Deck 12: Extension A: Personality

Question 1

A stable, enduring quality that a person shows in most situations is

A)self-esteem.
B)a personality type.
C)a personality trait.
D)a somatotype.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The term character refers to

A)the hereditary aspects of one's emotional nature.
B)unique and enduring behavior patterns.
C)favorable and unfavorable personal characteristics.
D)one's temperament.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which of the following statements pertains to character (as opposed to personality or temperament)?

A)"Eddie is a good guy.He's honest and dependable."
B)"Judy tends to be withdrawn.She rarely enjoys being with others."
C)"Juanita loses her temper easily and cools off slowly."
D)"As a group, Americans are less restrained than the British."

Answer 3

A

Question 4

According to the text, _____ refers to the hereditary aspects of one's emotional nature: sensitivity, prevailing mood, and adaptability.

A)personality
B)temperament
C)character
D)self-concept

Question 5

A personality trait is

A)a style of personality defined by a group of related qualities.
B)a stable, enduring quality that a person shows in most situations.
C)the hereditary aspect of a person's personality.
D)the subjective evaluation of a character.

Question 6

When you describe your friend as being outgoing, funny, honest, dependable, and just an "all-around good guy," you are referring to attributes of

A)character.
B)temperament.
C)the superego.
D)the ideal self.

Question 7

The description of a person's character implies

A)the use of rating scales.
B)the use of multiple observers.
C)the use of situational testing.
D)judgment about the desirability of traits.

Question 8

When desirable or undesirable characteristics of personality are evaluated, we are assessing

A)temperament.
B)character.
C)personality types.
D)popular stereotypes.

Question 9

A research study is begun with infants in which the infants are initially rated on nine _____ traits, such as distractibility, mood, activity level, and intensity of reaction.

A)character
B)ego
C)somatotopic
D)temperament

Question 10

In psychology, the term personality implies that individual patterns of behavior are both stable and

A)universal.
B)desirable.
C)unique.
D)inherited.

Question 11

The term personality refers to

A)the hereditary aspects of one's emotional nature.
B)unique and enduring behavior patterns.
C)favorable and unfavorable personal characteristics.
D)charisma, character, or temperament.

Question 12

Psychologists regard personality as unique and

A)changing.
B)enduring.
C)rigid.
D)flexible.

Question 13

An infant's _____, such as sensitivity, irritability, and typical mood, has a large impact on how the infant interacts with his or her parents.

A)character
B)ego
C)somatotype
D)temperament

Question 14

Temperament refers to

A)charisma or character.
B)unique and enduring behavior patterns.
C)learned traits of emotional response.
D)hereditary emotional traits.

Question 15

Regarding temperament, which of the following statements is FALSE?

A)Newborn infants differ in temperament.
B)Temperament has a large impact on how infants interact with their parents.
C)Temperament refers to the hereditary aspects of one's personality.
D)Temperament implies that a person has been evaluated, not just described.

Question 16

_____ refers to the consistency in who you are, have been, and will become, as well as to the special blend of talents, values, hopes, loves, hates, and habits that makes you a unique person.

A)Personality
B)Character
C)Somatotype
D)Temperament

Question 17

____ is a subjective evaluation of a person.

A)Personality
B)Character
C)Temperament
D)A trait critique

Question 18

Newborn babies differ in _____, which implies that it is hereditary.

A)character
B)temperament
C)somatotype
D)ego ideal

Question 19

The hereditary aspects of a person's emotional nature define his or her

A)character.
B)personality.
C)cardinal traits.
D)temperament.

Question 20

In psychology, the term _____ is defined as an individual's unique and enduring patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving.

A)personality
B)character
C)somatotype
D)phenotype

Question 21

Informally, we tend to place people into categories, such as the "executive type," the "athletic type," and the "motherly type." If you tried to define these informal types, you would probably

A)evaluate them on their character.
B)use cardinal traits to describe them.
C)describe their temperaments.
D)list a different collection of traits for each category.

Question 22

Jung's concepts of introversion and extroversion represent

A)personality types.
B)somatotypic profiles.
C)character groupings.
D)situational determinants.

Question 23

Personality starts to stabilize around age _____ and continues to "harden" through age _____.

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

Question 24

If we describe Dan as being sociable, orderly, and intelligent, we are referring to his

A)personality traits.
B)personality type.
C)personality style.
D)temperamental character.

Question 25

A(n) _____ is a shy, reserved person whose attention is focused inward, while a(n) _____ is a bold, outgoing person whose attention is directed outward.

A)introvert; extrovert
B)Type A; Type B
C)feeling type; perceptive type
D)sensing type; intuitive type

Question 26

Personality traits are _____ from past behavior and allow us to _____ behavior in future situations.

A)learned; explain
B)predicted; learn
C)analyzed; change
D)inferred; predict

Question 27

Melissa tends to be outgoing, assertive, and very sociable.Carl Jung would have classified Melissa as

A)an introvert.
B)an extrovert.
C)self-actualized.
D)androgynous.

Question 28

A personality type is

A)a style of personality defined by a group of related qualities.
B)a stable, enduring quality that a person shows in most situations.
C)the hereditary aspect of a person's personality.
D)the subjective evaluation of a character.

Question 29

Regarding the stability of personality, which of the following statements is/are TRUE?

A)Women who appeared to be happy and had a genuine smile in their college yearbook photos were found to still be happy 30 years later.
B)After age 50, most older adults tend to become "grumpy old men" and "cranky old women."
C)During elementary school, personality slowly begins to harden; and by age 16, personality has usually stabilized.
D)All of these statements are true.

Question 30

Regarding the stability of personality, which of the following statements is FALSE?

A)In a study of women who appeared to be happy and had a genuine smile in their college yearbook photos were found to still be happy people 30 years later.
B)Most people continue to become more conscientious and agreeable as they mature.
C)The stereotypes of the "grumpy old man" and "cranky old woman" are largely unfounded (untrue).
D)During elementary school, personality slowly begins to harden; and by age 16, personality has usually stabilized.

Question 31

Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung proposed that people are either

A)Type A or Type B personalities.
B)ectomorphic, mesomorphic, or endomorphic.
C)introverts or extroverts.
D)congruent or incongruent.

Question 32

If you like studying where there is more socializing and a higher noise level, you are probably high in the trait of _____, while if you prefer studying in the quiet cubicles in the library, you are probably high in the trait of _____.

A)introversion; extroversion
B)extroversion; introversion
C)mania; depression
D)social tendency; antisocial tendency

Question 33

Regarding personality types, which of the following statements is FALSE?

A)Two categories or even several are often inadequate to fully capture differences in personality.
B)Rating people on a list of traits tends to be more informative than classifying people into two or three types.
C)Types tend to oversimplify people.
D)People are either introverted or extroverted with one type rarely, if ever, showing characteristics of the other type.

Question 34

_____ proposed that people are either introverts or extroverts.

A) Abraham Maslow
B) Carl Jung
C) Sigmund Freud
D) B. F. Skinner

Question 35

A style of personality defined by a group of related characteristics is called

A)character.
B)a temperamental quality.
C)a personality type.
D)a personality trait.

Question 36

Gregory tends to be shy and prefers to study alone in quiet corners of the library.Gregory would be classified as

A)neurotic.
B)an extrovert.
C)an introvert.
D)androgynous.

Question 37

Because two categories (or even several) are often inadequate to fully capture differences in personality, _____ tends to be more informative than classifying persons into two or three types.

A)rating people on a list of traits
B)determining their archetype
C)determining their actualization potential
D)using a factor analysis assessment

Question 38

One problem psychologists have with personality types is they

A)are hereditary constructs.
B)oversimplify personality.
C)describe character, not personality.
D)are not observable or measurable.

Question 39

_____ are a shorthand way of labeling people who have several key traits in common.

A)Archetypes
B)Actualization potential
C)Types
D)Character profiles

Question 40

Concerning pure extroversion and pure introversion, it is most accurate to say

A)a person is either one or the other.
B)extremely introverted persons can be assertive and sociable in certain situations.
C)each of these types is a specific collection of maladaptive traits.
D)classifying people into two or three types is more informative than rating people on a list of traits.

Question 41

If you were asked to describe the personality of your best friend; and you said that she was optimistic, reserved, and friendly, you would be using the _____ approach.

A)psychodynamic
B)analytical
C)humanistic
D)trait

Question 42

Heredity influences

A)one's body type.
B)one's intelligence.
C)one's behavioral tendencies.
D)all of these.

Question 43

An ideal situation for studying the role of genetics in behavior is

A)identical twins reared together.
B)identical twins reared apart.
C)fraternal twins reared together.
D)fraternal twins reared apart.

Question 44

Regarding introversion-extroversion, which of the following statements is/are TRUE?

A)Introversion and extroversion can be thought of as types and as traits.
B)Knowing how you rate on the dimension of introversion-extroversion allows us to predict how you will behave in a variety of settings.
C)Students high in the trait of introversion are more likely to prefer to meet and talk to people through the Internet than face-to-face.
D)All of these are true statements.

Question 45

The concept of traits is used for

A)biologically-determined characteristics.
B)stable qualities a person shows in most situations.
C)situation-specific behaviors.
D)characteristics that are shared by a group or culture.

Question 46

In studies at the University of Minnesota on twins reared apart, it was found that identical twins were similar in

A)their athletic or artistic talents.
B)facial and hand gestures.
C)nervous tics, such as nail biting.
D)all of these.

Question 47

The study of inherited behavioral traits and tendencies is known as

A)analytical genetics.
B)behavioral genetics.
C)inferential statistics.
D)heritable determinants.

Question 48

The paranoid personality, the dependent personality, and the antisocial personality are examples of _____ personality types.

A)introverted
B)extroverted
C)unhealthy
D)Type A

Question 49

Studies have shown which of the following to be influenced by heredity?

A)some mental disorders
B)facial features and body type
C)temperament
D)all of these

Question 50

Connie and Sue are identical twins reared apart and recently reunited.Carl and Fred are unrelated students at a major university.Which of the following statements is TRUE of these pairings?

A)Connie and Sue will probably show a long list of amazing similarities, while Carl and Fred will only share a couple of similarities.
B)Connie and Sue will probably share many similarities; Carl and Fred may share many similarities but are probably not motivated enough to discover them.
C)Connie and Sue will not share as many similarities as will Carl and Fred.
D)Connie and Sue will have more differences than will Carl and Fred.

Question 51

According to your textbooks, the psychologists at the University of Minnesota for the last two decades have been studying

A)the differences in fraternal and identical twins in relation to the five-factor model of personality.
B)how adoption affects the development of traits in males and females.
C)identical twins who grew up in different homes.
D)the interaction of the mother's and father's personality traits in their child's personality.

Question 52

In a study that compared twins to unrelated pairs of students, who were the same age and sex, the unrelated pairs of students were

A)almost as alike as the twins.
B)much less alike than the twins.
C)more alike than the twins.
D)more motivated to find similarities than the twins were.

Question 53

Concerning the Minnesota reunited twin studies, which of the following aspects of their lives would be more likely to be due to genetic similarities than to living in the same historical time period?

A)both twins liking banana splits and cheeseburgers
B)both twins being Democrats
C)both twins having a nervous tic, like nail biting
D)both twins having joined the National Guard

Question 54

_____ people have personality traits that increase their chance of suffering a heart attack, while _____ people take a more laid-back approach to life.

A)Extroverted; introverted
B)Introverted; extroverted
C)Type A; Type B
D)Type B; Type A

Question 55

If you know the personality of an identical twin, you can expect the personality of the other twin to be

A)unrelated.
B)similar.
C)identical.
D)conflicting.

Question 56

In comparison of identical twins reared together and identical twins reared apart, it was found that

A)those reared together always have more similar personality traits than those reared apart.
B)those reared apart tend to be completely different from each other in personality traits because they experienced different environments.
C)if one identical twin had a mental illness, the other twin would have the same mental illness, whether reared together or apart.
D)some twins reared apart appeared very similar, while some reared together appeared rather different.

Question 57

Gina and Tina are identical twins who were separated at birth and grew up in different families.Which of the following aspects of their lives is more likely to be due to genetic similarities?

A)Both sing alto and are accomplished musicians.
B)Both married men who were named Tim.
C)Both drive red Mustang convertibles.
D)Both use the same shampoo and toothpaste.

Question 58

Classifying people as having either a Type A or Type B personality has been used to predict

A)competency as a parent.
B)chances of suffering a heart attack.
C)success in education.
D)chances of developing a serious mental illness.

Question 59

Researchers have found that students high in the trait of _____ are more likely to prefer to meet and talk to people through the Internet than face-to-face.

A)introversion
B)extroversion
C)melancholia
D)intellectual curiosity

Question 60

Some breeds of dogs have reputations for being friendly, aggressive, intelligent, calm, or emotional.These differences in inherited behavioral traits would fall in the realm of

A)analytical genetics.
B)behavioral genetics.
C)inferential statistics.
D)heritable determinants.

Question 61

Based on the research to date, most psychologists would argue that personality is

A)determined by hereditary factors.
B)a result of personal experiences.
C)approximately 90% genetic and 10% environment.
D)a combination of genetics and environment.

Question 62

_____ is the "mental picture" you have of your own personality that is creatively built out of our daily experiences.

A)Ideal self
B)Ego ideal
C)Self-concept
D)Self-esteem

Question 63

When you tell a prospective employer that you are a high-achiever, gregarious, and occasionally brilliant, you are describing your

A)self-concept.
B)temperament.
C)personality type.
D)ordinal position.

Question 64

All your ideas, perceptions, and feelings about who you are make up your

A)ideal self.
B)ego ideal.
C)possible selves.
D)self-concept.

Question 65

What one becomes and where one goes in life is the result of

A)genetic programming.
B)the behavior and personality traits that are "wired in" for life.
C)the environment.
D)the choices one makes, which are influenced by inherited tendencies.

Question 66

The "amazing similarities" of identical twins may be a result of

A)the fallacy of positive instances.
B)deliberate deceit by the twins.
C)deliberate deceit by the researchers.
D)the Barnum effect.

Question 67

Janet is a college student and thinks that she is stupid, worthless, and a failure, despite getting good grades and being an excellent part-time employee.Janet

A)has an inaccurate self-concept and will most likely experience depression.
B)is an introverted person who is soliciting sympathy from others.
C)will experience neurotic anxiety due to a failure to resolve the Electra complex.
D)is exhibiting organismic valuing due to unresolved conditions of worth.

Question 68

All told, it seems reasonable to conclude from twin studies that the role of heredity in determining personality is

A)sizable but with personality being shaped as much or more by the environment.
B)the single most powerful factor.
C)impossible to detect.
D)the basis for most personal preferences and interests.

Question 69

Evaluating your worth as a person creates either a high or low

A)ideal self.
B)temperament.
C)character.
D)self-esteem.

Question 70

A person who is competent and effective and who is loved and admired will have

A)low self-efficacy.
B)high self-awareness.
C)high self-esteem.
D)high self-effectiveness.

Question 71

We each have a perception of our own personality traits.This perception strongly influences our behavior.Psychologists call this perception our

A)self-evaluation.
B)inner concept.
C)self-concept.
D)self-esteem.

Question 72

According to studies of the influence of heredity and environment on personality traits, heredity appears to be responsible for _____ of the variation in many personality traits.

A)less than 10 percent
B)about 25 to 50 percent
C)about 75 percent
D)at least 90 percent

Question 73

Often when twins who were separated at birth are reunited, they tend to focus on all of their similarities, while ignoring their differences.This is known as

A)the fallacy of positive instances.
B)the Barnum effect.
C)uncritical acceptance.
D)functional fixedness.

Question 74

Virginia is insecure, anxious, lacking in confidence, and overly self-critical.Virginia is experiencing

A)low self-esteem.
B)organismic valuing.
C)a congruent self.
D)all of these.

Question 75

One's _____ tends to rise when we experience success or praise.

A)ideal self
B)conditions of worth
C)character
D)self-esteem

Question 76

According to twin studies, the role of environment in shaping personality is

A)small but detectable.
B)as much or more important than heredity.
C)overestimated.
D)negligible.

Question 77

In a study that compared twins to unrelated pairs of students, who were the same age and sex, the unrelated pairs of students were almost as alike as the twins.These unrelated pairs had similar political beliefs, musical interests, religious preferences, job histories, hobbies, and favorite foods.These unrelated students were so similar because

A)the students in the study actually were similar in their genetic make-up.
B)they were selected through procedures that were biased in favor of the middle class.
C)people of the same age and sex live in the same historical times and select from similar societal options.
D)the pairs of twins were so dissimilar that the unrelated pairs of students appeared very similar to each other in comparison.

Question 78

Regarding self-concept, which of the following statements is/are TRUE?

A)We creatively build our self-concepts out of daily experiences and revise them as we have new experiences.
B)Our self-concept guides what we pay attention to, remember, and think about.
C)Self-concepts can greatly affect our behavior and personal adjustment, especially when they are inaccurate.
D)All of these statements are true.

Question 79

Because people of the same age and sex live in the same historical times and select from similar societal options,

A)unrelated pairs of students of the same age and sex will appear very dissimilar on most traits.
B)you will find several children with the same first name in nearly every elementary classroom.
C)children in today's elementary classrooms are significantly more diverse than the children in the elementary schools of 50 years ago.
D)twins reared apart will always be significantly more similar than unrelated pairs of students.

Question 80

A person's perception of his or her own personality is the core of

A)temperament.
B)source traits.
C)self-concept.
D)trait-situation interactions.