Question 1

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

Accepted Answer

Situational specificity is the concept that a person's behavior can be influenced by the particular circumstances in which they find themselves. This means that people may act differently depending on the situation they are in, even if their behavior seems inconsistent with their typical personality or tendencies. Other options, such as faking response, extreme responding, and aggregation, do not relate to this specific concept.

Question 2

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

Accepted Answer

Mischel's research has shown that personality psychologists are not very good at predicting how a particular individual will behave in a specific situation. This is because individual behaviors are influenced by a multitude of factors, such as the specific context of the situation, the individual's current goals and motivations, and the social and cultural norms at play. Therefore, it is difficult to accurately predict behavior based solely on personality traits or test scores.

Question 3

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

Accepted Answer

Personality and social psychologists generally agree that behavior is a result of the interaction between an individual's personality and environmental/situational factors. This is known as the person-situation interaction. While personality traits are relatively stable over time, they are expressed differently in different situations. Therefore, behavior may not be consistent across all situations.

Question 4

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

Accepted Answer

Mischel's critique of trait approaches argued that behavior is largely influenced by the social situation, and not solely by internal traits. As a result, there has been an increased interest in studying person-situation interactions in personality psychology.

Question 5

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

Accepted Answer

Forced choice responding can reduce response biases and increase the ability to detect faking, which can improve the predictive validity of personality measures.

Question 6

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

Accepted Answer

Ling is evoking positive emotions in others, causing them to naturally smile and want to talk to him. This is a common trait of individuals who possess strong social skills and charisma.

Question 7

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

Accepted Answer

Situational specificity refers to how certain traits or behaviors are expressed in specific situations, such as Peter's bravery being demonstrated in the context of an accident.

Question 8

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

Accepted Answer

According to Walter Mischel's theory of situationism, behavior is primarily influenced by the immediate situation rather than by pre-existing personality traits or long-term commitments. In this case, Vince's cheering, talking to strangers, and shouting at referees are likely due to the excitement of watching his school's team play in the championship basketball game.

Question 9

The equation B = f(P × S)

Accepted Answer

The equation B = f(P × S) specifies that behavior is the result of an interaction between the person and the situation. The equation takes into account both personality (P) and situational factors (S) in determining behavior (B). Therefore, the correct option is D.

Question 10

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

Accepted Answer

Aunt Millie's strong request and the holiday gathering created a strong situation that influenced all of the different personality types to join in song.

Question 11

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

Accepted Answer

The answer of Which of the following might NOT explain...

Question 12

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

Accepted Answer

The ambiguity of the situation is most likely causing the variety of behaviors being exhibited by the drivers.

Question 13

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

Accepted Answer

Paunonen and colleagues found that self-discipline was a better predictor of grade point average than the broader trait of conscientiousness. Therefore, choice A is the correct answer.

Question 14

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

Accepted Answer

The study did not find that people selected different situations when wearing pagers than they usually selected.

Question 15

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

Accepted Answer

Situational selection refers to the process of selecting environments that complement our personalities or characteristics. In this case, Andrea's decision to major in architecture indicates that she has selected an environment that aligns with her interests and skills, specifically drawing, problem-solving, and building.

Question 16

Personality is likely to have the least effect on behaviour

Accepted Answer

Personality has the least effect on behavior in strong situations, which are high-pressure or highly structured environments that leave little room for individual expression. In such situations, people tend to conform to the expectations or rules of the situation, rather than relying on their own personality or disposition.

Question 17

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

Accepted Answer

Evocation refers to the idea that an individual's behavior can elicit responses from the environment or others that are consistent with the individual's behavior. In this case, the person's aggressive behavior evokes uncomfortable conflicts.

Question 18

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

Accepted Answer

Situational selection refers to the idea that people choose the situations they enter into based on their personality traits. For example, an extroverted person may choose to attend social gatherings more often than an introverted person. This concept suggests that personality traits play a role in shaping the situations and environments individuals seek out, which can in turn shape their behavior and development.

Question 19

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

Accepted Answer

The person-situation interaction point of view suggests that behavior is a function of both the person (P) and the situation (S), as well as their interaction, hence the formula: behavior = f(P × S).

Question 20

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

Accepted Answer

Paunonen and Nicol (2001) found that narrower traits are better predictors of performance outcomes than broad traits. Adjectives were not mentioned in the study. Therefore, option A and D are incorrect.

Quiz 4: Theoretical and Measurement Issues in Trait Psychology