Psychology chapter 15

The questionnaire(s) most often used to measure the Big Five traits and their facets is (are ) the:
A. Rorschach's ink blots
B. personality index test
C. five-factor model
D. NEO personality inventory

Marcia tends to be agreeable in interpersonal relationships, while her older sister Jan tends to be more antagonistic. From an evolutionary perspective, the _____ variations in a trait dimension such as this can be thought of as _____.
A. heritable but not the nonheritable; examples of birth-order effects
B. heritable but not the nonheritable; alternative general strategies for solving problems
related to survival and reproduction
C. nonheritable but not the heritable; examples of birth-order effects
D. heritable and the nonheritable; alternative general strategies for solving problems related to survival and reproduction

Some people are classified by personality-test scores as extroverts, and others are classified as introverts. On what basis do we believe that these classifications are valid?
A)These personality-test scores are highly consistent from one personality-test to the next.
B.The behaviors of both introverts and extroverts have been shown to be independent of environmental influences.
C.Personality-test scores of introversion–extroversion obtained in childhood correlate strongly with those obtained in the same individuals' adult years.
D. This classification allows us to predict real-life behavior that is relevant to the trait.

Which best describes the distribution of a personality trait in a population?
A. normal distribution, with differences in degrees for individuals
B. logarithmic, with degrees an individual has the trait increasing as he/she ages C. set, since personality changes very little over a lifetime
D. variable, since personality changes slightly with age

Cattell's sixteen-factor trait theory was based on factor analysis preceded by:
A. a logical analysis of English adjectives that describe personality.
B. self-ratings made by a large number of people.
C. questionnaire data.
D. all of these things are correct.

After what age does personality reach a peak in terms of stability?
A. 50 B. 30 C. 20 D. 15

Many studies have been conducted to assess the stability of the Big-Five personality characteristics, such as the Big Five, in adults over time. In sum, these studies have demonstrated correlation coefficients of:
A. .05 to .10. B. .20 to .35. C. .50 to .70. D. .85 to .98.

Kevin enjoys interacting with people, is seen as a leader, and is very popular. If a personality measure was valid, what trait would rank high for Kevin?
A. introversion
B. neuroticism
C. extroversion
D. inversion

Tabetha is extremely adventurous, enjoying skydiving and white-water kayaking. Friendly and assertive, she also likes working with other environmental activists to protect local wilderness areas. According to the five-factor model of personality, Tabetha's interests indicate she has a tendency toward:
A. extroversion. B. introversion. C. neuroticism. D. stability.

Avshalom Caspi and Terrie Moffitt have suggested that personality differences are most clearly
These personality-test scores are highly consistent from one personality-test to the next.
The behaviors of both introverts and extroverts have been shown to be independent of environmental influences.
Personality-test scores of introversion–extroversion obtained in childhood correlate strongly with those obtained in the same individuals' adult years.
This classification allows us to predict real-life behavior that is relevant to the trait.
of the following is TRUE of people who score as introverts on personality tests?
They prefer a wider range of sexual activities.
They choose to live and work with more people.
They pay more attention to environmental threats.
They look people directly in the eye and talk more at group meetings.

revealed when people are:
A. in familiar settings and roles, where the learned, socially agreed-upon behavioral norms free them to act in accordance with their personality.
B. at home, in their family life, where they can act and feel as they please.
C. in well-defined settings with clear rules of behavior, where leaders will lead and followers
will follow.
D. in novel, ambiguous, stressful situations and in life transitions, where there are no or few cues as to what are appropriate actions.

The type of people who do not like to go out to new restaurants or try new food most likely fall
into one end of which Big Five facet?
A. agreeableness–antagonism
B. openness to experience–nonopenness
C. neuroticism–stability
D. extroversion–introversion

Both twin studies and adoption studies have shown that, on average, being raised in the same
family has a(n):
A. almost negligible effect on most measures of personality.
B. highly significant effect on most measures of personality.
C. significant effect on some measures of personality but not on those thought to have a physiological basis, such as extroversion–introversion.
D. significant effect on some measures of personality but only for people who are also biologically related.

What does it mean when we say that the traits in an ideal trait theory are nonredundant?
A)It means that the traits have explanatory value as well as descriptive value.
B)It means that the traits are independent dimensions that do not correlate with one another .
C)It means that the traits account for the greatest amount of meaningful variation among individuals.
D)It means that the traits used are deemed the most useful for describing the psychological differences among individuals.

Which of the following investment analogies best explains the value of producing offspring who
differ from one another in personality?
A. Smart investors buy bonds because they are far more stable than stocks.
B. Smart investors put their money in international as opposed to domestic companies.
C. Smart investors diversify their financial investments.
D. Smart investors buy stocks in a given company at different times under different conditions.

A relatively stable predisposition to behave in a certain way is the definition of a:
A. motivational state.
B. habit of thought.
C. cognitive construct.
D. personality trait.

he five-factor model of personality identifies the five major personality traits that:
A. appear earliest in personality development.
B. are so unique that they do not correlate with any observable behavior.
C. provoke the most controversy among personality theorists today.
D. have repeatedly appeared in recent factor-analytic studies conducted with a variety of cultures and age groups.

Suppose that you and your best friend from college graduated 15 years ago and haven't seen each other since. Now, both 36 years old, you are meeting for lunch. What aspect of your friend's personality might you reasonably expect to have changed based on general trends, and in which direction would the change most likely have gone?
A. neuroticism would have probably increased
B. extroversion would probably have increased
C. conscientiousness would have probably decreased
D. agreeableness would have probably increased

A personality trait should be thought of as a dimension rather than an all-or-none attribute because
traits are:
A. continuous, measurable characteristics along which people differ by degree.
B. explanations of how people differ from others, not just simple measures.
C. inner entities that must be inferred from observed behavior, which necessarily involves measurement error.
D. relatively stable predispositions to behave in a certain way, not absolute predictions about behavior.

David Wilson and his colleagues performed an experiment on two types of pumpkinseed sunfish (bold and cautious), each associated with a particular type of habitat, in order to determine the source of the differences between the two types. They found that:
A. only genetic influences were responsible for the differences.
B. only environmental influences were responsible for the differences.
C. both genetic and environmental influences were responsible for the differences.
D. neither genetic nor environmental influences were responsible for the differences.

What aspect of novel situations or life transitions likely allows personality differences to be
revealed?
A. the liberation of the individual from his or her usual defensive style
B. the absence of behavioral inhibition
C. the scarcity of cues for appropriate action
D. the common influences of learned, socially agreed-upon behavioral norms

Why is the five-factor model generally preferred over Cattell's trait theory today?
A. The traits proposed by the five-factor model both describe and explain psychological differences in personality and behavior.
B. Cattell's theory grossly oversimplifies personality.
C. Cattell's theory has been found to possess little utility in clinical and research settings.
D. Cattell's theory is thought by many trait theorists to be overly complex and to have redundant factors.

David Lykken gave personality tests to twins separated in infancy and raised apart, as well as
twins raised in the same home. He found that:
A. whether they were raised together or apart, the identical twins showed more similarity to one another than did the fraternal twins.
B. the identical twins raised apart showed less similarity to one another than did the fraternal twins raised together.
C. the identical twins showed more similarity to one another than did fraternal twins when raised together but not when raised apart.
D. none of the twins showed more similarity to one another than other studies have found among nontwin siblings.

Which of the following questions would an individual interested in an ultimate explanation of
differences among people's personalities be most likely to ask?
A. How are people with different genes different from one another in terms of personality?
B. How might personality differences help people survive longer and have more offspring than they would if all people had the same personalities?
C. How will children growing up in poverty-stricken environments differ in personality from children growing up in resource-rich environments?
D. What should an individual do to make it more likely that his or her personality will develop to its fullest genetic potential?

Researchers studying the relationships between specific genes and specific personality traits have
found:
A. such work to be virtually impossible given current limitations in technology, though it is promising for the future.
B. small but significant correlations between specific personality traits and groups of six to eight genes, results that have been replicated.
C. small but significant correlations between specific characteristics and single genes that affect neurotransmitter action, but attempts to replicate the results have been inconsistent.
D. no evidence for the effect of specific genes on personality, despite heritability estimates that are generally accepted.

A _____ can be defined as an enduring attribute that describes one's likelihood of entering
temporarily into a particular _____.
A. trait; state
B. trait; behavior C. state; trait
D. state; behavior

Which of the following is NOT a goal in the construction of an ideal trait theory?
A. Explain the personality differences among individuals rather than merely describe them.
B. Specify a set of independent traits that do not correlate with each other.
C. Account for the greatest amount of meaningful psychological variation among individuals with a minimum number of traits.
D. Specify a manageable set of personality distinctions that can be used to summarize the fundamental psychological differences among individuals.

The essential difference between traits and states is that:
A. traits are enduring whereas states are temporary.
B. traits cause variations in behavior and states cause variations in personality.
C. traits can be inferred from behavior but states cannot.
D. traits are innate to the person and states are developed through interaction with the environment.

Cheetahs and rhinoceroses share overlapping territories in the African savanna, but they eat different foods and are active during slightly different parts of the day. A biologist would say they _____, a concept that psychologists have borrowed to help account for personality differences.
A. have a predator-prey relationship
B. are territorially cooperative
C. are in indirect competition with each other
D. occupy separate niches

You are babysitting two young children. Suddenly you hear the boom of thunder outside as the lights flicker and then go out. One child laughs, but the other begins to cry in response to these stimuli. Assuming these are characteristic responses, which Big-Five personality dimension would be most likely to help explain their differing reactions to the same stimuli?
A. conscientiousness–undirectedness
B. extroversion–introversion
C. agreeableness–antagonism
D. psychoticism–nonpsychoticism

Factor analysis is an essential tool in the construction of a _____ theory of personality.
A. humanistic
B. social-cognitive
C. trait
D. psychodynamic

Raymond Cattell sought to develop “a chemistry of personality” based on _____, analogous to “atoms.”
A. five traits
B. sixteen traits
C. just two or three traits
D. twelve traits

Perhaps the most surprising finding from the Minnesota twin study led by David Lykken was that:
A. identical twins were no more similar to each other in personality than were fraternal twins.
B. shared family environment has an almost negligible effect on personality.
C. almost 100 percent of the variability in personality traits among individuals results from genetic differences.
D. fraternal twins and identical twins raised apart are more similar than regular siblings raised together .

The questionnaire most often used to measure the Big Five personality traits and their facets is
the:
A. NEO Personality Inventory.
B. 16 PF Questionnaire.
C. Locus-of-Control Scale.
D. MMPI.

Factor analysis is used in the study of personality to:
A. reveal the strength and direction of relationship between two established traits.
B. analyze large quantities of data in order to reveal a set of underlying traits.
C. determine which personality traits are considered desirable and which undesirable.
D. identify the most frequently occurring traits in a given population.

Studies of identical twins, whether raised together or apart, have led to an average heritability
estimate of _____ for most personality traits, including all of the Big Five.
A. 0.20 to 0.35
B. 0.40 to 0.55
C. 0.70 to 0.75
D. 0.90 to 1.00

The most salient difference between traits and states is that traits:
A. differ by degrees, whereas states are all-or-none.
B. are enduring, whereas states are temporary.
C. can be manifested in observable behaviors, whereas states cannot.
D. relate to emotion and feeling, whereas states relate to motivation and reward.

What are some ways by which the personality-forming environment of children raised in the same
family may differ?
A. Chance events lead to different experiences for different children.
B. The choices of friends and activities that children make may differ based on preexisting personality differences.
C. Children may have different interpretations of the same objective life events.
D. All of the answers are correct.

Which of the following is NOT one of the trait dimensions of the five-factor model of personality?
A. conscientiousness–undirectedness
B. agreeableness–antagonism
C. openness–nonopenness
D. radical–conservative

Studies show that adult personality is relatively stable, but some changes can be seen. Increased age is typically accompanied by ________ conscientiousness and agreeableness and ________ neuroticism and openness to experiences.
A. stable amounts of; increased B. decreased; increased
C. increased; decreased
D. stable amounts of; decreased

Research on the stability of personality traits over time generally suggests that:
A. introverts become extroverted later in life.
B. neuroticism steadily increases over one's lifetime.
C. there is considerable variability in most central personality traits during adulthood.
D. there is considerable stability in personality traits, especially after the age of 50.

Trait theories differ from other personality theories in that trait theories focus mainly on _____,
whereas other theories are primarily concerned with _____.
A. cognitive constructs; human motives
B. human motives; cognitive constructs
C. general explanations of behavior; individual differences
D. individual differences; general explanations of behavior

Pumpkinseed sunfish have been found to differ along a dimension of _____ that could be considered similar to a personality dimension in people. Variation among these fish on this dimension was associated with _____.
A. cautiousness–boldness; age
B. introversion–extroversion; age
C. cautiousness–boldness; the niche they occupied
D. introversion–extroversion; the niche they occupied

Which of the following is TRUE of people who score as introverts on personality tests?
A.They prefer a wider range of sexual activities.
B.They choose to live and work with more people.
C.They pay more attention to environmental threats.
D.They look people directly in the eye and talk more at group meetings.

Psychologists use the term _____ to refer to a relatively stable predisposition to behave in a certain way.
A. personality B. state
C. trait
D. factor

________ provides a mathematical means to identify an efficient, nonredundant set of personality
traits based on correlations among larger sets of traits.
A. Trait theory
B. Factor analysis
C. Personality rendering
D. State theory

According to your textbook, to what extent do genetic differences account for personality
variability among people?
A. The relationship is unknown because research on the question is not possible.
B. They contribute about 10 to 25 percent of the variability in most personality traits.
C. They contribute about 40 to 55 percent of the variability in most personality traits.
D. They far outweigh environmental influences on personality traits.

Which of the following sequences best represents the steps involved in factor analysis?
A)label factors → collect data from large sample → produce correlation matrix → extract factors
B)collect data from large sample → produce correlation matrix → extract factors → label factors
C)extract factors → label factors → collect data from large sample → produce correlation matrix
D)produce correlation matrix → extract factors → label factors → collect data from large sample

Suppose a friend's parents are midlife career changers after having successfully pursued careers in accounting. In view of research linking certain personality traits with certain behavioral tendencies, this fact about your friend's parents would suggest that they are higher than average in:
A. introversion.
B. extroversion.
C. openness to experience.
D. undirectedness.

The most central concept in personality psychology is the ________, defined as a relatively stable
predisposition to behave in a certain way.
A. state of motivation
B. trait
C. personality theory of stability
D. Big Five

A physiologist psychologist might use a(n) ______ explanation to explain why people are different from one another in personality, while an evolutionary psychologist is likely to use a(n) _________ explanation.
A. proximate; ultimate
B. ultimate; proximate
C. humanistic; ideocentric
D. ideocentric; humanistic