Deck 1: Introduction to Personality Psychology

Question 1

Every time Neil walks into the room everyone laughs. This demonstrates the person-environment interaction of

A)evocation.
B)emaciation.
C)exultation.
D)elocution.

Answer 1

evocation.

Question 2

Which of the following questions does research on personality traits NOT emphasize?

A)What are the origins of traits?
B)How are all persons similar?
C)How many fundamental traits are there?
D)How are traits organized within individuals?

Answer 2

How are all persons similar?

Question 3

Mike makes several social errors at a party. He calls the host by the wrong name, spills his red wine on the carpet, and insults the guest of honour. We label Mike's behaviour as "socially inept." This labelling of Mike's behaviour utilizes the approach to personality traits.
Research

A)explanatory
B)presumptive
C)descriptive
D)intuitive

Answer 3

descriptive

Question 4

Which of the following is NOT part of most personality mechanisms?

A)Outputs
B)Inputs
C)Access codes
D)Decision rules

Question 5

Which of the following is NOT defined as part of the person-environment interaction?

A)Perceptions
B)Manipulations
C)Serializations
D)Selections

Question 6

Philippe walks the same path every day at the same time. To state that he will most likely take the same route at the same time next Wednesday is using the nature of personality traits.

A)descriptive
B)explanatory
C)individualistic
D)predictive

Question 7

Responses to an inkblot test can demonstrate which part of the person-environment interaction?

A)Evocations
B)Selections
C)Manipulations
D)Perceptions

Question 8

Mo looks at the inkblot and sees two birds nesting. Heidi looks at the inkblot and sees a tranquil forest. Joe looks at the inkblot and sees something sexual. These three responses are illustrating that interaction.
Are important components of the person-environment

A)perceptions
B)projections
C)prostheses
D)provocations

Question 9

To say that someone will tend to display a trait with regularity is to say that the person has a(n)

A)adaptation.
B)average tendency.
C)obsessive-compulsive disorder.
D)social-cognitive approach.

Question 10

Features of personality that differentiate one person from another usually take the form of in language.

A)trait-descriptive adjectives
B)differential pronouns
C)trait-differentiating adverbs
D)action-descriptive verbs

Question 11

To say that someone has the trait of happiness, you need to know that the person

A)remembers being happy.
B)is happy at a given moment.
C)makes others happy.
D)is frequently happy.

Question 12

The trait of courageousness is an especially good example of

A)how traits change over time.
B)how traits are activated only under certain conditions.
C)an adaptive trait.
D)how traits are consistent.

Question 13

How many trait-descriptive adjectives are there in the English language?

A)Nearly 20,000
B)More than 1,800
C)More than 500
D)More than 5,000

Question 14

Personality is

A)inside the person.
B)both outside and inside the person.
C)outside the person.
D)inside or outside, depending on the person.

Question 15

Psychological mechanisms differ from traits in that mechanisms

A)refer more to processes.
B)do not have decision rules.
C)are less stable.
D)are biologically "hard wired."

Question 16

If I describe Juan as "possessive" or Anita as "friendly," I am employing the use of

A)inner psychological states.
B)trait-descriptive adjectives.
C)inner qualities of personality.
D)strategies to attain goals.

Question 17

Traits define the tendencies of an individual person.

A)central
B)outlying
C)average
D)overt

Question 18

Psychologists have found it difficult to define personality because

A)the idea of studying human personality is a rather new concept in psychology.
B)personality has a common sense definition that psychologists find hard to falsify.
C)psychologists are not smart enough to determine the boundaries of human personality.
D)any definition of personality needs to be sufficiently comprehensive to include a multitude of concepts.

Question 19

Research on personality traits asks all of these questions EXCEPT

A)how personality traits are organized.
B)which cues cause behaviour in a situation.
C)where personality traits come from.
D)how many fundamental personality traits are there.

Question 20

A talkative person will

A)always talk more than a quiet person.
B)talk more, on average, than a quiet person.
C)talk more than a quiet person in theaters.
D)never shut up.

Question 21

To say that a trait is adaptive means that the trait

A)serves a useful function.
B)indicates psychopathology.
C)easily changes as necessary.
D)is the result of sexual selection.

Question 22

Grand theories of personality are usually based on statements about the

A)universal core of human nature.
B)major individual differences.
C)differences between the sexes.
D)individual uniqueness of all humans.

Question 23

Most grand theories of personality focus on the level of analysis.

A)individual uniqueness
B)human nature
C)idiographic
D)group and individual differences

Question 24

The study of a single individual is an example of

A)nomothetic research.
B)cognitive psychology research.
C)idiographic research.
D)correlational research.

Question 25

Which of the following is an example of "nomothetic research"?

A)Preparing a case study of Sigmund Freud.
B)Analyzing the correspondence of Chris Rock.
C)Attempting to identify the genes related to impulsivity.
D)Comparing freshmen and seniors on a personality inventory.

Question 26

The textbook presents the example of the three blind men and the elephant to suggest that

A)individual and group differences are the most effective approach to studying personality.
B)people are like animals in some ways and all living creatures have a personality.
C)each of the different approaches to personality research is inadequate for studying the full range of human personality.
D)using ancient legends is an inadequate approach to explaining the full range of differences in human personality.

Question 27

Studying how people vary in levels of anxiety, self-esteem, or worry represents a(n) approach to studying personality psychology.

A)human nature
B)ideographic
C)individual differences
D)environmental

Question 28

The human nature level of personality analysis addresses how every human is

A)somewhat like other mammals.
B)like some others.
C)like no others.
D)like all others.

Question 29

In modern personality psychology, the grand theories

A)are seen as having primarily historical interest.
B)are still argued about in the literature.
C)are used only in clinical applications of personality theory.
D)guide all modern personality research.

Question 30

In the social environment, our "effective environment" represents the/a

A)strongest environmental cues that are found in any given environment.
B)subset of environmental features people attend to based on their psychological mechanisms.
C)set of cues emitted by other people in the environment.
D)environmental cues that are directly related to survival in the immediate environment.

Question 31

Lena always picks out restaurants that have a very quiet, subdued atmosphere. She always tries to avoid loud restaurants is the person-environment fit mechanism that may account for this behaviour.

A)Selection
B)Suggestion
C)Sublimation
D)Sophistication

Question 32

The fact that there are many differing views on personality suggests that

A)most views about personality psychology are incorrect.
B)researchers study different domains of knowledge.
C)personality psychologists ignore one another's theories.
D)one of the views is probably more accurate than others.

Question 33

Most current personality research is done at the level of analysis.

A)individual uniqueness
B)human nature
C)group and individual differences
D)idiographic

Question 34

At the psychological level, the physical environment may lead to the development of

A)hunger pangs to motivate people to seek food.
B)friction mechanisms to prevent calluses in skin.
C)fear mechanisms to help us avoid environmental threats.
D)shivering mechanisms when people are cold.

Question 35

A problem with studying only the grand theories of personality is that only portions of the grand theories

A)address the human nature level of analysis.
B)have stood the test of time and inform modern personality research.
C)are based on non-German populations.
D)apply to men.

Question 36

The intrapsychic environment is

A)not as objectively verifiable as the social or physical environment.
B)often easy to verify through the analysis of dreams.
C)based on how others in the environment react to a person.
D)relatively consistent across social, but not physical, environments.

Question 37

The individual uniqueness level of personality analysis addresses how every human is

A)somewhat like other mammals.
B)like no others.
C)like all others.
D)like some others.

Question 38

Which of the following is an example of "idiographic research"?

A)Comparing men and women on emotionality.
B)Conducting a field study of helping behaviours.
C)Writing a case study of Albert Einstein's personality.
D)Developing a questionnaire that measures sociability.

Question 39

The group differences level of personality analysis addresses how every human is

A)like no others.
B)like some others.
C)like all others.
D)somewhat like other mammals.

Question 40

The ability to learn spoken language is an example of the

A)individual uniqueness level of analysis.
B)human nature level of analysis.
C)social psychological level of analysis.
D)individual and group differences level of analysis.

Question 41

When different domains of knowledge contradict one another, we can conclude that

A)the contradictions may be more apparent than real.
B)the more historical domains are most correct.
C)the most recent domains are most correct.
D)none of the domains is correct.

Question 42

A "domain of knowledge" is a

A)grand theory of personality psychology.
B)specialty area of science and scholarship.
C)laboratory where personality research is conducted.
D)single theory about the nature of personality.

Question 43

Which domain is most concerned with identifying the number of fundamental individual differences?

A)Biological
B)Intrapsychic
C)Dispositional
D)Social and cultural

Question 44

Which domain of knowledge places the most emphasis on the external (to the person)dimensions of personality?

A)social and cultural
B)dispositional
C)biological
D)intrapsychic

Question 45

The domain of knowledge most concerned with unconscious mechanisms is the

A)cognitive-experiential domain.
B)adjustment domain.
C)biological domain.
D)intrapsychic domain.

Question 46

A researcher who compares identical twins to fraternal twins probably conducts most of her research within which domain?

A)Cognitive-Experiential
B)Intrapsychic
C)Biological
D)Adjustment

Question 47

Sidney is interested in differences in the levels of extraversion of British men and Italian men. Sidney will most likely use the methods and theories used by researchers studying personality within the domain.

A)social and cultural
B)dispositional
C)intrapsychic
D)cognitive-experiential

Question 48

The lexical approach (i.e., using natural language to identify fundamental traits)falls most squarely within the

A)cognitive-experiential domain.
B)intrapsychic domain.
C)dispositional domain.
D)social and cultural domain.

Question 49

Which domain relies most on statistical methods to identify fundamental traits?

A)Adjustment
B)Social and cultural
C)Dispositional
D)Biological

Question 50

Lillian is interested in how borderline personality disorder affects everyday behaviours in a clinical population. She most likely will use the methods and the models of the ________ domain of personality in conducting her research.

A)intrapsychic
B)adjustment
C)dispositional
D)biological

Question 51

Researchers in a given domain of personality share all of these EXCEPT

A)foundations of known facts.
B)common laboratory space.
C)common methods of inquiry.
D)theoretical explanations.

Question 52

Which domain focuses most on the relationships between personality and health behaviours?

A)social and cultural
B)cognitive-experiential
C)adjustment
D)dispositional

Question 53

Sigmund Freud's theory of personality falls within the domain of knowledge.

A)social and cultural
B)intrapsychic
C)dispositional
D)biological

Question 54

Which of the following does NOT fall within the biological domain of knowledge?

A)Subjective experience
B)Evolution
C)Psychophysiology
D)Genetics

Question 55

Patti collects data on three personality tests from several hundred participants. She then examines the systematic statistical similarities and differences among the traits assessed by each test. Patti is using the logic and methods of the

A)intrapsychic
B)biological domain of personality.
C)dispositional
D)social and cultural

Question 56

The fact that almost all humans live in groups suggests the importance of the ________ domain.

A)social and cultural
B)intrapsychic
C)adjustment
D)cognitive-experiential

Question 57

The study of personality disorders falls within the ______ domain.

A)adjustment
B)intrapsychic
C)biological
D)social and cultural

Question 58

Jay is interested in investigating unconscious conflict in a sample of college interns. Jay will most likely use the methods and theories associated with the domain of personality.

A)intrapsychic
B)dispositional
C)social and cultural
D)biological

Question 59

The dispositional domain focuses on

A)the emotional consequences of dispositions.
B)the outer nature of dispositions.
C)the biological nature of dispositions.
D)understanding the ways individuals differ from one another.

Question 60

The domains of knowledge in personality differ mainly in the

A)number of active researchers.
B)degree to which they emphasize adaptation and adjustment.
C)degree to which they emphasize internal or external factors.
D)degree to which they understand personality.

Question 61

Which of the following is a scientific theory?

A)reincarnation
B)astrology
C)extra sensory perception
D)Einstein's ideas on relativity

Question 62

________ are based on systematic observation, whereas are not.

A)Beliefs; theories
B)Approaches; domains
C)Domains; approaches
D)Theories; beliefs

Question 63

Which trait theory best exemplifies the principle of parsimony? A theory that proposes

A)two personality dispositions.
B)16 personality dispositions.
C)five personality dispositions.
D)three personality dispositions.

Question 64

The most important criterion for generating a testable theory is

A)its compatibility with other theories.
B)its comprehensiveness.
C)the generalizability of its predictions.
D)the precision of its predictions.

Question 65

Which of the following is NOT an example of a theory that provides a guide for researchers?

A)A cognitive psychologist predicting how an individual's self-evaluation will determine his or her reaction to a specific stimuli.
B)A Freudian psychoanalyst predicting stinginess from the ideas about development through a particular stage of psychological development.
C)A personality psychologist analyzing a large pool of responses to questionnaire items to find the underlying structure of the data.
D)A biological psychologist predicting a decrease in social behaviour when the frontal lobe of the brain is damaged.

Question 66

Which of the following is NOT a function of a theory?

A)Guides research
B)Organizes research findings
C)Eliminates domains of knowledge
D)Makes predictions

Question 67

John's theory of personality leads to the discovery of new links between cognition and brain functioning that were previously believed to be impossible. John's theory has

A)comprehensiveness.
B)heuristic value.
C)parsimony.
D)testability.