Deck 4: Theoretical and Measurement Issues in Trait Psychology

Question 1

The idea that traits are less important than immediate circumstances in determining behavior is known as

A)aggregation.
B)situationism.
C)acquiescence.
D)social desirability.

Answer 1

situationism.

Question 2

A study by Hartshorne and May (1928) found that children who cheated in games were

A)much more likely to cheat on written exams.
B)not much more likely to cheat on written exams.
C)more likely to help strangers.
D)more likely to be aggressive.

Answer 2

not much more likely to cheat on written exams.

Question 3

According to the person-situation interaction point of view, behavior

A)= f(P).
B)= f(S).
C)= f(P x S).
D)= f(P + S).

Answer 3

= f(P x S).

Question 4

Vicki has been your friend for several years.Generally she is a very friendly, outgoing, and sociable person.Based on what you know about Vicki's personality you predict that she

A)will have greater amounts of these traits in the future.
B)was probably a unfriendly, nonsocial, and withdrawn child.
C)will be as friendly, outgoing, and sociable as she is now in the future.
D)will have far lower amounts of these traits in the future.

Question 5

_____ challenged the idea that traits are consistent across situations.

A)Cattell
B)Eysenck
C)Mischel
D)Larson

Question 6

Because trait psychology focuses on the amounts of various traits, it tends to focus on

A)psychopathology.
B)measurement.
C)situational selection.
D)integrity testing.

Question 7

Traits are

A)assumed to be consistent over time.
B)expected to vary over time.
C)expected to be consistent only if they have a biological basis.
D)expected to be consistently meaningful over time

Question 8

At 20 years of age, Joe is the life of the of the party, hanging off of the chandelier and leading everyone at the party in a rousing chorus of the latest hit song.Later in life, he most likely will be the senior citizen

A)who encourages everyone in the senior citizen home to have a shuffleboard tournament.
B)most likely to sneak out to the local college bar to have a drink with students.
C)who will stubbornly refuse to be admitted to a retirement community.
D)most likely to be the loneliest member of his peer group.

Question 9

Trait psychologists are most interested in

A)how people are different from each other.
B)how human nature works.
C)understanding the uniqueness of each individual.
D)general laws of human behavior.

Question 10

The text compares the complexities and richness of human personality to the way a color wheel, consisting of a mere three colors, can create the entire spectrum of colors visible to the human eye.This analogy illustrates how

A)the color spectrum varies with different human emotions.
B)individuals are as unique and diverse as the range of color spectrum.
C)a few basic and primary traits could be responsible for the idiosyncrasies of every personality.
D)the use of color therapy over an extended period of time may change the amount of a trait in an individual.

Question 11

One result of Mischel's critique of trait approaches has been

A)an increased interest in person-situation interactions.
B)a decreased interest in person-situation interactions.
C)a decrease in the practice of aggregation.
D)that personality traits are no longer studied.

Question 12

Mischel thought that _____ were most important in determining behavior.

A)situations
B)attitudes
C)traits
D)intellectual abilities

Question 13

Compared to other approaches to personality, the trait approach is more concerned with

A)measurement.
B)the unconscious.
C)the theory of evolution.
D)disorders of personality.

Question 14

The concept of rank order consistency suggests that

A)traits are not consistent over time within an individual.
B)trait levels in an individual may decrease with age when compared to the general population.
C)a person with more of a trait at one time will have a different trait score at another time.
D)trait levels are unaffected by the chronological age of an individual.

Question 15

Mischel has pointed out that personality psychologists are NOT very good at predicting

A)the effects of important situations on most individuals.
B)how a particular individual will behave in a specific situation.
C)how personality traits direct individuals to specific situations.
D)the effects of personality test scores on an individual.

Question 16

Most personality and social psychologists agree that actual behavior is based on

A)constant interaction between the individual's personality and the situation.
B)the consistent behavior across a multitude of situations.
C)extremely strong situations that constantly change behavior.
D)the need to disagree.

Question 17

Vince is watching his school's team play in the championship basketball game.He is wildly cheering his team on to victory, talking to everyone around him, even though they are strangers, and shouting at the referees for making bad calls on his team.From psychologist Walter Mischel's perspective, Vince is primarily behaving due to

A)his extremely strong competitiveness and extraversion.
B)the extremely strong effects of the six tacos he ate for lunch.
C)his extremely strong long-term commitment to the basketball team.
D)the extremely strong effects of the immediate situation.

Question 18

The equation B = f(P x S)

A)shows that the appearance of a trait is related to an interaction between the phenotype and stereotype.
B)is a way to determine heritability estimates for behavior of personalities in situations.
C)specifies that behavior is the result of an interaction between the person and the situation.
D)indicates that behavior is primarily the result of personality and secondarily the situation.

Question 19

If a trait changes over time, test-retest correlations

A)will always be low.
B)will always be high.
C)are high if rank order remains the same.
D)are low if rank order remains the same.

Question 20

Trait psychology is sometimes also called _____ psychology.

A)social
B)differential
C)cognitive
D)developmental

Question 21

The idea that personality traits influence which situations people put themselves in is known as

A)situational selection.
B)evocation.
C)manipulation.
D)aggregation.

Question 22

A person who intentionally charms others to get what he or she wants demonstrates the concept of

A)situational selection.
B)evocation.
C)manipulation.
D)aggregation.

Question 23

Single measures of behavior

A)predict behavior well in other situations.
B)predict behavior well over time.
C)are poor measures of anything.
D)are typically face valid.

Question 24

_____ refers to adding up or averaging several single observations of behavior to assess personality.

A)Situational selection
B)Evocation
C)Manipulation
D)Aggregation

Question 25

The concept of aggregation suggests that traits are

A)internal causes.
B)mere descriptions.
C)average tendencies.
D)blended concepts.

Question 26

Whenever Ling walks into a room everyone always smiles and seeks him out for conversation.He does not understand why people react to him that that way.Most likely Ling is demonstrating the idea of

A)evocation.
B)equivocation.
C)elocution.
D)elation.

Question 27

You call your parents and tell them about a terrific opportunity you have been given by your university to go to an important conference.You tell your parents about all of the opportunities for career development and networking that the conference will offer.Then, you tell your parents that you need only $500 from them to make the trip.You are demonstrating the concept of

A)situational selection.
B)evocation.
C)manipulation.
D)guilt initiation.

Question 28

Andrea likes to draw pictures, enjoys solving complex mathematical problems, and enjoys building things.Her decision to major in architecture would best demonstrates

A)situational selection.
B)evocation.
C)manipulation.
D)equivocation.

Question 29

A person who acts aggressively and often finds himself in uncomfortable conflicts demonstrates the concept of

A)situational selection.
B)evocation.
C)manipulation.
D)aggregation.

Question 30

After spending time in this class you notice the wide range of personalities in your family while attending a family gathering.During the gathering at Aunt Millie's home she insists on everyone singing traditional holiday songs together.The neurotic, the extraverted, the shy, the anxious, the open, and all of the other personality types in your family join in song at Aunt Millie's request.Her success at getting all of these personalities to join in song is due to the

A)common family environment.
B)social influence effect.
C)strong situation.
D)shared family environment.

Question 31

Which of the following might NOT explain why a person often acts in a friendly manner?

A)The person has the trait of friendliness.
B)The person is often in social situations.
C)The person chooses to go to many parties and social events.
D)The person thinks of himself or herself as being friendly.

Question 32

The correlation between _____ and ____ would likely be the highest.

A)shyness averaged over a month; shyness on a given day
B)shyness averaged over a month; shyness averaged over a week
C)shyness averaged over a month; shyness averaged over a different month
D)shyness on a given day; shyness on another day

Question 33

_____ is the concept that refers to the idea that a person may act in a certain way only in particular circumstances.

A)Faking response
B)Situational specificity
C)Extreme responding
D)Aggregation

Question 34

The main difference between evocation and manipulation is that

A)evocation is the result of personality but manipulation is not.
B)manipulation is the result of personality by evocation is not.
C)evocation is not intentional, but manipulation is.
D)manipulation is not intentional but evocation is.

Question 35

You are in a traffic jam and are not able to discern the cause of the delay.While waiting you observe the behavior of the individuals in the cars around you.The angry woman is honking her horn.The narcissistic man is carefully combing his hair.A patient girl is sitting back calmly listening to music.And you're thinking your analytic skills are going to make you a great psychologist! The variety of behaviors being exhibited by the drivers in this situation are most likely due to the

A)ambiguity of the situation.
B)different cars the drivers own.
C)your misinterpretation of the situation.
D)differences of driver's personalities.

Question 36

Aggregation usually results in a

A)more reliable measure than single behaviors.
B)less reliable measure than single behaviors.
C)measure that does a good job of predicting individual behaviors.
D)measure that predicts group behaviors

Question 37

Peter is a very brave man, but otherwise a laid-back guy.One day he hears tires squealing and metal crashing.He turns to the street, and upon seeing an accident, rescues a young child from one of the cars involved in the accident.The combination of Peter's trait of bravery and the dangerous situation illustrate the idea of situational

A)specificity.
B)generalization.
C)reactivity.
D)synergism.

Question 38

Personality is likely to have the least effect on behavior

A)in ambiguous situations.
B)when people are older.
C)in strong situations.
D)when behaviors are aggregated.

Question 39

A study by Diener et al.discussed in the text did NOT find that

A)people who scored high on the need for achievement spent more time working.
B)extraverts spent more time engaging in social forms of recreation.
C)individuals' personalities were related to the situations they were in.
D)people selected different situations when wearing pagers then they usually selected.

Question 40

Which of the following assessments would you expect to be the best predictor of behavior?

A)A single observation of behavior
B)A short questionnaire
C)A long questionnaire
D)A single experiment

Question 41

Your grade point average best indicates your average performance in your college classes over time.This illustrates the concept of

A)amalgamation.
B)aggregation.
C)amelioration.
D)aggrandizement.

Question 42

Polygraph machines measure

A)distortions in honesty.
B)the truth.
C)physiological arousal.
D)self deceptive enhancement.

Question 43

The term _____ refers to making the mistake of thinking that a person was answering a questionnaire truthfully when that person was actually faking.

A)false positive
B)false negative
C)extreme responding
D)restriction of range

Question 44

Josh has been required to complete an anger management course as part of his sentencing for his conviction in a road rage incident.He completes a personality test and answers the questions in a way that he believes will reduce the amount time he will spend in the course.In terms of psychological measurement issues Josh is

A)faking good.
B)faking bad.
C)false negative.
D)false positive.

Question 45

If a psychologist thinks a truthful person is "faking good," the psychologists has

A)demonstrated a false positive.
B)demonstrated a false negative.
C)created a response set.
D)created a criterion problem.

Question 46

The key issue in measuring traits is determining

A)what causes traits.
B)how much of a trait a person has.
C)how many traits exist.
D)how traits change over time.

Question 47

The item "Whenever I walk up stairs, I always do so on my hands" on a questionnaire assesses

A)carelessness.
B)faking.
C)extraversion.
D)seriousness.

Question 48

In order to select personnel for a job, a psychologist would NOT

A)determine the special challenges of the job.
B)develop hypotheses about the kinds of personality traits best suited to the job.
C)measure the traits of job applicants.
D)use a series of Barnum statements to assess personality.

Question 49

Today, polygraph tests are most often used

A)by fast food restaurants.
B)by government agencies.
C)in courtrooms.
D)to select graduate students.

Question 50

Some individuals have raised concerns about the use of personality tests in hiring decisions.All of these are legitimate concerns EXCEPT that they feel the

A)tests' questions are unrelated to job requirements.
B)tests are evaluated poorly.
C)tests do not accurately predict job performance.
D)tests lack statistical reliability.

Question 51

The history of integrity testing has included all of the following EXCEPT

A)questionnaires.
B)interrogation.
C)polygraphs.
D)rice powder.

Question 52

Which of the following traits is NOT associated with successful police performance?

A)Need for adventure
B)Need to influence others
C)Self-confidence
D)Sociability

Question 53

Federal guidelines require that personality tests used in selecting employees

A)will be lower then the correlation using the full range of scores.
B)must predict job performance.
C)must not measure psychiatric symptoms.
D)must be free from Barnum effects.

Question 54

We might include the same questions in a questionnaire multiple times to assess

A)carelessness.
B)faking.
C)social desirability.
D)response sets

Question 55

Which of the following would an employer most want to have if taken to court for using personality tests to select employees?

A)The expert opinion of a psychologist.
B)Data showing that the tests predict job performance.
C)Written consent of applicants.
D)Data showing that the test predicts psychopathology.

Question 56

_____ refers to the process of determining the special requirements of a particular job.

A)Job analysis
B)Integrity testing
C)Aggregation
D)Situationism

Question 57

Federal regulations prohibit many uses of polygraph tests in the private sector because

A)integrity tests are an invasion of privacy.
B)polygraph tests cannot be faked.
C)polygraph tests often lead to employment discrimination.
D)polygraph tests may unfairly affect federally protected groups.

Question 58

A baseball player's statistical batting average is an example of

A)aggregation.
B)reliability.
C)validity.
D)variance.

Question 59

The concept of aggregation

A)does not predict performance on a specific occasion.
B)predicts performance on specific occasions.
C)predicts behavior based of traumatic events.
D)predicts behavior from single measures.

Question 60

_____ is most likely to be a measurement issue when important decisions will be based on the outcome of the measure.

A)Acquiescence
B)Faking
C)Carelessness
D)Restriction of range