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PSYC100 > Week 22: Personality > Flashcards

Week 22: Personality Flashcards

1
Q

What do personality traits reflect?

A

Characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

Personality traits imply consistency and stability in behaviors across different situations and over time.

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2
Q

What is the Five-Factor Model of personality commonly known as?

A

OCEAN.

OCEAN stands for Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.

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3
Q

What are the three criteria that characterize personality traits?

A
  • Consistency
  • Stability
  • Individual differences
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4
Q

What does the lexical hypothesis suggest?

A

All important personality characteristics should be reflected in the language used to describe people.

This hypothesis guided the research of Allport and Odbert in identifying personality traits.

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5
Q

What method did Gordon Allport and Henry Odbert use to identify personality traits?

A

They searched the dictionary for personality descriptors.

They started with around 18,000 words and reduced the list using statistical techniques.

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6
Q

What is the significance of factor analysis in personality psychology?

A

It helps determine whether a small number of dimensions underlie the diversity of personality descriptors.

This technique was crucial in developing the Big Five personality traits.

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7
Q

How do scores on the Big Five traits relate to one another?

A

Scores are mostly independent.

A person’s standing on one trait does not predict their standing on another trait.

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8
Q

What role does Conscientiousness play in predicting success in college?

A

Highly conscientious individuals tend to study hard, get work done on time, and avoid distractions.

This trait contributes to better academic performance.

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9
Q

What is a facet in the context of personality traits?

A

A more specific, lower-level unit of personality related to a broad trait.

Facets provide detailed descriptions of personality beyond the Big Five traits.

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10
Q

What are some examples of facets for the Big Five traits?

A
  • Openness: Imagination, Artistic interests
  • Conscientiousness: Self-discipline, Orderliness
  • Extraversion: Gregariousness, Assertiveness
  • Agreeableness: Trust, Altruism
  • Neuroticism: Anxiety, Emotional instability
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11
Q

What is a critique of the personality-trait concept?

A

People do not act consistently across different situations and are influenced by situational forces.

This critique highlights the debate between traits and situational influences on behavior.

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12
Q

True or False: Personality traits are distinct personality types.

A

False.

Personality traits reflect continuous distributions rather than distinct types.

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13
Q

Fill in the blank: The acronym OCEAN represents the five major traits: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and _______.

A

Neuroticism

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14
Q

Who proposed the idea that Extraversion and Neuroticism are the most important personality traits?

A

Hans Eysenck.

Eysenck’s model suggested these two traits could account for many personality differences.

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15
Q

What can personality traits help psychologists predict?

A
  • Job performance
  • Health and longevity
  • Types of activities a person enjoys
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16
Q

What is the relationship between personality traits and social learning?

A

Traits and social learning combine to predict social activities.

This interaction suggests that personality traits can be refined through social experiences.

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17
Q

What is the Five-Factor Model also known as?

A

The Big Five

The Five-Factor Model summarizes personality variability with five broad traits.

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18
Q

List the five traits included in the Five-Factor Model.

A
  • Openness
  • Conscientiousness
  • Extraversion
  • Agreeableness
  • Neuroticism

These traits capture much of the variability in people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

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19
Q

What does the HEXACO model add as a sixth dimension of personality?

A

Honesty-Humility

People high in Honesty-Humility are sincere, fair, and modest.

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20
Q

What is Neuroticism?

A

A personality trait that reflects the tendency to experience negative emotions like anxiety, fear, sadness, and anger.

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21
Q

What does Extraversion reflect in a person?

A

A tendency to be sociable, outgoing, active, and assertive.

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22
Q

Define Agreeableness.

A

A personality trait that reflects a person’s tendency to be compassionate, cooperative, warm, and caring to others.

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23
Q

What is Conscientiousness?

A

A personality trait that reflects a person’s tendency to be careful, organized, hardworking, and to follow rules.

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24
Q

What is the lexical hypothesis?

A

The idea that the most important differences between people will be encoded in the language that we use to describe them.

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25
Q

True or False: The person-situation debate suggests that personality traits are consistent across all situations.

A

False

The debate indicates that situational factors can significantly influence behavior.

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26
Q

What did Walter Mischel argue regarding personality traits?

A

He suggested that consistency in behavior across different situations is not as impressive as believed.

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27
Q

What are ‘facets’ in relation to personality traits?

A

Narrower aspects or components of broad personality traits.

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28
Q

What is the person-situation debate?

A

A historical debate about the relative power of personality traits compared to situational influences on behavior.

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29
Q

Fill in the blank: People high in __________ are likely to be manipulative, narcissistic, and self-centered.

A

Honesty-Humility

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30
Q

What is meant by ‘continuous distributions’ in personality traits?

A

Characteristics can go from low to high, with varying amounts possible.

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31
Q

What is factor analysis?

A

A statistical technique for grouping similar things together according to their associations.

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32
Q

What is the role of situational factors in behavior according to the person-situation debate?

A

Situational factors can significantly influence how a person behaves in different contexts.

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33
Q

True or False: Research shows that personality traits are the only determinants of behavior.

A

False

Both personality traits and situational factors play significant roles in determining behavior.

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34
Q

What is heterotypic stability?

A

The psychological coherence of an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors across development

Heterotypic stability examines the consistency of underlying personality attributes expressed differently at various ages

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35
Q

What does homotypic stability refer to?

A

The amount of similarity in the same observable personality characteristics across time

The prefix ‘homo’ means ‘same’ in Greek, indicating that homotypic stability looks at consistent traits over time

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36
Q

Define absolute stability in personality psychology.

A

The consistency of the level of the same personality attribute across time

This can be assessed at both individual and group levels

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37
Q

What is differential stability?

A

The consistency of a personality attribute in terms of an individual’s rank-ordering among peers

This means that individuals maintain their relative standing over time, even if average levels change

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38
Q

What are the four processes that promote personality stability?

A
  • Attraction
  • Selection
  • Manipulation
  • Attrition

These processes help maintain personality traits across different environments and situations

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39
Q

What is the maturity principle of adult personality development?

A

As we age, we adjust our traits to fit with our new, adult responsibilities

This principle suggests that attributes associated with positive adaptation increase during adulthood

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40
Q

Explain person-environment transactions.

A

Interactions between an individual and their environment that influence personality development

These transactions can be active, reactive, or evocative

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41
Q

What does active person-environment transaction mean?

A

When individuals seek out environments that match their personality traits

This can reinforce existing traits and behaviors

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42
Q

What is a longitudinal study?

A

A research design that follows the same group of individuals and assesses their personalities at multiple time points

This method is better for studying personality stability than cross-sectional studies

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43
Q

What are the Big Five personality traits?

A
  • Extraversion
  • Agreeableness
  • Conscientiousness
  • Neuroticism
  • Openness

These traits are commonly used to categorize personality attributes

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44
Q

True or False: Neuroticism generally increases with age.

A

False

Research indicates that neuroticism tends to decrease with age

45
Q

What is the difference between cross-sectional and longitudinal studies?

A

Cross-sectional studies compare different age groups at the same time, while longitudinal studies follow the same individuals over time

Longitudinal studies can better isolate age effects from cohort effects

46
Q

What is the significance of the correlation coefficient in personality studies?

A

It summarizes the linear association between two variables, indicating the strength of personality stability

Correlation coefficients range from small (around .1) to large (around .50 or larger)

47
Q

What does cumulative continuity principle refer to?

A

The idea that individual differences in personality become more consistent and stable as people age

This principle suggests that personality traits solidify over time

48
Q

Fill in the blank: The principle that higher levels of agreeableness and conscientiousness are associated with better outcomes is known as the _______.

A

maturity principle

The maturity principle highlights the positive changes in personality traits during adulthood

49
Q

What is the primary focus of personality psychology?

A

How individuals differ from each other in their characteristic ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving

It explores both stability and change in personality attributes

50
Q

What are the implications of personality change on mortality?

A

The rate and direction of change in characteristics like stress reaction may predict mortality

Understanding these changes can provide insights into health outcomes

51
Q

What is the linear association between two variables called?

A

Correlation

Correlations around .1 or –.1 are often called ‘small’ associations, whereas correlations around .50 and –.50 (or larger) are often called ‘large’ associations.

52
Q

What principle states that differential stability increases with age?

A

Cumulative continuity principle of personality development

This principle suggests that personality attributes become increasingly stable as individuals age.

53
Q

What are the two types of stability in personality research?

A
  • Heterotypic stability
  • Homotypic stability

Heterotypic stability refers to consistency in underlying psychological attributes, while homotypic stability refers to consistency in observable manifestations.

54
Q

What does the maturity principle of personality development indicate?

A

Average levels of personality attributes change in predictable ways across the lifespan

Traits correlated with positive outcomes, such as conscientiousness, tend to increase from adolescence to adulthood.

55
Q

True or False: Personality attributes are perfectly stable across the lifespan.

A

False

The observed correlations do not reach 1.0, indicating that personality can change at any time.

56
Q

What are person-environment transactions?

A

The mutually transforming interplay between individuals and their contextual circumstances

This concept captures how individuals and their environments interact and influence each other.

57
Q

What are the four processes that produce personality stability according to the acronym ASTMA?

A
  • Attraction
  • Selection
  • Manipulation
  • Attrition

These processes explain how individuals match their personality attributes with their environments.

58
Q

What is the corresponsive principle of personality development?

A

The idea that personality traits often become matched with environmental conditions

This principle suggests that social contexts reinforce the personality attributes that contributed to the initial environmental conditions.

59
Q

What is differential stability?

A

Consistency in the rank-ordering of personality across measurement occasions

It reflects how individuals maintain their relative standing in personality attributes over time.

60
Q

Fill in the blank: _______ refers to the tendency of some individuals to interpret ambiguous social cues as aggressive.

A

Hostile attribution bias

61
Q

What is the primary mechanism by which behavior patterns that produce positive consequences are repeated?

A

Behaviorism

This principle suggests that behavior is influenced by the consequences it produces, encouraging repetition of positive behaviors.

62
Q

What does attrition refer to in the context of personality and environment?

A

Individuals with particular traits drop out from certain environments

This reflects how mismatches between personality and environment can lead to individuals leaving certain settings.

63
Q

What is the focus of individual-level statistics in personality development research?

A

Evaluating stability or change in individuals

This contrasts with group-level statistics, which focus on aggregate averages across cohorts.

64
Q

What are the mechanisms likely to produce personality change?

A

Transformation

Transformation explains how individuals might change their personality attributes through new experiences and interventions.

65
Q

What is the concept of reactive person-environment transactions?

A

When attributes of the individual shape how they perceive and respond to their environment

This indicates that personality can influence perceptions and reactions to similar situations.

66
Q

What does the term ‘selection’ refer to in person-environment transactions?

A

Individuals with particular attributes choose particular kinds of environments

This process highlights how personality traits can guide the selection of social and professional contexts.

67
Q

What is a longitudinal study?

A

A research design that follows the same group of individuals at multiple time points

This method allows for the assessment of changes and stability in personality over time.

68
Q

What does the term ‘cumulative continuity principle’ describe?

A

Personality attributes show increasing stability with age and experience

This principle reflects the general observation that older adults exhibit more stable personality traits.

69
Q

What is the primary focus of the field of personality psychology?

A

The study of the thoughts, feelings, behaviors, goals, and interests of normal individuals

70
Q

What are the three main types of personality assessment methods discussed?

A
  • Objective personality tests
  • Projective and implicit tests
  • Behavioral/performance measures
71
Q

Define objective personality tests.

A

Tests that involve administering a standard set of items with a limited set of response options, scored in a standardized way

72
Q

What is a key advantage of self-report measures in personality assessment?

A

Self-raters have access to their own thoughts, feelings, and motives

73
Q

What is the reference group effect in self-ratings?

A

Self-perceptions are influenced by comparisons to others in one’s sociocultural reference group

74
Q

True or False: Informant ratings are only useful for assessing adults.

A

False

75
Q

What is a significant limitation of informant ratings?

A

Informants lack full access to the thoughts, feelings, and motives of the person they are rating

76
Q

What is the ‘letter of recommendation effect’ in informant ratings?

A

The tendency for informants to produce overly favorable personality ratings

77
Q

List two basic types of objective tests.

A
  • Self-report measures
  • Informant ratings
78
Q

What is the primary concern with self-report measures in high-stakes testing?

A

Raters may present themselves in an overly favorable, socially desirable way

79
Q

Fill in the blank: The _______ is a widely used measure designed to assess broad personality traits.

A

Big Five Inventory

80
Q

What is the significance of self-reported personality in relation to academic and job performance?

A

Self-ratings of conscientiousness are significant predictors of overall academic performance and job performance

81
Q

What are some of the common biases affecting self-ratings?

A
  • Self-enhancement bias
  • Reference group effect
  • Social desirability bias
82
Q

What is the difference between comprehensive and specific personality assessments?

A

Comprehensive assessments evaluate a wide range of personality traits, while specific assessments focus on a single core attribute

83
Q

What is one way informant ratings can enhance the validity of personality assessments?

A

They can be combined with self-ratings to produce more reliable and valid measures

84
Q

What are the five traits in the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality?

A
  • Neuroticism
  • Extraversion
  • Openness
  • Agreeableness
  • Conscientiousness
85
Q

True or False: Informant ratings are always more valid than self-ratings.

A

False

86
Q

What is the ‘honeymoon effect’ in the context of informant ratings?

A

The tendency for newly married individuals to rate their partners in an unrealistically positive way

87
Q

What is one characteristic of omnibus inventories in personality assessment?

A

They contain a large number of specific scales measuring personality comprehensively

88
Q

Fill in the blank: The _______ is an inventory explicitly designed to provide coverage of both general and specific trait characteristics.

A

NEO Personality Inventory-3

89
Q

What are the broad traits included in the Big Five model of personality?

A
  • Neuroticism
  • Extraversion
  • Openness to experience
  • Agreeableness
  • Conscientiousness

These traits encompass a range of specific characteristics relevant to personality assessment.

90
Q

Define neuroticism in the context of the Big Five traits.

A

Prone to feeling sad, worried, anxious, and dissatisfied with themselves.

Individuals high in neuroticism often experience emotional instability.

91
Q

What is extraversion characterized by?

A
  • Friendliness
  • Assertiveness
  • Outgoingness
  • Cheerfulness
  • Energy

High scorers in extraversion tend to be sociable and energetic.

92
Q

What does openness to experience refer to?

A
  • Tolerance
  • Intellectual curiosity
  • Imagination
  • Artistic interests

Those high in openness are often open-minded and creative.

93
Q

How is agreeableness defined?

A
  • Politeness
  • Consideration
  • Cooperation
  • Honesty
  • Trustworthiness

High agreeableness is associated with being compassionate and friendly.

94
Q

What traits characterize conscientiousness?

A
  • Responsibility
  • Caution
  • Organization
  • Discipline
  • Achievement-oriented

Individuals high in conscientiousness are often reliable and goal-directed.

95
Q

What are projective tests in personality assessment?

A

Tests requiring spontaneous answers to ambiguous stimuli to reveal personality traits.

Examples include the Rorschach Inkblot Test and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT).

96
Q

What is the projective hypothesis?

A

The theory that responses to ambiguous stimuli are influenced by unconscious thoughts, needs, and impulses.

This hypothesis is rooted in Freudian concepts of projection.

97
Q

What is the Comprehensive System in relation to projective tests?

A

A widely used scoring scheme for the Rorschach test developed by Exner in 2003.

It aims to provide a reliable scoring method for the Rorschach responses.

98
Q

What does the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) assess?

A

Implicit motives by asking individuals to create stories about ambiguous pictures.

Developed by Morgan and Murray in 1935, TAT is used to explore underlying needs.

99
Q

True or False: The validity of the Rorschach test is universally accepted among psychologists.

A

False

The Rorschach test’s validity has been a subject of considerable controversy.

100
Q

What is the TAT known for in terms of validity?

A

Significant validity in predicting important criteria and providing information beyond objective measures.

TAT measures of need for achievement have been shown to be valid predictors.

101
Q

Define implicit motives.

A

Goals important to a person that they cannot consciously express.

These motives can be assessed using projective devices like the TAT.

102
Q

What is the main advantage of behavioral measures in personality assessment?

A

They sample real-world behavior directly, reducing the impact of response biases.

Behavioral measures can capture personality traits in natural environments.

103
Q

What is a disadvantage of behavioral measures?

A

They are labor-intensive and may provide a limited view of a person’s true characteristics.

Results can be influenced by transient factors like stress or sleep quality.

104
Q

What does reliability refer to in the context of personality tests?

A

The consistency of test scores across repeated assessments.

Test-retest reliability examines score stability over time.

105
Q

What is self-enhancement bias?

A

The tendency for people to present themselves in an overly favorable way.

This can manifest through defensiveness or impression management.

106
Q

What is the letter of recommendation effect?

A

The tendency for informants to rate others in an unrealistically positive manner.

This bias often occurs when informants have a personal relationship with the person being rated.

107
Q

Fill in the blank: The _______ effect refers to the tendency of parents to exaggerate differences between their children.

A

Sibling contrast

This effect is a specific manifestation of the broader reference group effect.

108
Q

What is the honeymoon effect?

A

The tendency for newly married individuals to rate their spouses unrealistically positively.

This effect diminishes as marital satisfaction declines.

109
Q

What is validity in the context of personality assessment?

A

Evidence related to the interpretation and use of test scores.

Criterion validity is a key type of validity, predicting theoretically relevant outcomes.

PSYC100 (13 decks)

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