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

Question 1

People with traits that dominate their personality can be described with a

A) cardinal trait.
B) central trait.
C) idiographic map.
D) secondary trait.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

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

Answer 2

D

Question 3

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.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which approach to personality has relatively little to say about why people behave the way they do?

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

Question 5

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

Question 6

Which of the following is not a psychogenic need?

A) dominance
B) affiliation
C) autonomy
D) nutrition

Question 7

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 8

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

A) personality characteristics are relatively stable over situations, too.
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 9

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 press
D) Her fear of failure

Question 10

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 11

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 12

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 are comprised of a number of secondary traits.

Question 13

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

A) Trait researchers generally are not interested in understanding and 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 14

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 which approach to understanding personality?

A) Type approach
B) Nomothetic approach
C) Idiographic approach
D) Common trait approach

Question 15

Allport called the five to 10 traits that best describe an individual's personality

A) central traits.
B) common traits.
C) cardinal traits.
D) the Big Five.

Question 16

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

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

Question 17

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

A) Each person belongs in one and only one personality category.
B) We can place a person somewhere along a continuum of behaviors.
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.

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) People in one personality category are distinctly different from people in other categories.
D) Not all people can be classified into a type category, but most of them can.

Question 19

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

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

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

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) Both b and c

Question 22

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 23

Compared to most of us, individuals who score high on Openness are more likely to

A) tell a stranger all about themselves.
B) change their self-concept.
C) make friends easily.
D) consider new ideas.

Question 24

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

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

Question 25

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 26

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 27

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

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

Question 28

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

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

Question 29

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 set was limited.
D) all of the above

Question 30

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 31

People high on the __________ dimension are helpful and sympathetic to others.

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

Question 32

Personality psychologists use factor analysis to help them determine

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

Question 33

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

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

Question 34

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 35

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 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

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 five-factor model?

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

Question 38

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

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

Question 39

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 40

Recently, many researchers using factor analysis have uncovered what they believe to be the number of basic personality factors. How many of these factors did they find?

A) Three
B) Five
C) Sixteen
D) Sixteen to 20

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

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 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

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 45

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 46

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 47

One team of researchers improved its ability to predict behavior from personality measures by dividing participants into traited and untraited groups. This approach is similar to that advocated earlier by

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

Question 48

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.

Question 49

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 50

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 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

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 53

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 54

Many researchers fail to produce strong links between personality traits and behavior. Epstein has argued that the reason for this failure 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) none of the above

Question 55

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 him- or herself in a desirable light.
D) is able to understand the meaning of the test items.

Question 56

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 57

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 58

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 59

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 60

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 61

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

Question 62

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

Question 63

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

Question 64

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 65

The nomothetic approach to personality measurement looks at cardinal traits.

Question 66

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

Question 67

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