Deck 2: Personality Traits and the Inventories That Measure Them

Question 1

Recall that Mischel and Peake (1982)studied the trait of conscientiousness in university students by measuring such variables as assignment punctuality,note thoroughness,desk neatness,appointment attendance,and others.Jackson and Paunonen (1985)then re-analyzed those results.Which of the following statements is consistent with Jackson and Paunonen's findings?

A)The re-analysis was inconclusive due to problems with data coding.
B)You can't get an accurate idea of a person's conscientiousness no matter how many situations you observe his or her behavior in,because this trait doesn't really exist.
C)You can get an accurate idea of a person's conscientiousness by observing his or her behavior in any one relevant situation.
D)To get an accurate idea of a person's conscientiousness,you need to observe his or her behavior in any two relevant situations.
E)To get an accurate idea of a person's conscientiousness,you need to observe his or her behavior in many relevant situations.

Answer 1

E

Question 2

Which of the following statements about social desirability scales is accurate?
A)1 and 2 only
B)1 and 3 only
C)2 and 3 only
D)1,2,and 3
E)2 only
1)These scales consist of items that describe a wide variety of socially desirable (or undesirable)tendencies
2)These scales can accurately identify which persons are "faking" their responses on personality self-report items to appear more virtuous than they really are
3)These scales can help in the development of personality trait scales that are not too heavily contaminated by socially desirable (or undesirable)responding.

A)1 and 2 only
B)1 and 3 only
C)2 and 3 only
D)1,2,and 3
E)2 only

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Recall that Funder,Kolar,and Blackman (1995)studied self- and observer reports of personality in students who had moved away from their home towns to attend college.Which of the following best summarizes the results of that study?

A)College students' self-reports were almost perfectly correlated with observer reports from their hometown friends.
B)College students' self-reports were almost perfectly correlated with observer reports from their college friends.
C)Observer reports of college students by their hometown friends were uncorrelated with observer reports of the same college students by their college friends.
D)Reports from the two kinds of observers were correlated,but the correlation was small enough to be attributed to the fact that both kinds of observer reports were correlated with self-reports.
E)Reports from the two kinds of observers were correlated,and this correlation was too large to be attributed to the fact that both kinds of observer reports were correlated with self-reports.

Answer 3

E

Question 4

If a personality inventory scale contained no "reverse-coded" or "negatively-keyed" items at all,what problem might that scale have?

A)Scores on the scale would partly reflect a tendency to agree with statements in general.
B)Scores on the scale would only be useful for measuring people with high levels of the trait.
C)Scores on the scale would have poor discriminant validity,because the items wouldn't measure anything that was unrelated to the trait.
D)Scores on the scale would be invalid,because people would be able to "fake" without getting caught.
E)None of the above;there would be no problem with such a scale.

Question 5

Which of the following statements is most nearly the same as saying that Zachary has a high level of the personality trait of fearfulness?

A)Like virtually everyone else,Zachary becomes afraid in situations of extreme danger.
B)At any given time,Zachary feels afraid of something.
C)In many situations,Zachary tends to become afraid more easily than others do.
D)Zachary has an unusually strong fear of spiders.
E)None of the above.

Question 6

Suppose that a researcher used an empirical test construction strategy to develop a scale measuring the trait of Nonconformity.The researcher had administered some personality inventory items to a small group of homeowners in a city,and then chose the items that were most strongly related to ratings (made by her assistants)of how unusual or unconventional was the appearance of each homeowner's house and yard.Which of the following might be a problem associated with the use of this method of test construction as described above?

A)These items might not be related to this indicator of Nonconformity in another group of homeowners.
B)These items might not be related to other indicators of Nonconformity (e.g. ,unusual style of clothing)in this same group of homeowners.
D)Neither A nor B
E)It depends completely on the time of year in which the ratings are made.

Question 7

What can be correctly concluded from the trait-versus-situation debate?

A)Traits and situations are actually the same thing.
B)Traits,if they exist at all,are unimportant in predicting behavior.
C)Traits determine behavior almost perfectly,regardless of the situation.
D)Traits usually predict behavior better in particular situations than in aggregated situations.
E)Traits predict behavior well when many situations are considered together.

Question 8

For a well-constructed,full-length personality inventory scale,what is a typical convergent validity correlation between self-reports and observer reports,where each observer knows his or her "target" person very well?

A)About .05 or .15
B)About .20 or .30
C)About .50 or .60
D)About .75 or .85
E)Above .90

Question 9

In general,why do personality inventory scales typically each contain several different items?
1)To assess the various different aspects of the trait to be measured
2)To get a good measurement of what is common to the items (i.e. ,the trait to be assessed)
3)To catch people in an inconsistent pattern of responding
4)To distract respondents from the real purpose of the personality inventory.

A)1 and 2
B)1 and 3
C)2 and 3
D)2 and 4
E)3 and 4

Question 10

Recall that Vazire (2010)examined the relative validity of self- and observer reports of personality.Which of the following statements is consistent with the results of her study?

A)For each of the traits,self-reports and observer reports were about equally valid.
B)For traits of anxiety and self-esteem,observer reports from friends were more valid than self-reports were.
C)For traits of talkativeness and dominance,observer reports from friends were more valid than self-reports were.
D)For traits of intelligence and creativity,observer reports from friends were more valid than self-reports were.
E)B,C,and D

Question 11

Recall that Jackson (1975)examined the validity of self-report personality scales in predicting observer reports for the same traits,with the aim of comparing scales that were constructed according to different methods.Jackson found that scales constructed according to the ___________ method (even when constructed by students)were more valid than scales constructed according to the ___________ method (even when constructed by psychologists).

A)rational;empirical
B)factor-analytic;rational
C)empirical;rational
D)empirical;factor-analytic
E)rational;factor-analytic

Question 12

Recall that the question of whether or not traits exist can be considered in terms of "analysis of variance".In that context,which of the following statements is most accurate?

A)If traits exist,then there should be little or no variance due to situations.
B)If traits exist,then there should be little or no variance due to person-by-situation interactions.
C)If traits exist,then there should be little or no variance due to persons.
D)If traits exist,then there should be some considerable variance due to persons.

Question 13

How do projective tests differ from structured measures of personality?

A)Projective tests allow the respondent to respond in his or her own way to an ambiguous stimulus.
B)Projective tests require the respondent to choose one of a few possible responses to an ambiguous stimulus.
C)Projective tests allow the respondent to respond in his or her own way to a stimulus whose meaning is clearly defined.
D)Projective tests require the respondent to choose one of a few possible responses to a stimulus whose meaning is clearly defined.
E)Projective tests must use materials that are entirely nonverbal.

Question 14

According to the results of investigations such as that by Funder,Blackman,and Kolar (1995),which of the following best explains the existence of some agreement between self- and observer reports of a target person's personality,and between different observers' reports of that person's personality?

A)People generally discuss their own personalities with the people they know.
B)People generally discuss the personalities of other people they know.
C)People generally have similar impressions about a given person's personality.
D)Both A and B
E)All of the above

Question 15

Why do researchers generally use structured measures of personality rather than projective tests?

A)It is often difficult to achieve reliable scoring of projective tests.
B)It generally takes much more time to measure (and score)a wide array of traits when projective tests are used.
C)It is very easy for respondents to fake on projective tests.
D)A and B only
E)All of the above