeableness was positively associated with age.

Question 29

What is situational-ism assume about people’s behaviors?

Answer 29

Across situations, peoples personalities are different.

Question 30

What are strong situations, according to theory?

Answer 30

Situations in which nearly all people react in similar ways. They seem to pull for uniformity of behavior. Ex. Funerals, crowded elevators, etc.

Question 31

What does aggregation tend to do to personality-based predictions?

Answer 31

Aggregation is the process of adding up/averaging to produce a result in a better measurement of personality traits. They tend to give psychologists with a better measure of personality trait than a single observation.

Question 32

Distinguish faking and careless as threats to validity.

Answer 32

For carelessness, they often rush through, answering randomly. They invalidate answer sheets. We use infrequency scales, items in which almost all people would answer in a particular way.

For faking, they usually fake their answers to appear better off or appear worst off. Ex. an injured worker suing a company may “fake” his symptoms to be worst than they actually are to gain. We use the 16 personality factor questionnaire to determine faking good/bad.

Question 33

Of intelligence, personality, and attitudes, which is the most stable overtime and which is least? ( Conley’s meta-analysis)

Answer 33

Personality is the most stable
Attitudes are the least stable.

Question 34

What is cross-situational consistency? Does it tend to be low or high?

Answer 34

This addresses and asks the question that are peoples personalities consistent across situations. Low, Mischel (1968) shows that peoples behaviors are too inconsistent.

Question 35

What are the key assumptions of the if-then model of personality?

Answer 35

Formula suggests that behavior is a function of the interaction between personality traits and situational forces.

1. Behavior is a function of personality traits.
2. Behavior is a function of situational forces.

Ex. IF the situation is frustrating, and IF the person has a hot temper, THEN aggression will be the result.