Deck 5: Five Basic Traits in the Brain and in Behavior

Question 1

High levels of extraversion have been associated with

A) Greater levels of positive affect
B) Lower levels of negative affect
C) Both a and b
D) Neither a nor b

Answer 1

Greater levels of positive affect

Question 2

Which of the following is not one of the Big Five traits?

A) Extraversion
B) Agreeableness
C) Conscientiousness
D) Authoritarianism

Answer 2

Authoritarianism

Question 3

Individuals scoring high on the sensation seeking trait tend to show all of the following except

A) Interest in adventure and risk-taking
B) Experimentation and variety in sex
C) Preference for complex as opposed to simple art forms
D) More liberal political views

Answer 3

More liberal political views

Question 4

Empirical research suggests that extraversion is positively associated with which of the following strategies for coping with stress?

A) Escapist fantasy
B) Positive thinking
C) Religious faith
D) Humor

Question 5

Recent cognitive research on introversion and extraversion suggests that

A) Introverts focus on accuracy over speed, while extraverts focus on speed over accuracy
B) Introverts perform better than extraverts on tasks requiring higher-order reasoning
C) Extraverts have better long-term memory for words
D) Extraverts process information at a more shallow level than do introverts

Question 6

Empirical research suggests that openness to experience is positively associated with which of the following strategies for coping with stress?

A) Escapist fantasy
B) Positive thinking
C) Religious faith
D) Humor

Question 7

Recent research has shown that individuals high in extraversion expect to experience more positive emotion in which of the following situations?

A) Pleasant social situations, such as talking with friends
B) Pleasant nonsocial situations, such as enjoying music alone
C) Both a and b
D) Neither a nor b

Question 8

Which of the following Big Five traits captures best the idea of social dominance?

A) Agreeableness
B) Openness to Experience
C) Conscientiousness
D) Extraversion

Question 9

Eysenck links individual differences in extraversion/introversion to the functioning of the

A) Limbic system
B) Reticular activating system
C) Thalamus
D) Cerebral cortex

Question 10

According to recent views, extraversion can be described as a tendency to

A) Experience positive affect
B) Have impulse control
C) Exert power over other people
D) Show warmth and altruistic response to people in distress

Question 11

The enzyme monoamine oxidase MAO) underlies individual differences in sensation seeking because MAO

A) Inhibits neurotransmission
B) Increases cortical arousal
C) Activates the amygdala
D) Enhances the pleasure centers in the brain

Question 12

Recent revisions of Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory link the experience of intense fear to which of the following systems?

A) Behavioral Activation System
B) Behavioral Inhibition System
C) Fight-Flight-Freeze System
D) Affect Modulation System

Question 13

When confronted with emotionally complex and intense situations, extraverts tend to

A) Feel intense positive and intense negative emotions at the same time
B) Tamp down their emotional expectations in order to protect themselves against fear and sadness
C) Deny that they feel any negative emotions
D) Savor the positive feelings so that they will outweigh the negative

Question 14

Which of the following statements best characterizes the empirical relation between intelligence and openness to experience?

A) Strong positive correlation
B) Modest positive correlation
C) No correlation
D) Modest negative correlation

Question 15

Which of the following characteristics is not associated with the Big Five trait of conscientiousness C)?

A) Responsibility
B) Achievement orientation
C) Empathy
D) Persistence

Question 16

Which of the following personal tendencies is not associated with openness to experience?

A) Imaginativeness
B) Political liberalism
C) Sense of responsibility
D) Broad interests

Question 17

Which of the following types of person is most likely to be least responsive to punishment?

A) Extraverts
B) Introverts
C) Ambiverts
D) Neurotics

Question 18

Which of the following types of person is most likely to show high levels of arousal in response to increasing levels of stimulation?

A) Extraverts
B) Introverts
C) Ambiverts
D) Neurotics

Question 19

In interpersonal relationships, neuroticism is associated with which of the following tendencies?

A) Inability to adjust intimacy to appropriate level in a given situation
B) Overly dependent style of relating to others
C) Inappropriate expressions of both positive and negative emotions
D) Failure to behave with others in an appropriately assertive manner

Question 20

High neuroticism has been associated with

A) Lower levels of positive affect
B) Higher levels of negative affect
C) Both a and b
D) Neither a nor b

Question 21

In Gray's two-factor theory of traits, impulsivity is regulated by the

A) Behavioral approach system
B) Behavioral inhibition system
C) Reticular activating system
D) All of the above

Question 22

Research related to stress and neuroticism indicates that

A) Stress tends to predispose a person to neuroticism
B) Neuroticism tends to predispose a person to stress
C) The relation between stress and neuroticism is inconclusive
D) As a person's neuroticism increases, his or her stress level remains the same

Question 23

Which of the following stress areas has been shown to be most strongly associated with high neuroticism?

A) Work overload
B) Time urgency
C) Arguments
D) Failures in competition

Question 24

The Behavioral Inhibition System BIS. involves

A) Motivation toward goals and incentives involving positive emotional reward
B) Motivation to escape immediate threats
C) Motivation to scan the situation for potential threats
D) Motivation to inflict negative outcomes on others who threaten the self

Question 25

Which of the following reflects Eysenck's concept of stimulus arousal and withdrawal?

A) Extraverts require greater stimulus levels to reach optimal arousal than introverts
B) Introverts require greater stimulus levels to reach optimal arousal than extraverts
C) There is no difference between introverts and extraverts in stimulus levels required to reach optimal arousal
D) Extraverts seek arousal in the morning whereas introverts seek arousal in the evening

Question 26

Which of the following behaviors has not been positively associated with extraversion in research?

A) Higher levels of sexual activity
B) Interest in sales, marketing, and other people-oriented professions
C) Talking more and talking sooner in conversations
D) Higher levels of helping behaviors and providing assistance to others

Question 27

Which of the following statements reflects a true research finding about the psychobiological underpinnings of the trait of neuroticism N)?

A) The amygdala mediates fear conditioning, which may be associated with N
B) EEG activity in the left anterior cortex is associated with anxiety responses, which may link to N
C) Individual differences in arousal level, mediated by the reticular activating system, may produce individual differences in N
D) The activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine mediates stress reactions, which may be implicated in N

Question 28

Between the 1950s and the 1990s in the United States, scores on measures of anxiety and neuroticism tended to

A) Decrease steadily
B) Increase steadily
C) Remain relatively stable
D) Increase during Democratic administrations and decrease during Republican administrations

Question 29

Which of the following experiences is not part of what people high in neuroticism often experience as the "neurotic cascade"?

A) The spread of negative emotion from one domain to another
B) High sensitivity to signals of punishment and negative emotion
C) Active search to find new problems that will result in negative emotion
D) Inability to cope well with old problems when they re-appear

Question 30

Which of the following is true about the relationship between 0 and authoritarianism?

A) Persons scoring high on 0 tend to have authoritarian personalities
B) The authoritarian personality represents a combination of high 0 and high N
C) A person low on 0 prefers abstract, complex, and different interpretations of events
D) Low levels of 0 and a combination of other Big Five trait clusters may combine to represent authoritarianism

Question 31

In Terman's longitudinal study of intellectually gifted children, which of the following statements best reflects the research results concerning traits and longevity?

A) Highly agreeable children tended to live longer as adults than did less agreeable children
B) Agreeableness was positively associated with longevity, but only among women
C) Highly conscientious children tended to live longer as adults than did less conscientious children
D) Conscientiousness was positively associated with longevity, but only among women

Question 32

Which of the following statements about openness to experience is not supported by research findings?

A) Leaders high in 0 inspire more allegiance among their followers
B) Students high in 0 produce more creative self-expressions
C) 0 is positively associated with mild forms of magical and bizarre thinking
D) 0 is positively associated with education level and social class

Question 33

Dopamine is strongly associated with which of the following?

A) Feeling positive rewards
B) Wanting to feel positive rewards
C) Feeling frustrated when positive rewards are not experienced
D) All of the above

Question 34

Authoritarianism is not associated with

A) Low intelligence
B) Low socioeconomic status
C) Higher levels of criminal behavior
D) Rigidity in thinking

Question 35

Which of the following is not characteristic of the authoritarian personality?

A) Aggression
B) Submission
C) Cynicism
D) Liberal political views

Question 36

Studies of traits and the parenting styles of mothers with small children suggest that high levels of which of the following traits are associated with positive moods in mothers and positive engagement in parenting?

A) Extraversion
B) Openness to experience
C) Agreeableness
D) Absorption

Question 37

Pioneers in the arts and sciences tend to score especially high on which of the following traits

A) Authoritarianism
B) Neuroticism
C) Extraversion
D) Openness to experience

Question 38

Which of the following statements about neuroticism is true?

A) High-N subjects experience a greater number of daily stressors
B) High-N subjects react more strongly to the daily stressors they do experience
C) High-N subjects appear unhappy even in the absence of stressors
D) All of the above are true

Question 39

A dominant and readily activated BIS is theoretically associated with

A) Low neuroticism
B) Low extraversion
C) High neuroticism
D) High extraversion

Question 40

Which of the following statements does not reflect an empirical finding concerning the trait of neuroticism N)?

A) N is a negative indicator for recovery from depression
B) N is positively associated with guilt and anxiety about sexual relations
C) N is positively associated with emotion-focused coping strategies
D) N is negatively associated with performance on achievement tasks