Deck 4: Personality Traits, Situations, and Behavior

Question 1

The situationist argument holds that ________.

A) a thorough review of the literature reveals that there is a limit to how well one can predict behavior from personality
B) situations are more important than personality traits for determining behavior
C) our everyday intuitions about people are fundamentally flawed
D) all of the above

Answer 1

D

Question 2

According to situationists, the upper limit of personality coefficients is estimated as ________.

A) .10 to .20
B) .30 to .40
C) .50 to .60
D) .70 to .80

Answer 2

B

Question 3

The ultimate criterion for judging a measure of personality is whether it ________.

A) is reliable
B) is internally consistent
C) predicts behavior
D) has content validity

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which of the following is NOT part of the situationist argument?

A) Personality trait measures do not predict behavior very well.
B) Situations are more important than traits for determining behavior.
C) Everyday intuitions that people have about personality are wrong.
D) Persons and situations interact to predict behavior.

Question 5

The trait approach is based on empirical research ________.

A) that is mostly correlational in nature
B) that is mostly experimental in nature
C) from case studies
D) from archival studies

Question 6

Which of the following psychologists is often credited with starting the person-situation debate?

A) Gordon Allport
B) Sigmund Freud
C) Walter Mischel
D) Henry Murray

Question 7

In order to improve personality research, researchers can ________.

A) check for factors that predict consistency
B) predict behavioral trends rather than single acts
C) measure behavior in real life
D) all of the above

Question 8

According to Kluckhohn and Murray, "Every man is in certain respects (a) like all other men, (b) like some other men, (c) like no other man." Which section of this quote most closely reflects what trait psychologists study?

A) "like all other men"
B) "like some other men"
C) "like no other man"
D) all of the above

Question 9

The trait approach focuses exclusively on ________.

A) the measurement of absolute levels of traits
B) aspects of personality that are the same in all people
C) physical dimensions
D) individual differences

Question 10

According to the text, which of the following characteristics is positively associated with personality consistency?

A) openness to experience
B) neuroticism
C) general mental health
D) need for cognition

Question 11

Walter Mischel and his 1968 book Personality and Assessment are noteworthy because this work ________.

A) provides the most cogent argument for why trait theory and psychodynamic theory should be integrated
B) is credited with starting the person-situation debate by claiming that traits are not as important as situational factors in behavioral prediction
C) provides the first published defense of trait theory against the situationist critique
D) is the first modern research to begin to scientifically validate some of Freud's claims about the unconscious

Question 12

Individuals in which age group are likely to have the greatest amount of stability in their personality traits?

A) school-age children
B) adolescents
C) young adults between the ages of 20 and 30
D) adults between the ages of 50 and 70

Question 13

A correlation coefficient is a(n) ________ and mathematically ranges between ________.

A) effect size; .30 and .40
B) probability; 1 and 100
C) effect size; -1 and +1
D) significance test; zero and infinity

Question 14

Situationism is the position that ________.

A) situations do not influence behavior
B) situations are more important than personality traits in determining behavior
C) the ability of personality traits to predict behavior is severely limited
D) both b and c

Question 15

If there is a positive correlation between extraversion and risk taking, then the________.

A) researcher can be certain that extraversion causes risk taking
B) higher a person's extraversion score, the more risks he or she is likely to take
C) lower a person's extraversion score, the more risks he or she is likely to take
D) researcher can be certain that extraversion does not cause risk taking

Question 16

In his book Personality and Assessment, Mischel argued that behavior can be most accurately predicted from ________.

A) situations
B) personality variables
C) motivations
D) goals

Question 17

Personality trait measurements are typically made on a(n) ________ scale.

A) nominal
B) ordinal
C) ratio
D) quasi-nominal

Question 18

A fundamental problem for the trait approach is that ________.

A) individual differences cannot be measured reliably
B) situations do not affect behavior
C) people are inconsistent
D) correlational methods do not clearly indicate effect size

Question 19

In his book Personality and Assessment, Mischel argues that ________.

A) traits are the only factors that influence human behavior
B) situations do not reliably predict consistent behavioral trends
C) behavior is too inconsistent to predict using broad personality traits
D) personality traits transcend the immediate situation and moment, and they provide the most consistent guide to a person's actions

Question 20

Measurements of weight are made on a(n) ________ scale.

A) nominal
B) ordinal
C) ratio
D) categorical

Question 21

Which of the following behaviors would be the easiest to predict accurately?

A) Mary will smile at 10:00 A.M. tomorrow.
B) At a party on Friday, Susan will talk to at least 10 people.
C) David will generally be on time for work most days next week.
D) None of the above; each of these behaviors would be equally easy to predict.

Question 22

The behavioral measurements used in the studies reviewed by Mischel were ________.

A) mostly taken from real-life settings
B) nearly all gathered in laboratory settings
C) garnered from clinicians' case studies
D) archival data

Question 23

The arguments in Mischel's Personality and Assessment concerning the ability of traits to predict behavior were based on ________.

A) a short and selective review of generally poorly conducted studies of older individuals
B) a detailed review of generally high-quality research
C) a body of research that actually showed support for both the trait perspective and the situationist perspective
D) meta-analysis of the existing literature

Question 24

According to the text, the purpose of personality traits is to predict ________.

A) specific behavioral manifestations
B) behavior in the long term
C) I data but not B data
D) S data but not I data

Question 25

Which of the following is NOT one of the responses to the situationist argument?

A) Personality researchers argued that Mischel's literature review was selective.
B) Personality researchers searched for certain kinds of people who were more consistent than others.
C) Personality researchers started to think more carefully about the importance of a correlation of .40.
D) Personality researchers worked harder to find single traits that could strongly predict single responses at a particular point in time.

Question 26

Funder and Ozer (1983) converted the results of three classic social psychological studies to effect sizes. After comparing those effect sizes with those typically obtained by personality psychologists, Funder and Ozer concluded that ________.

A) situational variables, like personality variables, cannot predict behavior
B) both situational and personality variables are important determinants of behavior
C) the upper limit for a situation coefficient is only .20
D) the three studies were so fundamentally flawed that they do not allow us to conclude anything about the predictability of behavior from situational variables

Question 27

One difficulty in searching for variables that might predict consistency is that ________.

A) it is hard to think of variables that would predict differences in consistency
B) such research is too time-consuming to conduct
C) only one variable seems to predict consistency
D) the effects of such variables are subtle and are sometimes difficult to detect

Question 28

A situationist would interpret a correlation of around .30 ________.

A) as an example of a very small effect size
B) as an example of a medium effect size
C) as an example of a large effect size
D) by using a Binomial Effect Size Display

Question 29

Which of the following characteristics seems to predict increased consistency?

A) sociability
B) neuroticism
C) preference for consistency
D) none of these attributes

Question 30

Mischel originally argued that personality coefficients seldom exceed ________, whereas subsequent situationists raised that estimate to ________.

A) .30; .40
B) .20; .50
C) .10; .30
D) .10; .40

Question 31

Historically, personality psychologists have concentrated on ________ to evaluate the effects of personality variables, whereas social psychologists have concentrated on ________ to evaluate the effects of situational variables.

A) variance; standard deviations
B) standard deviations; variance
C) effect size; statistical significance
D) statistical significance; effect size

Question 32

Someone who is ________ is likely to express his or her personality consistently from one situation to the next.

A) low in self-monitoring
B) high in self-monitoring
C) low in self-efficacy
D) high in self-efficacy

Question 33

When a researcher examines the association between behaviors at a party on Friday night and how many times someone volunteers to answer questions in class on Monday, she is looking at the association between ________ and ________.

A) I data; B data
B) S data; I data
C) B data; B data
D) B data; I data

Question 34

Funder and Ozer (1983) examined the results of three classic social psychological studies. They converted the results to effect sizes and found that the effects were equivalent to correlations in the range of ________ (in absolute value).

A) .10 to .20
B) .30 to .40
C) .61 to .75
D) .70 to .97

Question 35

One response to Mischel's critique asserts that a fair review of the research on the predictability of behavior from personality traits indicates that ________.

A) behavior can never be reliably predicted from personality variables
B) the predictability of behavior from personality traits is better than is sometimes acknowledged
C) the predictability of behavior from situations is worse than the predictability from personality
D) Mischel was right

Question 36

How long was Mischel's review of the personality literature in Personality and Assessment?

A) about half of the book
B) about three quarters of the book
C) about 16 pages
D) only about 2 pages

Question 37

According to recent research, individuals high in ________ might actually be more consistent.

A) self-control
B) consistency seeking
C) preference for consistency
D) extraversion

Question 38

Which of the following would be an example of trying to improve the predictability of behavior from personality traits by taking into account the possibility that some people are more consistent than others?

A) measuring how frequently you are late to work using a daily diary report of your everyday behavior
B) collecting information about your responses to stressful work situations
C) trying to predict how warm and friendly you will act when you meet your in-laws next Monday
D) determining if the behavior of high self-monitors is less predictable than that of low self-monitors

Question 39

The traditional practice in evaluating the degree to which behavior is affected by the situation has been to ________.

A) square the correlation coefficient for the relationship between behavior and some aspect of the situation
B) determine the percentage of variance accounted for by personality, subtract that from 100 percent, and then assign that value to the situation
C) multiply the variance in the behavioral measure by 2
D) add the variance in the behavioral measure to the variance for the situational variable

Question 40

According to the analogy drawn in the text between situational effects on behavior and Scud missiles, situations ________.

A) can overshadow individual differences in all cases
B) never seem to affect behavior
C) seem to have inconsistent effects
D) seem to bring out individual differences in all people

Question 41

Henry Murray wrote the book Personality and Assessment.

Question 42

Peer acceptance is associated with what trait?

A) openness to experience
B) self-monitoring
C) extraversion
D) conscientiousness

Question 43

Which of the following is NOT one of Funder's conclusions?

A) Most situational coefficients are actually between .30 and .40.
B) Situational coefficients are similar in size to personality coefficients.
C) Both situational variables and personality variables have an effect on behavior.
D) It is impossible to translate experimental results into effect sizes.

Question 44

Political liberalism is associated with what trait?

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

Question 45

The avoidance of drug abuse is associated with what trait?

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

Question 46

The consistency of individual differences typically increases with age.

Question 47

Which of the following was NOT a study that Funder and Ozer reviewed in their work calculating the size of the situation coefficient?

A) the forced compliance task that illustrated cognitive dissonance
B) the bystander intervention effect that illustrated situational factors on helping behavior
C) the reduction in intrinsic motivation that occurs when children are given rewards
D) the position of the learner in Milgram's experiments on obedience

Question 48

Substance use is positively associated with what trait?

A) openness to experience
B) conscientiousness
C) agreeableness
D) resilience

Question 49

Attractiveness is associated with what trait?

A) openness to experience
B) self-monitoring
C) extraversion
D) conscientiousness

Question 50

Citizenship behavior at work is predicted by which trait?

A) neuroticism
B) self-monitoring
C) extraversion
D) conscientiousness

Question 51

Longevity is associated with what trait?

A) openness to experience
B) self-monitoring
C) neuroticism
D) conscientiousness

Question 52

Based on recent research, what activity might signal a major concern when selecting a stockbroker?

A) evidence that the broker loses big money at poker games
B) few pictures of loved ones in the office
C) modest earnings during the recession
D) a messy and sloppy appearance

Question 53

The large number of trait terms in the English language indicates that ________.

A) we need an abundance of trait terms to distinguish between different types of people
B) personality traits are an important part of our culture
C) when it comes to personality, one size does not fit all
D) all of the above

Question 54

Sally found that neither caffeine nor extraversion individually predicted problem solving; however, she found that they both worked together to predict problem solving. This is an example of what kind of an effect?

A) a true interaction
B) a suppressor
C) an evocation
D) a true mediation

Question 55

Happiness is associated with what trait?

A) openness to experience
B) self-monitoring
C) extraversion
D) conscientiousness

Question 56

One result of the person-situation debate was that many social psychologists concluded that personality did not really exist.

Question 57

A social psychologist focused on statistical significance is concerned with ________, whereas a personality researcher focused on effect sizes is concerned with ________.

A) documenting the existence of an effect; quantifying the size of an effect
B) quantifying the size of an effect; documenting the existence of an effect
C) squaring correlations; Binomial Effect Size Displays
D) process; outcome

Question 58

Based on recent research, what is likely to happen when an aggressive person plays a competitive multiplayer video game?

A) The aggressive person will be less aggressive.
B) The aggressive person will evoke aggression from the other players.
C) The aggressive person will frequently win.
D) There is no ability to predict how the aggressive person will behave in this context.

Question 59

Research regarding the person-situation debate indicates that ________ are relevant to how people will act under specific circumstances and that ________ are better for describing how people act in general.

A) S data; I data
B) S data; B data
C) personality traits; situational variables
D) situational variables; personality traits

Question 60

A recent review of the entire literature on social psychology concluded that the situational effect was about ________.

A) .10
B) .20
C) .40
D) .50

Question 61

The person-situation debate reflects deep-seated views about human nature.

Question 62

According to the book Personality and Assessment, a correlation of .30 is impressive.

Question 63

People low in agreeableness tend to have greater risks to their cardiac health.

Question 64

Funder believes that it is easy to characterize findings from large literatures.

Question 65

Describe why the Funder and Ozer (1983) calculation of effect sizes from famous experiments in social psychology is important for undermining the situationist argument. How does Funder believe that these results should be interpreted?

Question 66

Describe the three major aspects of the situationist argument. Explain how trait psychologists responded to this argument.

Question 67

Explain the issues that are involved in judging the size of the correlation coefficient of .40.

Question 68

The personality coefficient is similar in size to the situation coefficient.

Question 69

It is possible to directly calculate effect sizes from experimental social psychology using correlational metrics.

Question 70

What is interactionism? Explain different ways that personality attributes and situations can work together. Illustrate your arguments using examples of the associations between personality and work outcomes.

Question 71

Situationists are often concerned with precisely calculating how much situations affect behavior.

Question 72

Individuals high in the trait of extraversion tend to die younger than individuals who are lower in extraversion.

Question 73

Funder strongly believes that Mischel conducted an unfair literature review in Personality and Assessment.

Question 74

Individuals low on hostility are less likely to evoke laboratory aggression in a competitive game than individuals high on hostility.

Question 75

In real life, personality traits and situational features are uncorrelated.

Question 76

If you use the Binomial Effect Size Display to evaluate a correlation of .40, you will find that personality traits have a 50 percent chance of accuracy.

Question 77

There is a tendency to equate a situationist perspective with a more optimistic view of the world.

Question 78

Interactionism is the view that traits and situations work with each other to produce behavior.

Question 79

Agreeableness is negatively associated with criminal behavior.

Question 80

The trait of neuroticism is associated with unhappiness.