Exam 1: Basic Concepts in Psychological Measurement

In comparison with self- of trait levels possess? 1)Don't require understanding of specific trait terms 2)More efficient measurement (i.e. ,require fewer items) 3)Are valid even if persons are unwilling to respond accurately

Suppose that scores on an Anxiety scale are normally distributed and are calculated as standard scores (i.e. ,with a mean of zero and a standard deviation of one).In a typical group of 100 people,about how many would you expect to have standard scores between -1 and +1?

If we wanted to make a scale that had high internal-consistency reliability but still had good content validity,which of the following would we need to have? 1)Items that are substantially correlated with each other 2)Items that together cover all aspects of the intended characteristic 3)Items that are all virtually uncorrelated with each other 4)Items that all focus on the same specific aspect of the intended characteristic.

Suppose that you want to evaluate the discriminant validity of a self-report Laziness scale.Which of the following results for this scale would be evidence that it has good discriminant validity?

Why is test-retest reliability usually measured over a short period of time (such as a few weeks)rather than over a long period of time (such as several years)?

Which of the following can be considered a major difficulty in the measurement of personality through direct observations of behavior (whether in natural or in artificial settings)?

Which of the following tests should have the highest internal-consistency reliability?

Suppose that,on average,persons who are 1 standard deviation above the mean on job satisfaction are 0.36 standard deviations above the mean on job performance.Which of the following would equal the correlation between job satisfaction and job performance? (Assume that the relation between job satisfaction and job performance is linear. )

Suppose that a self-report scale measuring Anxiety correlates -.60 with observer reports of Calmness.Which of the following statements best describes this scale?

According to simulations by Schönbrodt and Perugini (2013),what is the approximate minimum sample size at which the correlation obtained in a random sample will likely be fairly close to the population correlation?

In questionnaires assessing people's interests,the respondent is asked to indicate how much he or she would enjoy various activities.Listed below are sets of three activities that might be included in a test of artistic interests.Which one of the following sets of three activities would have the best content validity for measuring artistic interests?

Suppose that self-reports of "mathematics anxiety" correlate -.25 with performance on a mathematics test.What is the expected average score on the mathematics test for persons who are 2 standard deviations above the mean on mathematics anxiety?

The use of self-report methods of personality assessment depends on which of the following assumptions? 1)People understand the psychological causes of their typical behaviors,thoughts,and feelings 2)People are able to describe their typical behaviors,thoughts,and feelings rather accurately 3)People are willing to describe their typical behaviors,thoughts,and feelings rather accurately.

Which of the following ways of modifying a test would be most likely to decrease its internal-consistency reliability?

What is the best reason to expect that observer reports of personality could in some cases be more valid than self-reports would be?

Suppose that you wanted to obtain ratings of many persons' levels of a personality trait by having one or more raters observe an interview with each person.To get a high level of inter-rater (inter-observer)reliability,which of the following would be the best strategy?

Which of the following could be considered as an advantage of the idiographic approach to studying personality? 1)It allows efficient study of many personality characteristics in many people 2)It provides a direct way to find and demonstrate general laws about personality 3)It provides a way to generate new ideas about personality.

Which of the following correlations between two variables would tell you that those variables are essentially unrelated to each other?

Which of the following techniques would be included as part of the nomothetic approach to studying personality?

When researchers measure people's psychological characteristics,which of the following do they generally assume to be true?