Deck 7: The Trait Approach: Theory, Application, and Assessment

Question 1

According to Murray, we need to know all of the following pieces of information except one in order to predict a woman's achievement behavior. Which one?

A) The strength of her need for Achievement
B) Where her need for Achievement fits on her hierarchy of needs
C) The amount of external "press" she experiences
D) Her fear of failure

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which of the following assumptions underlies the trait approach to personality?

A) Each person belongs in one and only one personality category.
B) Personality characteristics can be represented along a continuum.
C) People in one personality category are distinctly different from people in other categories.
D) Personality can change as a function of the situation the person is in.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Sometimes a man with a high need for Affiliation will engage in social interactions, but sometimes he will not. According to Murray, what determines the man's affiliation behavior?

A) Whether or not he has recently spent time with people
B) The strength of his need for Affiliation relative to other needs
C) The need for Affiliation levels of other people
D) His need for Power

Answer 3

B

Question 4

A psychologist collects data from a large number of people. She places each person on a continuum ranging from high to low conscientiousness and makes predictions about how people in the high range will act compared to those in the low range. This psychologist is using the___________ approach to understand personality.

A) type
B) nomothetic
C) idiographic
D) common trait

Question 5

People with traits that dominate their personality can be described in terms of what Allport called a___________ trait.

A) cardinal
B) central
C) nomothetic
D) secondary

Question 6

The idiographic approach to personality has advantages. For example,

A) researchers can compare all people on measures of a certain trait.
B) it reveals common traits.
C) the person rather than the researcher determines what traits to examine.
D) it provides information about the relationship between traits and behavior.

Question 7

According to Allport, which of the following is true about central traits?

A) They are basically the same for all people.
B) They are useful when examining personality through the nomothetic approach.
C) They are useful when examining personality through the idiographic approach.
D) They comprise a number of secondary traits.

Question 8

A researcher compares the speeches of American presidents to determine the presidents' needs for Achievement. The researcher's research was influenced by which personality theorist's work?

A) Gordon Allport
B) Raymond Cattell
C) Carl Jung
D) Henry Murray

Question 9

If we say Ted is high on the personality trait of assertiveness, we would expect that he will act assertively

A) all of the time.
B) more often than someone low in assertiveness.
C) in some situations that call for assertiveness, but not in others.
D) because he puts himself in situations that call for assertion.

Question 10

The trait approach is built on the assumption that personality characteristics are relatively stable over time and that

A) personality characteristics are also relatively stable across different situations.
B) through trait descriptions, we can make comparisons across people.
C) the typical behavior of a person with one trait is different from that of another.
D) while explanation is not possible, trait researchers focus on describing personality.

Question 11

Allport called the 5-10 traits that best describe an individual's personality ___________traits.

A) central
B) common
C) cardinal
D) secondary

Question 12

One of Henry Murray's chief contributions to the field of personality psychology was the development of the ___________.

A) Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
B) Thematic Apperception Test
C) 16-PF (16 personality factors)
D) Rorschach Inkblot Test

Question 13

Which theorist identified psychogenic needs as the basic elements of personality?

A) Gordon Allport
B) Raymond Cattell
C) Carl Jung
D) Henry Murray

Question 14

Which of the following statements is true about the trait approach?

A) No major schools of psychotherapy have evolved from the trait approach.
B) The trait approach is the best approach for predicting change in personality.
C) Most trait researchers do not focus on predicting behavior.
D) Trait theorists place emphasis on identifying the mechanisms that determine behavior.

Question 15

Which theorist had a strong influence on Henry Murray's theorizing about personality?

A) Gordon Allport
B) Alfred Adler
C) Sigmund Freud
D) Carl Jung

Question 16

Which of the following is not a psychogenic need that exists as one of the basic elements of personality?

A) Dominance
B) Affiliation
C) Autonomy
D) Nutrition

Question 17

Which of the following is true about the trait approach to personality?

A) Trait researchers generally are not interested in predicting the behavior of a single individual.
B) It is not easy to make comparisons across people with the trait approach.
C) The trait approach has been responsible for generating a number of useful approaches to psychotherapy.
D) Trait theorists place a greater emphasis on discovering the mechanisms underlying behavior than do theorists from other approaches to personality.

Question 18

Typology systems make each of the following assumptions except one. Which one?

A) Each person belongs in one personality category.
B) All people within a personality category are basically alike.
C) The behavior of people in one category is distinctly different from that of people in another category.
D) Not all people can be classified into a type category, but most of them can.

Question 19

A man is said to have one personality trait that dominates his personality. Allport would identify this personality trait as a___________ trait.

A) common
B) central
C) cardinal
D) secondary

Question 20

Traits were introduced into the field of personality psychology by

A) Gordon Allport.
B) Raymond Cattell.
C) Carl Jung.
D) Henry Murray.

Question 21

Part of Raymond Cattell's interest in finding a structure to the existence of personality traits was influenced by his early education in the field of

A) chemistry.
B) astronomy.
C) physics.
D) philosophy.

Question 22

Which of the following is true about the five-factor model?

A) Few have criticized it for its lack of predictive value.
B) Hypotheses about the origin of the Big Five factors were generated after the results of the research were seen.
C) Trait theorists would be better off focusing their research on the five main traits.
D) It provides the most comprehensive model to explain personality currently in the field.

Question 23

Andrew has strong opinions and enjoys a good argument in which he can stand up for his beliefs. He prefers to work where he can compete with others, rather than an organization that stresses cooperation. Andrew would probably score low on a measure of which of the Big Five traits?

A) Conscientiousness
B) Agreeableness
C) Introversion
D) Openness

Question 24

Murray referred to each environmental force that activates a need as a(n)

A) trigger.
B) repressor.
C) press.
D) itch.

Question 25

People who score high on a measure of the ___________trait are helpful, trusting, and sympathetic when interacting with others.

A) agreeableness
B) openness
C) conscientiousness
D) psychoticism

Question 26

A psychologist examines six personality tests. She suspects that four of the tests are really measuring the same personality trait and that the other two measure another personality trait. What kind of research should the psychologist conduct to test her hypothesis?

A) A field study
B) A case study
C) Factor analysis
D) Idiographic research

Question 27

Personality psychologists use factor analysis to help them determine

A) a person's central traits.
B) which personality traits correlate with each other.
C) the stability of personality traits over time and situations.
D) the validity of personality trait measures.

Question 28

Alicia has an active imagination and a strong intellectual curiosity. She likes new ideas and unconventional ways of looking at problems. Alicia is probably high in the Big Five trait called

A) agreeableness.
B) neuroticism.
C) conscientiousness.
D) openness.

Question 29

Which of the following statements is true about research on the Big Five?

A) There are very few findings support general trends in Big Five scores over the lifespan.
B) Different findings may reflect differences in how broadly investigators conceive the personality structure.
C) All studies using factor analysis include the same kind of data.
D) Controversy surrounds the inconsistent findings for the Big Five over different populations.

Question 30

Why were pioneers in the study of personality traits limited in what they could discover?

A) There were not as many sophisticated statistical tests in those days.
B) They had to calculate the factor analyses by hand.
C) Their data sets were limited.
D) These are all correct answers.

Question 31

Tonya often becomes upset over daily stressors. More than most people, she experiences such emotions as sadness, anger, and anxiety. This description of Tonya is best accounted for by which of the factors in the Big Five model?

A) Agreeableness
B) Neuroticism
C) Extraversion
D) Openness

Question 32

Karen always approaches tasks in an organized, faithful manner. She persists at a difficult job longer than most people and generally accomplishes more. Karen is probably high in which of the Big Five traits?

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

Question 33

Compared to most of us, individuals who score high on the trait of openness are more likely to

A) tell a stranger all about themselves.
B) change their self-concept on a regular basis.
C) make friends easily in different situations.
D) willingly consider new ideas.

Question 34

According to the "person by situation" approach,

A) personality is more important than the situation in determining behavior.
B) there is little evidence for cross-situational consistency.
C) behavior is determined by an interaction of personality and the situation.
D) personality researchers need to measure behavior in more than one way.

Question 35

Recent research on the "Big Five" personality factors uses an approach to understanding personality similar to that advocated by

A) Gordon Allport.
B) Raymond Cattell.
C) Carl Jung.
D) Henry Murray.

Question 36

In his quest to understand the basic structure of personality, Cattell relied heavily on

A) the idiographic approach.
B) factor analysis.
C) the examination of central traits.
D) case studies.

Question 37

Different teams of researchers examining human personality traits have independently found evidence that there may, in fact, only be___________ such traits.

A) 3
B) 5
C) 12
D) 16

Question 38

According to critics of the five-factor model of personality,

A) knowing how sociable a person is allows for a better prediction of behavior than knowing how extraverted that person is.
B) researchers need to use factor analysis in order to determine the number of basic personality factors.
C) although Extraversion is a basic personality factor, there is no evidence that Neuroticism is.
D) factor analytic researchers should all use the same personality tests so that they can produce the same results.

Question 39

Raymond Cattell argued that in their efforts to understanding the basic structure of personality, psychologists should

A) begin with a theory about the basic structure of personality.
B) examine personality characteristics shared by everyone as well as those found in only a few people.
C) allow empirical data analyses to describe the basic structure of personality to us.
D) examine only one type of personality data.

Question 40

According to Cattell, which of the following traits ultimately constitutes the human personality?

A) Cardinal
B) Source
C) Secondary
D) Factor

Question 41

Julie sets high goals for herself at work. She is more committed to reaching these goals than most employees. She is organized, works hard, and remains persistent in the face of obstacles to reaching her work goals. Julie would probably score high on a measure of

A) Extraversion.
B) Agreeableness.
C) Openness.
D) Conscientiousness.

Question 42

Psychologists often use personality traits to predict behavior in the workplace. This research has benefited recently by looking at

A) the Big Five personality dimensions.
B) psychogenic needs.
C) central traits.
D) the idiographic approach.

Question 43

A woman indicates on a test that she agrees with the statement, "I am confident in my abilities." Later on the same test, she agrees with the statement, "I have doubts about my abilities." This woman's responses may indicate the presence of which potential problem?

A) Faking good
B) Faking bad
C) Social desirability
D) Acquiescence response

Question 44

Among the Big Five personality dimensions, individual differences in ___________typically are the best predictors of job performance.

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

Question 45

The nomothetic approach to personality measurement looks at cardinal traits.

Question 46

Rather than examine a large number of personality variables that may or may not be related to how well people perform in the workplace, many researchers now address the questions of job performance and personality

A) by using the personality dimensions identified in the five-factor model.
B) by categorizing workers by personality types.
C) by using the several psychogenic needs developed by Murray.
D) by responses to work interests on self-report inventories.

Question 47

One strength of the trait approach to personality is that it

A) predicts behavior in many situations.
B) is not necessary to job counselors to do their work.
C) does not rely on intuition but instead on objective measures.
D) explains the development of personality traits.

Question 48

Many researchers fail to produce strong links between personality traits and behavior. Trait theorists have argued that this is because

A) researchers don't perform the correct statistical analysis.
B) researchers don't measure personality traits correctly.
C) researchers don't measure behavior correctly.
D) statistical analyses skew personality data.

Question 49

Sometimes test makers reverse the direction of the test items. That is, whereas sometimes agreeing with an item indicates a high score on the trait being measured, sometimes disagreeing with the item indicates a high score. Test makers do this to control for which potential problem?

A) Faking
B) Carelessness and sabotage
C) Social desirability
D) Acquiescence response

Question 50

Test makers often examine the correlation between scores on the new test and scores on a measure of social desirability. They do this to

A) make certain they are measuring something that is socially appropriate.
B) establish the discriminant validity of the new scale.
C) ensure that people are not offended by items on the new scale.
D) establish the face validity of the new scale.

Question 51

Sometimes test makers include the same test questions more than once on the test. This is done to detect which potential problem?

A) Faking good
B) Faking bad
C) Carelessness and sabotage
D) Social desirability

Question 52

Each of the following is true about the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) except one. Which one?

A) It is among the most widely used psychological tests.
B) It provides a pattern of scores on a number of scales.
C) It provides test givers with an overall mental health score for each test-taker.
D) It is a self-report inventory.

Question 53

Which approach to personality has relatively little to say about how people develop specific personality characteristics?

A) Trait
B) Psychoanalytic
C) Behavioral/social learning
D) Cognitive

Question 54

Social desirability scales measure the extent to which a person

A) possesses socially desirable characteristics.
B) understands the rules of social interaction.
C) tries to present himself or herself in a favorable light.
D) is able to understand the meaning of the test items.

Question 55

While research shows that personalities continue to develop, the changes are gradual, evolving over a period of years.

Question 56

Test-takers who "fake good"

A) are able to fool most test givers with their inaccurate responses.
B) are not likely to be detected unless they admit that they are faking their test answers.
C) are trying to present a better image than is accurate.
D) are not aware that they are distorting their responses to create a false image.

Question 57

Critics of the trait approach have argued that there is

A) little consistency of behavior across situations.
B) no valid prediction of behavior from test scores.
C) too much reliance on situational factors rather than the traits themselves.
D) all of the above.

Question 58

Critics of the trait approach to personality have raised each of the following points except one. Which one?

A) Personality researchers do not measure behaviors correctly.
B) There is little evidence for cross-situational consistency.
C) Psychologists place too much emphasis on personality test scores when making psychological diagnoses.
D) Trait measures do not predict behavior well.

Question 59

Trait psychologists believe that one can take any person and place him or her somewhere in a set of categories.

Question 60

A psychologist knows the man he is testing wants to be admitted into the psychiatric ward of the hospital. With which problem should the psychologist be concerned?

A) Faking good
B) Faking bad
C) Social desirability
D) Acquiescence response

Question 61

Discuss several ways in which the trait approach differs from other approaches to personality. Distinguish the special features of the trait and what it emphasizes, including the advantages of studying personality through the trait approach.

Question 62

Describe two of your best friends in terms of the Big Five factors. For each friend, state where that person fits along each of the dimensions. Give two ways that Henry Murray and Raymond Cattell influenced this model.

Question 63

The projective test that Murray developed was the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT).

Question 64

To discover the structure of personality, Cattell used a sophisticated statistical technique called correlation analysis.

Question 65

What is meant by using the score on a measure of social desirability to test discriminant validity? List the problems associated with self-report inventories and the logic behind assessment of social desirability.

Question 66

Identify at least three strengths and three criticisms of the trait approach to personality. Do you think that the strengths outweigh the weaknesses enough to make this a dominant force in personality study? Or are the weaknesses salient enough that the trait approach is less effective than other models? Why?

Question 67

Research has shown that among the Big Five personality factors, the best predictor of job performance is conscientiousness.

Question 68

Discuss the contributions of Gordon Allport to understanding personality and distinguish between nomothetic and idiographic approaches to personality. Give three kinds of personality traits proposed by Allport and an example of each. What alternative explanations for adult behavior and personality did Allport propose?

Question 69

Identify the different measures that are built into the MMPI to identify when people are answering in an invalid way. Which of these do you think is the most important? Why? Give an example of why someone might try to "outsmart" each of these scales?

Question 70

Summarize the situation versus trait controversy. Discuss two criticisms of the trait approach given by Mischel with respect to this controversy. Give a defense of the trait approach and specify how the criticisms and defense have improved our understanding of personality traits.