Deck 2: Personality Assessment, Measurement, and Research Design

Question 1

One strength of experience-sampling data is that

A)one is able to detect rhythms over time in behavior or feelings.
B)it is easier to collect than other self-report data.
C)it is a completely objective form of self-report data.
D)it is free of biases associated with other self-report data.

Answer 1

one is able to detect rhythms over time in behavior or feelings.

Question 2

In order to collect experience sampling data, a researcher might

A)manipulate participants' experiences in the lab.
B)ask participants to fill out the same questionnaire many times.
C)record participants' physiological reactions in the lab.
D)conduct a telephone survey.

Answer 2

ask participants to fill out the same questionnaire many times.

Question 3

Which of the following is NOT an advantage of observer-report data?

A)It provides another point of view to self-report data.
B)Many observers' data can be combined.
C)Observers have unique access to information about a person.
D)Observers can best capture the subjective experience of person being measured.

Answer 3

Observers can best capture the subjective experience of person being measured.

Question 4

In the Twenty Statements Test (i.e., the "Who am I?" test), which of the following is important to the scoring?

A)The order and syntax of the statements
B)The context and structure of the statements
C)The order and content of the statements
D)The complexity and syntax of the statements

Question 5

A person's police record would be considered

A)S-data.
B)O-data.
C)T-data.
D)L-data.

Question 6

Personality scales are usually made up of

A)one rating on a Likert scale.
B)the sum of a few individual ratings.
C)open-ended questions.
D)projective ratings of personality.

Question 7

Which of the following is the best reason for collecting self-report data?

A)Individuals have access to a wealth of information about themselves.
B)Observer bias is very difficult to remove from the data.
C)The desire to portray oneself in a positive light is very prevalent.
D)There is an almost total lack of bias in self-report data.

Question 8

The Twenty Statements Test (i.e., the "Who am I?" test) is an example of a/an

A)structured questionnaire.
B)unstructured questionnaire.
C)projective test.
D)bias-free test.

Question 9

Usually, combining the data from many observers is

A)more confusing and less precise than using data from a single observer.
B)more valid and reliable than the data from a single observer.
C)less reliable and valid than the data from a single clinical psychologist.
D)more reliable and valid than using single measures of personality.

Question 10

I conduct a study of safe drivers for a major insurance company and collect data from a sample of 1,000 drivers and examine their driving records over a 10-year period.This study is using

A)life-outcome data.
B)observer-report data.
C)test-report data.
D)self-report data.

Question 11

What a person tells you about his or her attitudes would be considered

A)S-data.
B)O-data.
C)T-data.
D)L-data.

Question 12

Which of the following is an example of an unstructured questionnaire?

A)True/False
B)Forced choice
C)Open-ended
D)Rorschach test

Question 13

You are asked to describe Dr.Larsen's personality on a questionnaire.This is an example of

A)observer data.
B)student data.
C)subordinate data.
D)omniscient data.

Question 14

Which type of data is most commonly used to measure personality?

A)S-data
B)O-data
C)T-data
D)L-data

Question 15

Which of the following is NOT a weakness of self-report data?

A)People may intentionally lie about themselves.
B)People may not know how to answer questions accurately.
C)Self-report data is especially difficult to collect.
D)People may intentionally distort reports on unusual experiences.

Question 16

Of the different ways to collect self-report data, which is most common?

A)Interviews
B)Periodic reports
C)Questionnaires
D)Experience sampling

Question 17

Dr.Larsen conducts a study in which participants are given pagers.Every time the participants are paged they complete a short questionnaire.Participants are paged three times for eight days.This type of research is called

A)experiential research.
B)experience sampling.
C)life sampling.
D)observer query.

Question 18

Which of the following has been noted as a potential problem with the Twenty Statements Test, i.e., the "Who am I?" test?

A)It can be biased by intelligence differences in participants.
B)It can show biases due to the gender of the participants.
C)It can show biases due to the participants' cultural differences.
D)It can show differences between people in adjusted and unadjusted marriages.

Question 19

How a person performs on an intelligence test would be considered

A)S-data.
B)O-data.
C)T-data.
D)L-data.

Question 20

What a person's friend tells you about that person would be considered

A)S-data.
B)O-data.
C)T-data.
D)L-data.

Question 21

David is asked to tell the researcher what he sees in a series of inkblots.He is completing a

A)projective test.
B)ambiguous test.
C)psychoanalytic test.
D)visual span test.

Question 22

The use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

A)is extremely useful for eliciting eye blink responses when individuals are startled.
B)can be used to assess an individual's activity level.
C)measures oxygen flow in the brain due to blood concentrations.
D)is used to discover individuals with "magnetic" personalities.

Question 23

The Megargee study highlights all of these features of T-data EXCEPT

A)laboratory test data is sensitive to personality characteristics.
B)there are often interesting links between self-report data and test data.
C)the interpersonal style of the experimenter changed the results of the study.
D)it is possible to set up conditions that make indicators of personality observable.

Question 24

Which of the following is a good reason to use many intimate observers to collect O-data?

A)You are interested in studying multiple social personalities.
B)Professional observers are especially biased.
C)You are interested in studying personality in a public context.
D)It is important to know if a person has lots of friends.

Question 25

The "bridge-building test" is an example of

A)S-data.
B)O-data.
C)T-data.
D)L-data.

Question 26

Which of the following statements about O-data is FALSE?

A)Intimate observers can fail to see flaws in loved ones they report about.
B)Intimate observers are useless if they do not understand personality psychology.
C)Intimate observers may have hidden agendas unknown to investigators.
D)Intimate observers may not have access to the information the researcher is seeking.

Question 27

Test data differs from observer-report data in that

A)test data usually requires less inference about the behavior of the participants.
B)people who collect test data are more objective than observers.
C)test data is always more expensive to collect than other types of data.
D)test data always is more reliable than observer data.

Question 28

Projective techniques are examples of

A)S-data.
B)O-data.
C)T-data.
D)L-data.

Question 29

Which of the following is NOT a limitation of physiological data?

A)It usually requires an artificial setting.
B)Participants may not construe the testing situation as the researchers do.
C)It is easy to fake desirable responses.
D)It shares most of the other limitations of other types of test data.

Question 30

Projective tests are considered test data for all of these reasons EXCEPT

A)all participants are given the same instructions during the testing session.
B)all persons are placed in a standardized testing situation.
C)the stimuli are ambiguous to all of the participants in the study.
D)personality characteristics are believed to be elicited by the stimuli.

Question 31

Which of the following is NOT a potential problem in collecting T-data?

A)Participants might guess what is being measured and alter their behavior.
B)Attempts to gather T-data often elicit behavior from the participants.
C)The testing situation might not be viewed the same by participants and researchers.
D)A researcher can inadvertently influence behavior in the testing situation.

Question 32

The "actometer" has been used to measure

A)activity level.
B)action counts.
C)actor influence.
D)length of the activity.

Question 33

The use of _____ differentiates projective tests from other kinds of test data.

A)standardized scoring
B)ambiguous stimuli
C)psychoanalytic assumptions
D)video projectors

Question 34

The best reason to use a mechanical device, such as an actometer, is that

A)it permits the researcher to be free to measure other things in the study.
B)it is free from biases associated with human raters.
C)mechanical devices can assess a wide range of overt and covert behaviors.
D)it is easier to use with children than using questionnaires.

Question 35

Naturalistic observation occurs

A)only when a person does not know that he or she is being observed.
B)when we observe people in the normal course of their daily lives.
C)when we observe people in a natural setting like a forest, beach, or desert.
D)only when humans, not machines, provide the personality ratings.

Question 36

Megargee found that dominant women tend to _____ leadership roles when placed in mixed gender dyads with _____.

A)assume; submissive males
B)delegate; submissive males
C)assume; dominant males
D)delegate; submissive females

Question 37

A study discussed in the text showed that activity level measured by a mechanical device at age 3 correlated with all of the following EXCEPT

A)activity level measured by the same device at age 4.
B)activity level in adulthood.
C)teacher's ratings of activity level.
D)teacher's ratings of traits other than activity level.

Question 38

When most people (but not psychopaths) look at fear-inducing photographs,

A)their startle response is no different than usual.
B)their startle response is faster than usual.
C)their startle response is slower than usual.
D)they cannot be startled.

Question 39

The best way to measure the speed at which people process information would be to use

A)physiological data.
B)projective tests.
C)an actometer.
D)fMRI.

Question 40

The Megargee study of sex roles and dominance found that

A)there are no significant differences in dominance between men and women.
B)women did not want to be followers as they generally lacked mechanical ability.
C)dominant women behave differently then equally dominant men.
D)dominant men became submissive under certain experimental conditions.

Question 41

I develop a Bleemness scale.It consists of one item, "How Bleem are you?" The most likely form of validity represented by this scale is

A)criterion.
B)face.
C)construct.
D)internal.

Question 42

I measure dominance in male business executives in a variety of ways.The executives complete a dominance questionnaire and their employees complete observer reports of their boss' dominance.I examine the executives' employment histories and measure their serum testosterone.Collecting all this data about one specific personality characteristic is called

A)cross-fertilization.
B)triangulation.
C)cross-validation.
D)data manipulation.

Question 43

Jared is trying to buy a new car.He finds that he can only get a loan at a very unfavorable interest rate due to the financial trouble he created for himself with a credit card he got while a college student.Jared's poor credit rating is an example of _____ at work.

A)life-report data
B)observer-report data
C)commercial-report data
D)investment-report data

Question 44

I conduct a study of drivers convicted of speeding for a major insurance company and collect a sample of data from 500 drivers and examine their driving records over a 10-year period.This study is using

A)life-report data.
B)observer-report data.
C)test-report data.
D)self-report data.

Question 45

"Triangulation" refers to

A)assessing personality traits in geometric space.
B)a statistical technique that compares three traits.
C)assessing personality with various types of data.
D)a method for plotting personality profiles.

Question 46

"Validity" refers to the ability

A)of the personality test to produce the same test score for an individual at other testings.
B)to assign a personality test score to a person.
C)of a personality test to measure other personality traits.
D)to measure what the personality test purports to measure.

Question 47

If a person receives similar scores when taking a personality test many times, that test has high

A)alternative-form reliability.
B)generalization.
C)internal consistency.
D)test-retest reliability.

Question 48

If a personality measure is given to a person four times, and each time the person receives the same score, we know the measure is

A)reliable.
B)valid.
C)statistically significant.
D)repetitive.

Question 49

S-data will agree more with O-data when

A)T-data is not available.
B)the trait being assessed is unconscious.
C)the trait being assessed requires few inferences.
D)the trait being assessed is not easily observable.

Question 50

When scoring an inkblot test, a psychologist considers all of these EXCEPT

A)what the person saw in the inkblots.
B)where the person saw things in the inkblots.
C)how the person acted while taking the inkblot test.
D)the length of time the taken by the person.

Question 51

"Reliability" refers to the ability

A)to assign a personality test score to a person.
B)to measure what the personality test purports to measure.
C)of the personality test to produce the same test score for an individual at other testings.
D)of a personality test to measure other personality traits.

Question 52

_____ is NOT a form of reliability.

A)Spilt-half reliability
B)Inter-rater reliability
C)Construct reliability
D)Test-retest reliability

Question 53

A study discussed in the text showed that children who had more temper tantrums also had

A)more negative life outcomes.
B)more positive life outcomes.
C)life outcomes similar to children with fewer temper tantrums.
D)more temper tantrums as adults.

Question 54

Projective techniques are unlike other types of T-data because

A)everyone receives the same instructions.
B)they reveal responses that indicate personality.
C)they use a standard testing situation.
D)responses are usually interpreted.

Question 55

L-data are any data that are concerned with

A)lies an individual tells.
B)the life of a person.
C)the lability of the nervous system.
D)the likeability of an individual.

Question 56

Which of the following terms describes the extent to which a test actually measures what it claims to measure?

A)Reliability
B)Validity
C)Correlation coefficient
D)Internal consistency

Question 57

A study discussed in the text showed that childhood temper tantrums predicted divorce.This is an example of _____ predicting _____.

A)T-data; S-data
B)O-data; L-data
C)L-data; T-data
D)S-data; T-data

Question 58

Proponents of projective tests argue that they are the best measure of

A)subjective experience.
B)physiology.
C)unconscious material.
D)social expectations.

Question 59

Proponents of projective tests believe that these tests

A)are useful for assessing wishes, desires, fantasies, etc.a person may not be aware of and cannot disclose in other ways.
B)are useful for determining the reactions individuals have when they are placed in ambiguous situations.
C)are useful in eliciting unconscious anger and inciting arguments in married couples during laboratory sessions.
D)are best used in areas of personality psychology that relate to psychopathology and mental illness.

Question 60

The best reason to use multiple sources of data in personality research is to

A)establish cross-data source consistency across all of the sources of data.
B)increase the validity of each of the data sources under investigation.
C)average out any idiosyncrasies of any particular single source of data.
D)increase the resultant split half reliability coefficients.

Question 61

A measure of extraversion that has construct validity in samples in the United States also has construct validity with samples of participants assessed for extraversion in Japan.This demonstrates

A)convergent validity.
B)generalizability.
C)test-retest reliability.
D)cross-cultural validity.

Question 62

If a questionnaire test of sociability correlates with the number of conversations people have, the sociability test has high

A)discriminant validity.
B)face validity.
C)generalizability.
D)predictive validity.

Question 63

The process of random assignment helps to ensure

A)statistical significance.
B)good counter balancing.
C)equivalence.
D)fairness.

Question 64

If a test of suggestibility measures suggestibility the test has

A)face validity.
B)test validity.
C)predictive validity.
D)construct validity.

Question 65

In an experimental design, the manipulated variable is called the _____ variable.

A)dependent
B)controlled
C)independent
D)causal

Question 66

The type of validity that subsumes all other types of validity is

A)predictive validity.
B)construct validity.
C)face validity.
D)discriminant validity.

Question 67

Which of the following is NOT important in evaluating a personality measure?

A)Manipulation
B)Generalizability
C)Validity
D)Reliability

Question 68

When three measures of extraversion correlate highly with each other they can be described as having

A)discriminant validity.
B)triangulated validity.
C)convergent validity.
D)inter-test validity.

Question 69

If a measure predicts behaviors in many contexts, it has high

A)discriminant validity.
B)reliability.
C)generalizability.
D)coherence.

Question 70

Shoe size is positively correlated with height and hand size, but not correlated with intelligence.Shoe size has _____ validity with height and hand size and _____ validity with intelligence.

A)convergent; discriminant
B)discriminant; convergent
C)predictive; face
D)face; predictive

Question 71

In order to show that variable A causes variable B, you need to _____ variable A.

A)manipulate
B)counter balance
C)randomly assign
D)control

Question 72

When alternative measures of the same construct correlate highly with a test, the test can be described as having high

A)convergent validity.
B)discriminant validity.
C)face validity.
D)predictive validity.

Question 73

In order to establish causality, participants in all conditions should be

A)manipulated.
B)equivalent.
C)undergraduate students.
D)counter balanced.

Question 74

If a measure is equally valid in persons of different ages, genders and cultures, it can be described as having high

A)face validity.
B)construct validity.
C)statistical significance.
D)generalizability.

Question 75

Which of the following research methods is best suited to establishing causality?

A)Correlational
B)Experimental
C)Case study
D)Historical

Question 76

Establishing that a test does not correlate with measures of unrelated constructs indicates high

A)convergent validity.
B)discriminant validity.
C)face validity.
D)dysfunctional validity.

Question 77

A test needs to be _____ to be a _____ test, but every _____ test is NOT NECESSARILY a _______ test.

A)reliable; valid; reliable; valid
B)valid; reliable; valid; reliable
C)easy; good; easy; good
D)good; easy; good; easy

Question 78

Which of the following is NOT one of the major types of research design?

A)Correlational
B)Physiological
C)Experimental
D)Case study

Question 79

Observer ratings of narcissism correlate with the number of times individuals refer to themselves during subsequent interviews.This relationship demonstrates

A)predictive validity.
B)inter-rater reliability.
C)discriminant validity.
D)split-half reliability.

Question 80

All personality variables are

A)highly heritable.
B)unconscious.
C)theoretical constructs.
D)easily assessed with questionnaires.