Deck 4: Personality Assessment

Question 1

You are engaged in process of testing your scale's _______validity.

A) criterion
B) face
C) test-retest
D) construct

Answer 1

criterion

Question 2

In statistics ___________ is a measure of how consistent a test is over time, items, or raters.

A) validity
B) reliability
C) the mean error
D) variance

Answer 2

reliability

Question 3

According to standards established by professional organizations in psychology, the developers of new personality tests are required to do all of the following

A) provide theoretical background and research evidence confirming the test is related to certain outcomes.
B) demonstrate that the test is valid and reliable.
C) specify the applications to which the test will be put.
D) specify the populations and cultures to which the test is applicable.

Answer 3

specify the applications to which the test will be put.

Question 4

If a test does this successfully, it is said to have

A) theoretical reliability.
B) face validity.
C) construct validity.
D) a valid theory.

Question 5

These types are now called

A) scientific and psychodynamic.
B) statistically derived and theoretically derived.
C) scientific and pop.
D) self-report and performance based.

Question 6

________ is the extent to which a test measures what it is supposed to measure.

A) Reliability
B) Alpha
C) Validity
D) Coherence

Question 7

You are testing the test's ___________.

A) temporal consistency reliability
B) internal consistency reliability
C) temporal consistency validity
D) parallel consistency validity

Question 8

You will be

A) comparing test results over time.
B) comparing scores with other tests of related constructs.
C) looking closely at the link between the theory that informs the test and test items.
D) comparing test scores to external standard.

Question 9

All of the following are used in testing internal consistency reliability

A) test-retest.
B) parallel-forms.
C) split-half scores.
D) Cronbach's alpha.

Question 10

Which of the following is the most accurate statement?

A) Reliability and validity are linked mathematically; as one increases so does the other.
B) Reliability and validity are linked mathematically; as one increases the other decreases.
C) Reliability is a prerequisite for validity.
D) Validity is a prerequisite for reliability.

Question 11

The ______________ effect relies on the tendency of people to trust experts and to apply vague, general statements to themselves.

A) Meehl
B) Barnum
C) generalizability
D) sucker

Question 12

____________ establishes the boundaries or limitations of a test.

A) Reliability
B) Validity
C) The Barnum Effect
D) Generalizability

Question 13

Many self-report personality tests use __________-type scales which, for example, may ask you to rate from strongly disagree to strongly agree.

A) Cronbach
B) Likert
C) Eysenck
D) Butcher

Question 14

When we have a good personality test we know all of the following

A) We will be able to replicate a certain score upon retest.
B) By designing an experiment with this test, research will published in reputable journals.
C) The test will have a particular meaning that we can use in our research or practice.
D) We will be able to make theoretical inferences based on the test norms.

Question 15

Which of the following is NOT a way to investigate the question of validity for a personality test?

A) Check that the test is consistent over time.
B) See if the test correlates with other, similar tests.
C) Test to see if the test predicts behavior that would be consistent with the test goals.
D) Check it against some theoretical standard.

Question 16

A neuropsychological test that contained mostly items about interpersonal relations would appear to have

A) high face validity.
B) low face validity.
C) high criterion validity.
D) low criterion validity.

Question 17

You are in the process of testing the test's _____________.

A) mean error
B) variance
C) reliability
D) validity

Question 18

Which of the following parings is NOT correct?

A) Temporal consistency; Test-retest
B) External consistency; Cronbach's alpha
C) Internal consistency; Slit-half
D) Rater consistency

Question 19

Which of the following is NOT a type of validity discussed in the textbook?

A) Face
B) Construct
C) Theoretical
D) Criterion

Question 20

Because an unreliable measure makes it difficult to find a true effect, researchers generally will try to make sure that their measures have an alpha of not less than

A) .95
B) .90
C) .70
D) .65

Question 21

All of the following are advantages of self-report tests

A) Ease of administration.
B) They are good at eliciting response sets.
C) Ease of scoring.
D) They currently the only way to measure certain aspects of personality.

Question 22

Your subjects are placing cards with statements in a series of piles, but each pile is of a prescribed size. You are administering a ____________ test.

A) Q-sort
B) Pile
C) Projective
D) Frequency

Question 23

Engaging in nay-saying on a self-report test is termed_________ responding in the textbook.

A) reactant
B) negative
C) oppositional
D) reverse

Question 24

This type of responding is termed __________ responding.

A) numerical
B) formula
C) deceptive
D) patterned

Question 25

How do Q-sort tests help prevent extreme responding?

A) The limit the number of tines each response can be used.
B) They include several infrequency scales.
C) They force half of the responses to be high and half to be low.
D) Their responses are open ended and require the subject to think about their response.

Question 26

Psychologist call these responses set or ______________ responding.

A) set
B) unconscious
C) noncontent
D) incontinent

Question 27

All of the following are on the list

A) Deconstruction techniques.
B) Association techniques.
C) Arrangement or selection of stimuli.
D) Expression techniques.

Question 28

The performance-based test that uses ink blots to assess personality is the

A) Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory.
B) Projective Ink Blot.
C) Thematic Apperception.
D) Rorschach.

Question 29

When responding to self-report tests, some people portray themselves in an exaggeratedly positive manner or fail to admit to perfectly human activities such as gossiping. Psychologists label this type of response as ____________.

A) socially desirable
B) socially faking
C) defensive
D) lying

Question 30

Performance-based tests are most often used in

A) research.
B) clinical and forensic settings.
C) schools.
D) university settings.

Question 31

The feedback from your research committee is that

A) this is not such a good idea due to the weak validity of most projective techniques.
B) this is a good idea due to the strong validity of most projective techniques.
C) this is out of the question because all of the projective tests over 10 years old are out of print.
D) this is a good idea due to the frequency with which these techniques have been validated over the years.

Question 32

One study suggested that North American students showed more extreme responding compared to Japanese and Chinese students that correlated with higher ratings of _______________.

A) cooperation
B) Neuroticism
C) individualism
D) group deviance

Question 33

You are about to start a research project into the personality characteristics of a population of prisoners. Your subjects have all been arrested for fraud. What would the authors of the textbook advise you about the use of self-report tests in this research?

A) They would suggest that self-report tests are your best choice for this research.
B) They would recommend that you use several self-report tests so that you could triangulate on your variable.
C) They would likely recommend against them because you have a population of subjects who are very likely to fake their responses.
D) They would suggest that, while reliable, these tests are more expensive and complex to administer than others.

Question 34

The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) has been around since the 1930s and is designed to measure

A) Openness.
B) defense mechanisms.
C) anxiety.
D) motives.

Question 35

You are taking a test that seems to be getting at how easily you feel people can be manipulated. You are likely taking the

A) MMPI.
B) Machiavellianism Scale.
C) California Manipulate Test.
D) Likert Scale.

Question 36

Engaging in yea-saying on self-report test is termed ____________ responding.

A) socially desirable
B) moderate
C) acquiescent
D) self-serving

Question 37

Subjects respond to the TAT by

A) checking one of a series of boxes.
B) telling a story about a picture.
C) free associating to an ink blot.
D) choosing a story that best fits their current feelings.

Question 38

In the Goodenough-Harris Draw-A-Person (DAP) test, the figure that a subject draws is assumed to represent

A) one's attitudes towards other people.
B) one's closest relative.
C) one's self.
D) whatever the subject is told to draw.

Question 39

All of the following are techniques to minimize or catch the problem of response sets on self-report questionnaires

A) Some tests include a statement such as "the world is good place" and, later, its opposite, "the world is bad place."
B) A questionnaire can be constructed so that on one half of the questions a high rating indicates the presence of a trait while on the other half a low rating does.
C) A "lie" scale can be included that consists of very unlikely responses that almost no one would choose.
D) Some tests start with a statement that suggests that anything but honest responses will be detected.

Question 40

On personality tests, in order to identify pattern responding sometimes researchers include extremely rare and unlikely questions on a(n) ______________scale.

A) trap
B) infrequency
C) unlikely
D) extreme response

Question 41

If a test appears to measure the construct of interest it is said to have ________ validity.

Question 42

Psychologists generally divide personality tests into two kinds: self-report and ____________ based.

Question 43

Your research is using couples that have married after meeting through the services of eHarmony. You can reasonably expect that these couples will

A) score quite differently on tests of attitude because eHarmony pairs couples based on the principle that "opposites attract."
B) score quite similarly on tests of attitude because eHarmony pairs couples on the basis of similarity makes for a smooth relationship.
C) show no correlation on attitude scales because eHarmony matches are actually done at random with no statistical basis.
D) show low correlation on attitudes because research has shown that the scores produced by eHarmony questionnaires change rapidly after they have been taken.

Question 44

A subtle way of assessing integrity the use of ____________________ integrity tests in which the person being tested may not be aware of which factor is being assessed.

A) hidden intent
B) stealth
C) disguised purpose
D) distracting

Question 45

The Rorschach inkblot test and Thematic Apperception test are examples of ________-based tests.

Question 46

Does a test correlate with other, similar tests? Does a test predict some future outcome? Does a test predict a given behavior? All of these questions concern a test's _____________.

Question 47

If you are using two separate judges to rate a personality test and calculating the correlation between their ratings you are likely checking the test's _______________ reliability.

Question 48

Self-report personality measures often use a __________-type scale which might ask participants to rate their agreement over a range from strongly disagree to strongly agree.

Question 49

Outback Steakhouse is an example of a company that was able to _______________________ by using personality testing in its hiring program.

A) a high quality of food
B) maintain an industry high tip rate
C) keep employee theft at a low level
D) maintain a very low turnover rate

Question 50

In testing for reliability, most contemporary researchers rely on a statistic known as Cronbach's _________.

Question 51

Government has a set of uniform guidelines that prohibit discrimination on the basis of all of the following

A) religion.
B) sex.
C) scores on tests of mental health.
D) scores on tests of skills.

Question 52

Personality tests are used by many companies to predict accidents, absenteeism, turnover and a variety of other issues that the textbook calls ________________ work behaviors.

A) negative
B) neurotic
C) counterproductive
D) costly

Question 53

An estimate of how consistent a test is over time, items, or raters is known as test______________.

Question 54

__________ is defined as the extent to which a test measures what it is supposed to measure.

Question 55

Having respondents take a test a second time is a way of testing for __________ consistency reliability.

Question 56

Social desirability responding is hard for researchers to control. Sometimes a forced-choice format, where both statements make a person appear equally good, can make it easier for respondents to answer truthfully. One example of a test that uses this method is the ________________.

A) MMPI
B) Crowne-Marlow Social Desirability Scale
C) Cronbach Scale
D) Thematic Social Apperception Test

Question 57

Personality tests that aim to reduce employee theft are part of a process known as

A) morality screening.
B) "gotcha" testing.
C) honesty screening.
D) integrity testing.

Question 58

A test that is similar to other tests based on the same constructs is said to have convergent validity, while one that is different from tests that focus on unrelated constructs is said to have _________ validity.

Question 59

According to a 2001 survey, what percentage of employers use some form of psychological assessment as part of their hiring process?

A) 90
B) 75
C) 50
D) 30

Question 60

If it does, it is said to have _____________ validity.

Question 61

Briefly describe the pros and cons of self-report tests.

Question 62

Compare and contrast self-report and performance-based tests.

Question 63

Discuss the basic legal issue that makes it possible to use personality tests in some hiring practices, but excludes the use of such tests as the MMPI.

Question 64

Yea-saying on a personality test is termed ___________ responding

Question 65

Briefly describe the potential uses for personality tests in hiring.

Question 66

In responding to self-report items on a personality scale many people have a tendency to avoid ascribing embarrassing, but perfectly human tendencies in a process known as socially ______________ responding.

Question 67

use some form of _______ testing in an attempt to predict the likelihood that a prospective employee might steal.

Question 68

Compare and contrast the concepts of test reliability and test validity.

Question 69

Describe one example, mentioned in the textbook, of hiring practices improved by the use of personality tests.

Question 70

Briefly describe some methods that have been devised to reduce response sets in personality tests.

Question 71

What are the reasons given in the textbook for concluding that the NIO-PI-R is a "good" test?

Question 72

When people have a set way of responding to self-report questions, psychologists call these either response sets or _____________ responding.

Question 73

labor law the MMPI may not be used in hiring processes because it is designed to diagnose a __________________________.

Question 74

A ___-sort test forces respondents to limit the number of times each response can be used by having the respondent place card in piles of a set size.

Question 75

Given the success of eHarmony and Outback Steakhouse, what principles would you use to design a process for pairing police partners based on personality factors?