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
