Deck 4: Theoretical and Measurement Issues in Trait Psychology

Question 1

If a trait changes over time, test-retest correlations

A)are high if rank order remains the same.
B)are low if rank order remains the same.
C)will always be high.
D)will always be low.

Answer 1

are high if rank order remains the same.

Question 2

At 20 years of age, Joe is the life of the party, hanging off of the chandelier, and leading everyone at the party in a rousing chorus of the latest hit song. Later in life, he most likely will be the senior citizen

A)who encourages everyone in the senior citizen home to have a shuffleboard tournament.
B)most likely to be the loneliest member of his peer group.
C)most likely to sneak out to the local bar to have a drink with students.
D)who will stubbornly refuse to be admitted to a retirement community.

Answer 2

who encourages everyone in the senior citizen home to have a shuffleboard tournament.

Question 3

challenged the idea that traits are consistent across situations.

A)Eysenck
B)Mischel
C)Cattell
D)Larson

Answer 3

Mischel

Question 4

Canadian researcher Norman Endler was best known for his

A)interpersonal model of personality.
B)transactional model of personality.
C)circumplex model of personality.
D)interactional model of personality.

Question 5

The concept of rank order consistency suggests that

A)trait levels in an individual may decrease with age when compared to the general population.
B)a person with more of a trait at one time will have a different trait score at another time.
C)trait levels are unaffected by the chronological age of an individual.
D)traits are not consistent over time within an individual.

Question 6

Vicki has been your friend for several years. Generally she is a very friendly, outgoing, and sociable person. Based on what you know about Vicki's personality you predict that she

A)will be as friendly, outgoing, and sociable as she is now in the future.
B)will have far lower amounts of these traits in the future.
C)will have greater amounts of these traits in the future.
D)was probably an unfriendly, nonsocial, and withdrawn child.

Question 7

Trait psychology is sometimes also called psychology.

A)differential
B)developmental
C)cognitive
D)social

Question 8

According to personality psychologists, the level of personality measurement that most robustly predicts behaviour is the

A)behaviour level.
B)adjective level.
C)factor level.
D)trait level.

Question 9

The text compares the complexities and richness of human personality to the way a colour wheel, consisting of a mere three colours, can create the entire spectrum of colours visible to the human eye. This analogy illustrates how

A)a few basic and primary traits could be responsible for the idiosyncrasies of every personality.
B)the use of colour therapy over an extended period of time may change the amount of a trait in an individual.
C)individuals are as unique and diverse as the range of colour spectrum.
D)the colour spectrum varies with different human emotions.

Question 10

Mischel thought that were most important in determining behaviour.

A)intellectual abilities
B)situations
C)traits
D)attitudes

Question 11

The idea that traits are less important than immediate circumstances in determining behaviour is known as

A)social desirability.
B)aggregation.
C)acquiescence.
D)situationism.

Question 12

The "Goldilocks zone" of personality measurement refers to

A)the best level of trait measurement where we can make the most accurate predictions of behaviour.
B)one's score on a personality questionnaire falling in the ideal range for mental health.
C)a normal bell curve distribution resulting from trait measurement.
D)the point of measurement where all personality traits converge.

Question 13

What is the limitation of measuring personality factors at their highest position in the hierarchy?

A)Measurement of these broad traits will not offer the degree of specificity required to make accurate predictions about behaviour.
B)Measurement of these broad traits will not offer the ability to distinguish between traits.
C)It is not possible to subject these broad traits to a factor analysis.
D)Too many items are required to capture the full breadth of each of the highest factors.

Question 14

Trait psychologists are most interested in

A)how human nature works.
B)understanding the uniqueness of each individual.
C)how people are different from each other.
D)general laws of human behaviour.

Question 15

Because trait psychology focuses on the amounts of various traits, it tends to focus on

A)integrity testing.
B)situational selection.
C)psychopathology.
D)measurement.

Question 16

A study by Hartshorne and May (1928)found that children who cheated in games were

A)more likely to help strangers.
B)more likely to be aggressive.
C)not much more likely to cheat on written exams.
D)much more likely to cheat on written exams.

Question 17

Compared to other approaches to personality, the trait approach is more concerned with

A)the theory of evolution.
B)measurement.
C)the unconscious.
D)disorders of personality.

Question 18

Of all the perspectives and strategies for studying personality, the trait approach is the most

A)oriented towards individual differences.
B)mathematically and statistically oriented.
C)measurement oriented.
D)reliable method for describing human beings.

Question 19

What constitutes the lowest possible level of the personality hierarchy?

A)behavioural tendencies
B)narrow traits
C)behavioural acts
D)adjectives

Question 20

Traits are

A)expected to vary over time.
B)assumed to be consistent over time.
C)expected to be consistently meaningful over time.
D)expected to be consistent only if they have a biological basis.

Question 21

is the concept that refers to the idea that a person may act in a certain way only in particular circumstances.

A)Situational specificity
B)Faking response
C)Extreme responding
D)Aggregation

Question 22

Mischel has pointed out that personality psychologists are NOT very good at predicting

A)how a particular individual will behave in a specific situation.
B)the effects of personality test scores on an individual.
C)how personality traits direct individuals to specific situations.
D)the effects of important situations on most individuals.

Question 23

Most personality and social psychologists agree that actual behaviour is based on

A)constant interaction between the individual's personality and the situation.
B)the consistent behaviour across a multitude of situations.
C)the need to disagree.
D)extremely strong situations that constantly change behaviour.

Question 24

One result of Mischel's critique of trait approaches has been

A)a decrease in the practice of aggregation.
B)an increased interest in person-situation interactions.
C)that personality traits are no longer studied.
D)a decreased interest in person-situation interactions.

Question 25

Using forced choice responding in place of Likert scale response options on personality measures may

A)result in more robust predictive validity when faking is present.
B)result in a decrease in participant response biases.
C)reduce the need for tedious data entry and analysis.
D)help researchers better determine whether respondents are high or low on a particular trait.

Question 26

Whenever Ling walks into a room everyone always smiles and seeks him out for conversation. He does not understand why people react to him that way. Most likely Ling is demonstrating the idea of

A)elocution.
B)evocation.
C)equivocation.
D)elation.

Question 27

Peter is a very brave man, but otherwise a laid-back guy. One day he hears tires squealing and metal crashing. He turns to the street, and upon seeing an accident, rescues a young child from one of the cars involved in the accident. The combination of Peter's trait of bravery and the dangerous situation illustrate the idea of situational

A)synergism.
B)reactivity.
C)generalization.
D)specificity.

Question 28

Vince is watching his school's team play in the championship basketball game. He is wildly cheering his team on to victory, talking to everyone around him, even though they are strangers, and shouting at the referees for making bad calls on his team. From
Psychologist Walter Mischel's perspective, Vince is primarily behaving due to

A)his extremely strong competitiveness and extraversion.
B)his extremely strong long-term commitment to the basketball team.
C)the extremely strong effects of the six tacos he ate for lunch.
D)the extremely strong effects of the immediate situation.

Question 29

The equation B = f(P × S)

A)is a way to determine heritability estimates for behaviour of personalities in situations.
B)indicates that behaviour is primarily the result of personality and secondarily the situation.
C)shows that the appearance of a trait is related to an interaction between the phenotype and stereotype.
D)specifies that behaviour is the result of an interaction between the person and the situation.

Question 30

After spending time in this class you notice the wide range of personalities in your family while attending a family gathering. During the gathering at Aunt Millie's home she insists on everyone singing traditional holiday songs together. The neurotic, the extraverted, the shy, the anxious, the open, and all of the other personality types in your family join in song at Aunt Millie's request. Her success at getting all of these
Personalities to join in song is due to the

A)shared family environment.
B)strong situation.
C)common family environment.
D)social influence effect.

Question 31

Which of the following might NOT explain why a person often acts in a friendly manner?

A)The person chooses to go to many parties and social events.
B)The person is often in social situations.
C)The person thinks of himself or herself as being friendly.
D)The person has the trait of friendliness.

Question 32

You are in a traffic jam and are not able to discern the cause of the delay. While waiting you observe the behaviour of the individuals in the cars around you. The angry woman is honking her horn. The narcissistic man is carefully combing his hair. A patient girl is sitting back calmly listening to music. And you're thinking your analytic skills are going to make you a great psychologist! The variety of behaviours being exhibited by the
Drivers in this situation are most likely due to

A)your misinterpretation of the situation.
B)the ambiguity of the situation.
C)the different cars the drivers own.
D)the differences of drivers' personalities.

Question 33

According to Paunonen and colleagues, which narrow trait is a better predictor of grade point average than the broader trait of conscientiousness?

A)Self-discipline
B)Order
C)Achievement motivation
D)Methodicalness

Question 34

A study by Diener et al. discussed in the text did NOT find that

A)people selected different situations when wearing pagers then they usually selected.
B)individuals' personalities were related to the situations they were in.
C)extraverts spent more time engaging in social forms of recreation.
D)people who scored high on the need for achievement spent more time working.

Question 35

Andrea likes to draw pictures, enjoys solving complex mathematical problems, and enjoys building things. Her decision to major in architecture would best demonstrates

A)situational selection.
B)manipulation.
C)evocation.
D)equivocation.

Question 36

Personality is likely to have the least effect on behaviour

A)when behaviours are aggregated.
B)in ambiguous situations.
C)when people are older.
D)in strong situations.

Question 37

A person who acts aggressively and often finds himself in uncomfortable conflicts demonstrates the concept of

A)manipulation.
B)evocation.
C)situational selection.
D)aggregation.

Question 38

The idea that personality traits influence the situations people put themselves in is known as

A)evocation.
B)aggregation.
C)situational selection.
D)manipulation.

Question 39

According to the person-situation interaction point of view, behaviour

A)= f(P + S).
B)= f(P).
C)= f(S).
D)= f(P × S).

Question 40

According to Paunonen and Nicol (2001), are better predictors of performance outcomes than _.

A)broad traits; narrower traits
B)adjectives; narrower traits
C)narrower traits; broad traits
D)broad traits; adjectives

Question 41

If a psychologist thinks a truthful person is "faking good," the psychologist has

A)created a criterion problem.
B)demonstrated a false negative.
C)created a response set.
D)demonstrated a false positive.

Question 42

Josh has been required to complete an anger management course as part of his sentencing for his conviction in a road rage incident. He completes a personality test and answers the questions in a way that he believes will reduce the amount of time he will
Spend in the course. In terms of psychological measurement issues Josh is

A)faking good.
B)false negative.
C)faking bad.
D)false positive.

Question 43

A person who intentionally charms others to get what he or she wants demonstrates the concept of

A)manipulation.
B)aggregation.
C)situational selection.
D)evocation.

Question 44

We might include the same questions in a questionnaire multiple times to assess

A)social desirability.
B)faking.
C)carelessness.
D)response sets.

Question 45

The item "Whenever I walk up stairs, I always do so on my hands" on a questionnaire assesses

A)carelessness.
B)seriousness.
C)faking.
D)extraversion.

Question 46

You call your parents and tell them about a terrific opportunity you have been given by your university to go to an important conference. You tell your parents about all of the opportunities for career development and networking that the conference will offer. Then, you tell your parents that you need only $500 from them to make the trip. You are demonstrating the concept of

A)evocation.
B)situational selection.
C)guilt initiation.
D)manipulation.

Question 47

The main difference between evocation and manipulation is that

A)manipulation is not intentional but evocation is.
B)evocation is the result of personality but manipulation is not.
C)manipulation is the result of personality by evocation is not.
D)evocation is not intentional, but manipulation is.

Question 48

The concept of aggregation

A)predicts behaviour from single measures.
B)predicts behaviour based on traumatic events.
C)predicts performance on specific occasions.
D)does not predict performance on a specific occasion.

Question 49

are general statements that could apply to anyone.

A)Feedback responses
B)Cues
C)Barnum statements
D)Integrity tests

Question 50

refers to adding up or averaging several single observations of behaviour to assess personality.

A)Evocation
B)Manipulation
C)Aggregation
D)Situational selection

Question 51

The key issue in measuring traits is determining

A)how traits change over time.
B)what causes traits.
C)how much of a trait a person has.
D)how many traits exist.

Question 52

is most likely to be a measurement issue when important decisions will be based on the outcome of the measure.

A)Restriction of range
B)Faking
C)Carelessness
D)Acquiescence

Question 53

The correlation between ________ and would likely be the highest.

A)shyness on a given day; shyness on another day
B)shyness averaged over a month; shyness on a given day
C)shyness averaged over a month; shyness averaged over a different month
D)shyness averaged over a month; shyness averaged over a week

Question 54

Which of the following assessments would you expect to be the best predictor of behaviour?

A)A single observation of behaviour
B)A short questionnaire
C)A single experiment
D)A long questionnaire

Question 55

Single measures of behaviour

A)are poor measures of anything.
B)are typically face valid.
C)predict behaviour well in other situations.
D)predict behaviour well over time.

Question 56

The term refers to making the mistake of thinking that a person was answering a questionnaire truthfully when that person was actually faking.

A)false negative
B)false positive
C)restriction of range
D)extreme responding

Question 57

The concept of aggregation suggests that traits are

A)blended concepts.
B)average tendencies.
C)mere descriptions.
D)internal causes.

Question 58

A baseball player's statistical batting average is an example of

A)variance.
B)aggregation.
C)reliability.
D)validity.

Question 59

Aggregation usually results in a

A)measure that predicts group behaviours.
B)measure that does a good job of predicting individual behaviours.
C)less reliable measure than single behaviours.
D)more reliable measure than single behaviours.

Question 60

Your grade point average best indicates your average performance in your classes over time. This illustrates the concept of

A)amelioration.
B)amalgamation.
C)aggrandizement.
D)aggregation.

Question 61

Integrity tests measure attitudes related to

A)rationalization regarding the acceptability of thievery.
B)tolerating others who steal.
C)antisocial beliefs and behaviours.
D)All of the choices are correct.

Question 62

Today, polygraph tests are most often used

A)to select graduate students.
B)by fast food restaurants.
C)by government agencies.
D)in courtrooms.

Question 63

The requires that federally regulated industries in Canada adopt proactive employment practices in order to improve the employment rates of four designated social groups.

A)Employment Equity Act
B)Employment Standards Act
C)Canadian Occupational Health Code
D)Canadian Human Rights Act

Question 64

Many legal concerns have been raised about the use of personality tests in hiring decisions. All of these are legitimate legal concerns EXCEPT

A)the infringement of personality tests on individuals' right to privacy.
B)the lack of statistical reliability among personality tests in occupational settings.
C)the potential race and gender norming during the hiring process.
D)the possible use of personality tests to discriminate during the hiring process.

Question 65

Which of the following is the personality assessment used by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in their hiring procedures?

A)The 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire
B)The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
C)The California Personality Inventory
D)The Six Factor Personality Questionnaire

Question 66

Facet-level personality traits should not be considered by employers during the hiring process because

A)important information can be lost at this level of analysis.
B)they make the hiring process more time-consuming and confusing for employers.
C)they have not been shown to predict important job performance criteria.
D)they may increase the likelihood of employers discriminating based on gender role stereotypes.

Question 67

An example of gender norming in personality testing is

A)interpreting the meaning of scores differently according to gender.
B)interviewing only men.
C)setting a higher threshold for women than men.
D)developing different interview questions for men and women.

Question 68

In Canada, the use of polygraph tests in the private sector has been outlawed in which two provinces?

A)Ontario and Manitoba
B)Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
C)Ontario and New Brunswick
D)Ontario and Nova Scotia

Question 69

Which of the following is NOT a cited problem with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator?

A)It assumes large between-category differences, and no within-category differences, among people.
B)The same individual score will be interpreted very differently depending on the median used to perform the cutoff for classification.
C)Slight changes in people's raw scores on retesting can result in a large percentage being reclassified into different personality types.
D)It assumes that personality traits like introversion and extraversion are normally distributed in the population.

Question 70

Integrity tests may measure attitudes related to any of the following EXCEPT

A)tolerating others who steal.
B)ethical and moral beliefs regarding cheating.
C)antisocial beliefs and behaviours.
D)beliefs that many others engage in theft.

Question 71

Integrity tests appear to be valid because they

A)have test-retest correlations in the range of 0.85.
B)predict theft criteria such as criminal history and evidence of theft during adolescence.
C)predict theft criteria such as supervisors' ratings of dishonesty and likelihood of getting caught stealing once hired.
D)Both "predict theft criteria such as supervisors' ratings of dishonesty and likelihood of getting caught stealing once hired" and "predict theft criteria such as criminal history and evidence of theft during adolescence" are correct.

Question 72

The prohibits workplace discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, and disability.

A)Employment Standards Act
B)Employment Equity Act
C)Canadian Human Rights Act
D)Canadian Occupational Health Code

Question 73

Disparate impact occurs when

A)employers use different norms or cutoff scores on employee personality tests for different groups of people.
B)different employees in the same workplace are treated differently.
C)an employment practice disadvantages people from a protected group.
D)differences are observed in the effects of workplace discrimination.

Question 74

Which popular personality test used by employers uses forced-choice responses?

A)The Six Factor Personality Questionnaire
B)The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
C)The 16 Factor Personality Questionnaire
D)The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

Question 75

In industry settings, personality tests are used to do all of the following EXCEPT

A)make decisions about inmates in prisons.
B)match people with particular jobs.
C)select people for promotion.
D)help screen people for employment.

Question 76

Which of the following traits is NOT associated with successful police performance?

A)Self-confidence
B)Boldness
C)Sociability
D)Need for adventure

Question 77

In the Six Factor Personality Questionnaire, which 'Big 5' trait is separated into two distinct factors?

A)Conscientiousness
B)Agreeableness
C)Extraversion
D)Neuroticism