Deck 5: Personality Dispositions Over Time: Stability, Coherence, and Change

Question 1

When Maria was a child she was always did her homework on time and was an excellent student.As an adult Maria is a highly organized business woman with a reputation for meeting deadlines.Maria's behavior throughout her life demonstrates

A)personality coherence.
B)mean level reliability.
C)rank order stability.
D)mean level stability.

Answer 1

personality coherence.

Question 2

Personality changes take place when those changes are _____ and _____.

A)internal; progressive
B)external; phenotypical
C)internal; enduring
D)external; durable

Answer 2

external; durable

Question 3

An example of _____ would be that ambivalently attached babies cry when their mothers leave them, and that later in life as adults these individuals have many short-lived relationships.

A)mean level stability
B)mean level change
C)rank order stability
D)personality coherence

Answer 3

personality coherence

Question 4

_____ usually is/are defined as the individual differences that show up early in life and are likely to be heritable and involved in behaviors linked with emotionality.

A)Traits
B)Temperament
C)Individual differences
D)Dispositions

Question 5

Personality is least stable in

A)early infancy.
B)late infancy.
C)adolescence.
D)adulthood.

Question 6

If an individual maintains his or her rank order for a trait relative to a group, but changes the behaviors manifested by that trait over time that individual is exhibiting

A)mean level stability.
B)rank order stability.
C)personality coherence.
D)validity coefficients.

Question 7

If we measured height from the age of 12 to 18, we would likely see high degrees of

A)mean level stability.
B)rank order stability.
C)rank order instability.
D)both A and B

Question 8

Which of the following aspects of temperament is probably most stable?

A)Activity level
B)Fear
C)Duration of orienting
D)Soothability

Question 9

The finding that sensation seeking tends to decrease with age is an example of

A)mean level change.
B)mean level stability.
C)rank order stability.
D)rank order instability.

Question 10

_____ is defined as both the consistencies in people and the ways people change over time.

A)Personality development
B)Rank order stability
C)Mean level stability
D)Personality coherence

Question 11

If we studied political attitudes and found that everyone became more conservative with age, we would observe

A)mean level change.
B)mean level stability.
C)rank order stability.
D)rank order change.

Question 12

Which of the following concepts does Gandhi's life best illustrate?

A)How a personality changes over time.
B)How a personality can remain stable over time.
C)The concept of rank order stability.
D)Traits that are correlated with leadership skills.

Question 13

Correlations between the same measure taken at different points in time are called

A)validity coefficients.
B)stability coefficients.
C)mean level stability.
D)rank order stability.

Question 14

Freud's theory of psychosexual stages is an example of personality change at the _____ level of analysis.

A)population
B)group differences
C)individual differences
D)individual uniqueness

Question 15

Which of the following is NOT an example of a topic at the group level of analysis?

A)Male versus female differences in empathy toward others.
B)Cultural differences in coming of age rituals.
C)Arousal differences that correlate with extraversion.
D)Ethnic differences in body satisfaction.

Question 16

Personality differences usually can be first observed in

A)early infancy.
B)late infancy.
C)adolescence.
D)adulthood.

Question 17

Temperament has been found to be

A)unstable.
B)more stable in early infancy.
C)more stable over short interval.
D)more stable over long intervals.

Question 18

When the average level of a trait remains constant over time, we observe

A)mean level change.
B)mean level stability.
C)rank order stability.
D)rank order instability.

Question 19

When people maintain their position in a group over time, they display

A)mean level stability.
B)rank order stability.
C)personality coherence.
D)possible selves.

Question 20

Which level of analysis would consider the question, "Can we predict healthy aging from personality traits?"

A)Population
B)Group differences
C)Individual differences
D)Cultural differences

Question 21

Trait levels of _____ and _____ tend to increase with age.

A)agreeableness; openness to experience
B)extraversion; openness to experience
C)neuroticism; extraversion
D)conscientiousness; agreeableness

Question 22

Research suggests that traits from the five-factor model _____ mean level changes with age.

A)do not show
B)show small
C)show moderate
D)show large

Question 23

If you measure self-esteem every day for two weeks, you are probably most interested in

A)self-esteem level.
B)self-esteem variability.
C)possible selves.
D)feared selves.

Question 24

Correlations between different measures of the same trait taken at the same time are called

A)validity coefficients.
B)stability coefficients.
C)mean level stability.
D)rank order stability.

Question 25

Traits from the five-factor model have been found to

A)be only slightly stable in adulthood.
B)be moderately stable in adulthood.
C)lack stability in early adulthood.
D)have population stability in adulthood.

Question 26

A longitudinal study followed male management employees at AT&T over 20 years starting in the late 1950s while the men were in their twenties.The study found that the managers' levels of _____ decreased over their careers.

A)autonomy
B)ambition
C)motivation
D)dominance

Question 27

Some have suggested that more research focuses on personality stability, rather than change, because

A)longitudinal studies are difficult to conduct.
B)terms that refer to stability are generally more positive.
C)assessing change is easier than assessing stability.
D)there might be a bias among researchers against even looking for personality change.

Question 28

The traits of extraversion, neuroticism, and openness tend to

A)increase substantially in a person's thirties.
B)decline gradually with age until a person is about fifty years old.
C)fluctuate greatly in mean level stability during adolescence.
D)decrease markedly after a person reaches his or her sixties.

Question 29

Researchers have found that personality stability

A)does not change reliably over time.
B)tends to decrease with age.
C)tends to increase with age.
D)is best estimated by validity coefficients.

Question 30

During adolescence, the self-esteem of _____ increases and the self-esteem of _____ decreases.

A)males; females
B)females; males
C)irritable persons; calm persons
D)calm persons; irritable persons

Question 31

Trait neuroticism and negative affect scores tend to _____ from the freshman to senior years in college.

A)increase strongly
B)decrease strongly
C)remain stable
D)fluctuate wildly

Question 32

The architects classified as being "average" in a longitudinal, 25-year study, were found to

A)have become somewhat more creative over the years, but not as much as the successful architects.
B)score very low on conformity scales at both times data was collected in the study.
C)have become less impulse and flexible and to have become more rigid as they aged.
D)have considerably fewer health problems then the successful architects over the years.

Question 33

Self-esteem variability is most correlated with

A)self-esteem level.
B)childhood temper tantrums.
C)depression.
D)activity level.

Question 34

Trait consistency tends to reach each peak after age

A)20.
B)30.
C)40.
D)50.

Question 35

A person who feels very good after receiving a compliment, but very bad after being insulted, would sore high on measures of

A)self-esteem.
B)self-esteem variability.
C)activity level.
D)both a and b.

Question 36

Research suggests that children classified as bullies in the 6th grade

A)will be more popular in the 10th grade.
B)will become "whipping boys" by the 7th grade.
C)are more likely to commit criminal acts in adulthood.
D)are more likely to have been bullied by parents.

Question 37

People who have high levels of self-esteem variability

A)depend on others for their sense of self-worth.
B)score high on measures of self-esteem level.
C)score low on measures of self-esteem level.
D)react positively to objectively defined negative events.

Question 38

A longitudinal study of architects that spanned 25 years found that

A)successful architects scored high on independence and spontaneity scales.
B)successful architects scored high on conventionality and conservatism scales.
C)impulsivity and flexibility scale scores increased with age for successful architects.
D)successful architects had fewer health problems then less creative architects.

Question 39

People whose actual selves are close to their ideal selves score high on measures of

A)possible selves.
B)feared selves.
C)desired selves.
D)self-esteem.

Question 40

Buss, Block, and Block's longitudinal study of activity level found

A)stability in activity level over time.
B)less stability over short intervals.
C)more stability over long intervals.
D)a lack of personality coherence.

Question 41

Husbands who score low on _____ have been found to be more likely to have extramarital affairs.

A)neuroticism
B)impulse control
C)dominance
D)extraversion

Question 42

When does the trait of sensation seeking tend to peak?

A)In early childhood.
B)In late adolescence.
C)In midlife.
D)In late life.

Question 43

The Mills College longitudinal study of women found that homemakers' level of independence at age 21 versus that at age 43 suggests that

A)being a homemaker requires much more independence than originally believed.
B)homemakers' independence scores are likely to change little with age.
C)the roles women adopt are irrelevant to changes in independence.
D)the role a college-educated woman has in life is irrelevant to changes in personality.

Question 44

A longitudinal study conducted of women who attended Mills College suggests that femininity (defined as being dependent, emotional, gentle, high-strung, etc.) decreases to become more masculine (defined as being assertive, confident, determined, independent, etc.) from ages

A)13 to 20.
B)20 to 30.
C)30 to 40.
D)40 to 50.

Question 45

Individuals with a high level of _____ tend to cope better with the loss of a spouse.

A)dominance
B)impulse control
C)neuroticism
D)independence

Question 46

American women in the 1930s were more _____ than women of the 1950s.

A)sexually active
B)self-sufficient
C)passive
D)resilient

Question 47

Which of the following has been suggested as the key factor with the later development of alcoholism in men?

A)High levels of neuroticism
B)Low levels of neuroticism
C)Low levels of impulse control
D)High levels of impulse control

Question 48

Self-esteem variability appears to be strongly related to the extent to which one's self-view can be influenced by

A)levels of monoanalyse oxide.
B)the outcome of social events.
C)the mean level of self-esteem.
D)the self-esteem of others in the environment.

Question 49

Which of the following is NOT a component of sensation seeking?

A)Thrill and adventure seeking
B)Disinhibition
C)Sociability
D)Boredom susceptibility

Question 50

Which of the following personality traits is one of the strongest predictors of divorce in the Kelly and Conley longitudinal study of married couples?

A)High extraversion
B)Low agreeableness
C)High neuroticism
D)Low conscientiousness

Question 51

The effects on individuals of living through the first gulf war is an example of

A)cohort effects.
B)generational effects.
C)historical byproducts.
D)longitudinal effects.

Question 52

Women who score high on the femininity scale of the California Psychological Inventory (compared to low scorers) are more likely to

A)remember an acquaintance's birthday.
B)take charge of a committee meeting.
C)take the initiative in sexual encounters.
D)demand equal social and political rights

Question 53

"Personality coherence" refers to the predictable changes in

A)the outcomes of personality factors over time.
B)the mean level stability of personality traits
C)how much "common sense" a personality score makes.
D)the effects of rank-order stability over time.

Question 54

_____ are defined as the social times in which people live.

A)"Cohort effects"
B)"Generational effects"
C)"Historical byproducts"
D)"Longitudinal effects"

Question 55

Twenge concluded from her studies of cohort effects from 1968 to 1993 that

A)females internalized the social change and cultural messages of the era, and their personalities were molded by these messages.
B)cohort effects are interesting to study historically, but of little relevance to personality psychology.
C)social and cultural changes had only marginal effects on personality.
D)the culture in which an individual is immersed is the major determinant of personality.

Question 56

The trait of competence tends to _____ women.

A)decrease with age among
B)increase with age among
C)remain unchanged with age among
D)increase among married, but decrease among unmarried

Question 57

American women's scores for _____ rose from 1931 to 1945 and also from 1968 to 1993.

A)domesticity
B)level of education
C)assertiveness
D)sensation seeking

Question 58

Which of the following has NOT been associated with marital satisfaction?

A)The husband's neuroticism
B)The wife's neuroticism
C)The husband's impulsivity
D)The wife's impulsivity

Question 59

Over time, trait scores of independence tended to increase for all women except

A)divorced mothers.
B)the nulliparous.
C)working mothers.
D)homemakers.

Question 60

Kara is extremely sensitive to the feedback of other people.She most likely has a/an

A)high level of self-esteem variability.
B)overall low level of self-esteem.
C)low mean level of self-esteem.
D)extremely rigid sense of self-esteem.

Question 61

Impulsivity in men has been associated with

A)lower levels of marital satisfaction.
B)alcoholism.
C)lower levels of academic achievement.
D)All of these.

Question 62

_____ been associated with greater stability of personality over time.

A)Marrying someone with a similar personality has
B)Marrying someone with a very different personality has
C)High levels of neuroticism have
D)Low levels of neuroticism have

Question 63

A study found that men who had many childhood temper tantrums later

A)achieved higher levels of academic success.
B)were more likely to be divorced.
C)had more successful military careers.
D)achieved great financial success.

Question 64

Which of the following does NOT predict later levels of marital satisfaction?

A)Impulse control
B)Childhood temper tantrums
C)Neuroticism
D)Sensation seeking

Question 65

When people in marriages have similar personalities,

A)they are more likely to divorce.
B)their personalities remain more stable over time.
C)their personalities change more over time.
D)their personalities are neither more nor less likely to change over time.

Question 66

Men classified as being "explosive" children in a 40-year longitudinal study presented by Caspi and his colleagues in 1987 differed from the "nonexplosive" group by

A)earning more promotions for valor.
B)achieving lower military ranks.
C)earning more medals for bravery.
D)benefiting from military discipline.

Question 67

Which of the following has been associated with the later development of emotional disturbances in men?

A)High levels of neuroticism
B)Low levels of neuroticism
C)Low levels of impulse control
D)High levels of impulse control