Psych 116 (Personality and IDs) Flashcards
The unique mandate of personality psychologists is to attempt to
a. study and measure individual differences in thoughts, feelings, and behaviour.
b.determine the effect of the social environment on behaviour.
c. explain whole, functioning persons and real-life concerns.
d. prevent or treat psychological personality disorders.
a
Study and measure individual differences in thoughts, feelings, and behaviour
Personality psychology emphasises how people are ________, whereas subfields such as cognitive and social psychology emphasises how people are ________.
a. different from each other; similar to each other
b. similar to each other; different from each other
c. essentially good; essentially bad
d. motivated by unconscious forces; motivated by conscious forces
a
different from each other; similar to each other
________ data are the most frequently used basis for personality assessment.
a. Behavioural
b. Self-report
c. Life outcome
d. Informant report
b
self-report
Because each kind of data has limitations, personality psychologists should…
a. not bother collecting data.
b. gather as much data as possible.
c. only examine life outcomes, which are the most reliable.
d. use only one source of data and control for its limitations.
b
gather as much data as possible
The most important advantage of behavioural data is that they are based on
a. common sense, so they have greater psychological relevance.
b. a report by the best expert, so they are more accurate.
c. direct psychological tests, so they have greater causal force and scientific value.
d. direct observations, so they are more objective and quantifiable.
d
direct observations, so they are more objective and quantifiable
Different informants may not agree about the personality of a common target individual because…
a. each judge may see the target person in only a limited number of social contexts.
b. judges may form a mistaken impression based on the recollection of a single, uncharacteristic behaviour.
c. some informants may have biases that affect the accuracy of their judgments.
d. All of the answer options are correct.
d
all of the above
All projective tests…
a. involve stimuli with no clear meaning.
b. involve the construction of stories and narratives.
c. require choosing among multiple, predetermined alternatives.
d. rely on computer scoring methods
a
involve stimuli with no clear meaning
When evaluated as psychometric instruments, most projective tests…
a. do not fare very well.
b. have validity but little reliability.
c. have generalizability but little validity.
d. do as well as objective tests like the CPI and MMPI.
a
do not fare very well
The Big Five….
a. are the five key steps in the process of factor analysis.
b. are steps in the construction of rational tests.
c. factor analytically derived dimensions of personality.
d. are the primary methods of test construction used by personality psychologists.
c
factor analytically derived dimensions of personality
A researcher interested in classifying individuals on the basis of their unique patterns of traits is taking a ________ approach.
a. single-trait
b. typological
c. configural
d. many-trait
b
typological
Which Big Five domain captures a tendency to experience negative emotions?
a. neuroticism
b. extraversion
c. conscientiousness
d. openness
a
neuroticism
What additional trait(s) do some psychologists argue should be added to expand the Big Five to the Big Six?
a. narcissism
b. conscientiousness
c. honesty-humility
d. self-monitoring
c
honesty-humility
Milgram’s obedience studies showed that a surprisingly large proportion of people (40-90% depending on the study) would engage in behaviours that were seemingly harmful, or even deadly, to another person. How should we interpret these results as personality psychologists?
a. Situations have an overwhelmingly powerful effect on behaviour, to the point where differences in personality should be regarded as largely irrelevant.
b. Situations can be incredibly powerful, but even when they are, there still often exists meaningful variability between people that demands explanation in terms of personality.
c. Situations are good predictors of behaviour, but personality is often better.
d. Situations are largely irrelevant to predicting behaviour. Socialization, biology, and heritability are much more important
b
situations can be incredibly powerful, but even when they are, there still often exists meaningful variability between people that demands explanations in terms of personality
In what way does personality tend to change as we age?
a. Neuroticism and openness decrease.
b. Extraversion and intelligence increase.
c. Conscientiousness and agreeableness increase.
d. Life satisfaction and well-being decrease
c
conscientiousness and agreeableness increase
Which of the following is the most accurate interpretation of the rank-order stability of personality traits over time?
a. People’s average scores on various personality dimensions remain largely the same over time.
b. People’s scores on various personality dimensions remain largely the same in relation to their peers over time.
c. People’s average scores on various personality dimensions can change substantially over time.
d. People’s scores on various personality dimensions vary substantially in relation to their peers over time.
b
people’s scores on various personality dimensions remain largely the same in relation to their peers over time
Social Investment Theory states that commonalities in how personality changes as we are driven by…
a. social identity mechanisms.
b. evolutionary pressures.
c. the heritability of traits.
d. culturally-normative life transitions (e.g., moving into job market, getting married)
d
culturally-normative life transitions
Eysenck’s biological theory suggests that which mechanism and brain area is associated with the extraversion-introversion dimension of personality.
a. Cortical activation and arousal
b. Limbic activation and emotion
c. Frontal cortex and self-control
d. Cerebellum and fear
a
cortical activation and arousal
Which personality trait and mechanism are linked to dopamine?
a. Neuroticism and threat-sensitivity
b. Extraversion and fear
c. Extraversion and reward-sensitivity
d. Neuroticism and uncertainty
c
extraversion and reward-sensitivity
Which of the following best describes how extraversion is related to the formation and maintenance of interpersonal relationships?
a. Extraverts like others more at all stages of relationships compared to introverts
b. Extraverts are liked more than introverts when meeting for the first time
c. Extraverts are disliked more than introverts initially, but liked more in the long term
d. Extraverts are neither more or less liked than introverts at any stage of relationships
b
extraverts are more liked than introverts when meeting for the first time
How does neuroticism manifest when meeting people for the first time?
a. People high in neuroticism are likely to be disliked by others
b. People high in neuroticism think they will be disliked by others, but this is not true
c. People high in neuroticism are likely to dislike others
d. People high in neuroticism are likely to dislike others, and likely to think others like them
b
people high in neuroticism think they will be disliked by others, but this is not true
Which of the following best characterises the importance of having a similar personality to your partner?
a. Similarity in personality traits (e.g., extraversion) is unimportant to relationship satisfaction
b. Similarity in attitudes and values (e.g., abortion rights) is unimportant to relationship satisfaction
c. Similarity in traits, attitudes and values are all largely unimportant to relationship satisfaction
d. Similarity in traits, attitudes and values are all important to relationship satisfaction
a
similarity in personality traits is unimportant to relationship satisfaction.
What empirical observations led Howard Gardner to propose his theory of multiple intelligences?
a. Scores on different tests of cognitive performance tend to correlate
b. Conscientiousness is the best predictor of genius-level performance
c. Some people are uniquely gifted, or impaired, in only a single cognitive domain
d. People who are uniquely gifted, or impaired, tend to show general cognitive capabilities or deficits
c
some people are uniquely gifted, or impaired, in only a single cognitive domain
Which of the following best describes the heritability of intelligence?
a. It is not really heritable (~10% of the variance in IQ scores is explained by heritability)
b. It is somewhat heritable (~25% of the variance in IQ scores is explained by heritability)
c. It is heritable (~50% of the variance in IQ scores is explained by heritability)
d. It is massively heritable (~75% of the variance in IQ scores is explained by heritability)
c
It is heritable (~50% of the variance in IQ scores is explained by heritability)
At what age does personality stabilise and to what degree?
a. 15-20, r = .75
b. 15-20, r = .90
c. 25-30, r = .75
d. 25-30, r = .90
c
25-30, r= 0.75
what is personality
enduring characteristic pattern of thought, emotion, and behaviour that distinguishes individuals
what is a transient state?
the temporary mental state like mood and feelings at present
what is an enduring state?
long lasting mental states across all contexts, such as personality traits
what are the big five?
OCEAN
openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism
What is BLIS as a method of types of personality data?
Behaviours
Life outcomes
Informant reports
Self reports
What cues can you gather from digital data?
personality cues from online activity such as posts, likes, and browsing patterns
What is the personality panorama?
A comprehensive view of personality through digital traces, words, images, and networks
What do projective tests do?
They test ambiguous stimuli to reveal inner psychological aspects, often used in mental disorder diagnosis
Thematic Apperception Test
Tests where individuals interpret ambiguous images which uncover subconscious personality traits.
What are traits?
Dimensions of personality (e.g. extraversion, agreeableness)
What is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator?
It sorts individuals into 16 personality types based on Jungian theory
What is rank-order stability?
The idea that people maintain their relative position of trait dimensions compared to their peers.
What is cumulative continuity?
The idea that personality gets more stable with age.
What is homophily?
The idea that people are similar to those that they are close to
Funder’s Second Law
There are no perfect indicators of personality; there are only clues, and clues are always ambiguous
What is the Flynn Effect?
The rise in average IQ scores that has occurred over the decades in many nations- steady increase
inkblot test
Method using ambiguous images for individuals to project their psychologies onto
Income-Happiness Correlation
Relationship where income boosts happiness until a certain threshold, where it plateaus
Self Reports
Personal evaluations of one’s own personality, commonly used in personality psychology
Informant Reports
Judgments by knowledgeable informants like family or friends about an individual’s personality
Life Outcomes
Objective data about one’s life like education, salary, and health status
Digital Traces
residue of personality, ‘what’ you’ve been doing and ‘where’ e.g. posts you’ve liked and things you’ve bought
Projective Tests
Tests using ambiguous stimuli to reveal inner psychological aspects, often used in mental disorder diagnosis
Thematic Apperception Test
Test where individuals interpret ambiguous images to uncover personality traits
What type of personality is more susceptible to positive affective priming?
Extroverts
Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex
Brain region crucial for representing reward value
Anhedonia
Loss of reward sensitivity, a key component of depression.
Amygdala
Responds to threats and fear, even unconscious ones.
Person-Situation debate
Argues the influence of personality vs. situations on behaviour.
Person-Environment Transactions
Ways people shape environments to match their personalities.
Cohort Effects
Variations over time among groups defined by shared experiences.
Change Goals Inventory
Desire for change towards socially desirable trait
Exposure therapy
Reliably reduces fear and anxiety responses.
Psychotherapy effect of personality traits
Reduces stress, neuroticism, and increases extroversion.
