Deck 12: Objective Personality Tests

Question 1

Objective personality tests utilize the _____ item format to enable objective scoring.

A) free-response
B) objective-response
C) short-answer
D) selected-response

Answer 1

D

Question 2

One of the common characteristics of objective personality tests is ___.

A) short administration time
B) simple item stems
C) extensive interpretive reports
D) long, detailed items

Answer 2

B

Question 3

When we refer to objective personality tests, the word "objective" refers mainly to how the tests are ____.

A) developed
B) interpreted
C) validated
D) scored

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Objective personality tests are contrasted with ________ personality tests.

A) subjective
B) projective
C) machine-scored
D) performance

Question 5

All of the following are primary uses of objective personality tests discussed by the textbook EXCEPT ___.

A) standardized assessment of personality traits by clinical psychologists
B) screening applicants for admission into graduate programs
C) obtaining personality profiles for counseling purposes
D) gathering information for research about the human personality

Question 6

According to the two-dimensional classification system of objective personality tests, tests are grouped according to their ___.

A) scope of coverage and orientation
B) scope of coverage and mode of administration
C) orientation and mode of administration
D) orientation and theoretical basis

Question 7

Objective personality tests providing very broad coverage are called _____ tests, while those with a narrow focus are called _____ tests.

A) wide range…specific domain
B) extensive domain…specific domain
C) comprehensive…multi-score
D) comprehensive…specific domain

Question 8

An example of a comprehensive objective personality test for use with abnormal populations is the ___.

A) Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire
B) Beck Depression Inventory
C) MMPI-2
D) NEO Personality Inventory

Question 9

An example of a comprehensive objective personality test for use with normal populations is the ___.

A) Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale
B) Sixteen Personality Factor Inventory
C) State-Trait Anxiety Inventory
D) Rotter Locus of Control Scale

Question 10

Two common characteristics of comprehensive personality inventories are a _____ number of items and _____ time limit.

A) large…no
B) large…one hour
C) small…no
D) small…one hour

Question 11

All of the following are characteristics of comprehensive personality inventories EXCEPT ___.

A) Tests in this category yield many scores.
B) These tests tend to have a large number of items.
C) Typical completion times fall in the range of 30-60 minutes.
D) These tests use dictated administration

Question 12

The widely used comprehensive personality inventories increasingly, in recent years, feature ___.

A) standard scores
B) percentiles
C) content validity
D) interpretive reports

Question 13

Which would be a typical number of items for a comprehensive personality inventory?

A) 10
B) 50
C) 200
D) 1000

Question 14

Which would be a typical number of items for a specific domain personality test?

A) 10
B) 50
C) 200
D) 1000

Question 15

All of the following are characteristics of specific domain tests EXCEPT ___.

A) They have relatively few items.
B) They yield few scores.
C) They have extensive norm groups.
D) They can be completed quickly, often in less than 15 minutes.

Question 16

Unlike comprehensive personality inventories, specific domain tests ___.

A) have a large number of items
B) have very targeted audiences and uses
C) yield many scores
D) possess complex narrative reports for interpretation

Question 17

A person's tendency, either conscious or unconscious, to respond to items in a certain way, independent of the person's true feelings about the item is called a ___.

A) response set
B) stimulus bias
C) socially desirable response
D) test bias

Question 18

_____ refers to when a person tries to create a certain image by the responses that he or she gives.

A) response format
B) image analysis
C) constructed response
D) impression management

Question 19

The tendency for a person's true feelings to be distorted in some way by a response set is called ___.

A) socially desirable responding
B) motivated responding
C) response distortion
D) unconscious motivation

Question 20

Faking bad, or _____, refers to faking responses in order to create an unfavorable impression.

A) lying
B) malingering
C) distorting
D) misconstruing

Question 21

All of the following are strategies for dealing with response sets and faking on objective personality inventories EXCEPT ___.

A) using free-response items
B) checking responses to items with extreme empirical frequencies
C) checking for consistency on same or similar items
D) balancing directionality of items

Question 22

When checking responses to items with extreme empirical frequencies, one is actually looking for examinee responses that ___.

A) are most congruent with the theoretical construct being measured
B) agree with typical responses for particular items
C) are most incongruent with the theoretical construct being measured
D) differ from typical responses for particular items

Question 23

When controlling for a yea-saying tendency on a measure of friendliness, balancing the directionality of items means writing items such that ___.

A) they recur periodically throughout the test
B) there are items measuring friendliness and another trait
C) a response of "true" can indicate either friendliness or unfriendliness
D) a response of "false" always indicates unfriendliness

Question 24

Among the main uses for a score indicating a response tendency or faking is ___.

A) the adjustment of scores for the personality traits of interest
B) the invalidation of the other scores on the test
C) both a and b
D) neither a nor b

Question 25

Which of the following is NOT a major approach to developing objective personality tests?

A) criterion-keying
B) multitrait-multimethod approach
C) factor analysis
D) theory

Question 26

The content method for developing objective personality tests develops items based on ___.

A) straightforward understanding of the construct to be measured
B) empirical verification of the validity of potential items
C) their ability to discriminate between two well-defined groups of examinees
D) their identification of dimensions underlying numerous observations

Question 27

In constructing the Woodworth Personal Data Sheet, Woodworth put in written form the questions a clinician might ask in a personal interview. Which approach to personality test development was he using?

A) content
B) criterion-keying
C) factor analysis
D) theory-driven

Question 28

The major drawback of the content method for developing objective personality tests is that ___.

A) final results depend critically on content of initial pool of items
B) it is applicable only when there is a well-defined criterion group
C) its extreme atheoretical orientation limits generalizing of score interpretation
D) responses are easily subject to distortion through response styles and faking

Question 29

In the _____ approach, items are selected for a personality scale in terms of their ability to discriminate between well-defined groups of examinees.

A) factor analytic
B) content
C) criterion-keying
D) theoretical

Question 30

One example of an objective personality test developed with the criterion-keying approach is the ___.

A) Beck Depression Inventory
B) MMPI
C) Piers-Harris
D) NEO PI

Question 31

The empirical method for identifying the dimensions underlying a large number of observations is called ___.

A) partial correlation
B) multiple regression
C) criterion-keying
D) factor analysis

Question 32

Which of the approaches to the development of personality tests is most likely to guarantee good face validity?

A) content
B) criterion-keying
C) factor analysis
D) theory-driven

Question 33

Our sole purpose in developing the Scranton XLR scale is to differentiate depressed from non-depressed individuals. This purpose suggests that we should use the _______ approach to personality test development.

A) content
B) criterion-keying
C) factor analysis
D) theory-driven

Question 34

At least in the early stages of development, from a practical perspective all of the approaches to personality test development depend on the ______ approach.

A) content
B) criterion-keying
C) factor analysis
D) theory-driven

Question 35

The approach to the development of personality tests that builds test items to reflect a pre-determined concept of human personality is called the _____ approach.

A) content
B) criterion-keyed
C) factor analytic
D) theory-driven

Question 36

The principal advantage of the theory-driven approach to personality test development is that ___.

A) it provides an operational definition of the theory
B) it brings order to an undifferentiated mass of items and responses
C) it focuses one's attention on a test's exact purpose
D) it offers a useful antidote to fanciful theorizing

Question 37

The Edwards Personal Preference Schedule was introduced as an example of what method of developing personality tests

A) Criterion-keying
B) Content
C) Factor analysis
D) Theory-based

Question 38

What does the text suggest about the frequency with which the "theory-based" method of constructing personality tests is encountered? It is used with ________.

A) Nearly all tests
B) With about half of all tests
C) With very few tests

Question 39

The Edwards Personal Preference Schedule was designed to be a measure of

A) Murray's theory of needs
B) Freud's theory of the unconscious
C) Skinner's theory of reinforcement
D) Edwards' theory of attitudes

Question 40

What is a commonly used acronym for titles of scales in the NEO PI? The EPPS attempts to deal with the problem of social desirability by _____.

A) OCEAN
B) NEOXX
C) ABCDE
D) IPIP5

Question 41

The NEO PI has about how many items?.

A) 15
B) 50
C) 250
D) 800

Question 42

The NEO PI purports to measure what have been called the _____ personality dimensions.

A) Big Ten
B) Three Factor
C) Four Factor
D) Big Five

Question 43

What was the primary approach to development of personality tests employed for the NEO PI?

A) content
B) criterion-keying
C) factor analysis
D) theory-driven

Question 44

Which is NOT one of the domain scores for the NEO PI?

A) neuroticism
B) conscientiousness
C) psychopathology
D) openness

Question 45

Raw scores for the domain and facet scores of the NEO PI convert to ___.

A) T-scores
B) z-scores
C) NCEs
D) stanines

Question 46

Which of these objective personality tests is NOT an example of a specific domain test?

A) Beck Depression Inventory
B) Eating Disorder Inventory
C) Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory
D) Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale

Question 47

Yea-saying and nay-saying tendencies on the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale are identified by the _____ Index.

A) Inconsistency
B) Response Bias
C) both a and b
D) neither a nor b

Question 48

According to the Piers-Harris 2 structure, self-concept should be conceived of as having ___.

A) just one total score with no subscores
B) just several separate scores with no total scores
C) several separate scores and a total score

Question 49

Items such as "Mark the face that shows how you usually feel" intend to measure what construct?

A) anxiety
B) self-insight
C) personal autonomy
D) subjective well-being

Question 50

What does the text suggest about the structure of the construct we call "subjective well-being"? The structure ___.

A) is like the hierarchical structure of cognitive ability
B) consists of 2-3 independent factors
C) consists of over 20 independent factors
D) is so complicated that researchers have not been able to describe it

Question 51

What is the popular name for a freely available pool of personality items oriented toward the Big Five personality dimensions?

A) FivePool
B) OCEAN
C) NetPool
D) IPIP

Question 52

According to the text, the IPIP pool of personality items has become widely used in _____.

A) research but not clinical practice
B) clinical practice but not research
C) both research and clinical practice

Question 53

The NEO PI-3 offers a set of style graphs, which show _____.

A) the relationships between T-scores and percentiles
B) plots of scores on each major dimension against each other major dimension
C) normed scores plotted against raw scores for both dimensions and facets
D) the list of facets within the five major domains