Personality: Trait Perspective

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1. The trait approach to personality makes the point that

a. people's dispositions are relatively inconsistent across situations.

b. people's dispositions are relatively inconsistent across time.

c. one person's pattern of dispositional qualities is much like the next person's.

d. none of these answers are true

d. none of these answers are true

The idea that people are different in important ways goes back to at least

a. 400 BC.

b. 200 AD.

c. 1800 AD.

d. 1880 AD.

a. 400 BC.

In typologies proposed by Hippocrates and Galen, sanguine people were thought to be

a. optimistic.

b. irritable.

c. depressed.

d. calm.

a. optimistic.

Which of the following is not one of the four personality categories proposed by Hippocrates and Galen?

a. (Choleric) irritable

b. (Sanguine) optimistic

c. (Malcontent) unhappy

d. (Phlegmatic) calm

c. (Malcontent) unhappy

_________ categorized people as either introverts or extraverts.

a. Hippocrates

b. Galen

c. Carl Jung

d. Socrates

c. Carl Jung

How are traits and typologies different from one another?

a. Traits refer to the whole person, whereas typologies refer to specific aspects of the person.

b. Traits are seen as varying on a continuum, whereas typologies put people in distinct categories.

c. Traits are changeable, whereas typologies are fixed.

d. They are not different; traits and typologies are two words for the same phenomenon.

b. Traits are seen as varying on a continuum, whereas typologies put people in distinct categories.

Unlike type approaches, trait approaches treat differences between people

a. as less stable.

b. as quantitative.

c. as qualitative.

d. in terms of aggregations.

b. as quantitative.

The idea that traits exist and have the same meaning in everyone is consistent with the _________ approach to personality.

a. nomothetic

b. commonality

c. idiographic

d. implicit

a. nomothetic

The idiographic view emphasizes that

a. most people have many things in common.

b. when two people both possess a trait, that tends to mean the same thing.

c. a trait may be possessed by only one person.

d. a trait is possessed by many people.

c. a trait may be possessed by only one person.

Factor analysis

a. provides a way to analyze qualitative data.

b. is useful only when dealing with self-reports.

c. represents a technique for identifying underlying dimensions.

d. directs you to collect data of a certain type.

c. represents a technique for identifying underlying dimensions.

The dimensions that emerge from a factor analysis are called

a. factors.

b. loadings.

c. extractions.

d. analyses.

a. factors.

Which of the following statements about factor analysis is NOT true?

a. Factor analysis can only be used with self-report data.

b. Labeling the factors extracted from factor analysis is a subjective process.

c. In factor analysis, items can load on several factors.

d. All of these answers are correct.

a. Factor analysis can only be used with self-report data.

Which of the following statements about factor analysis is true?

a. It increases the number of traits psychologists can use to describe personality.

b. It provides a basis for arguing that most all traits are equally important in describing personality.

c. Its use had dropped off since the advent of computers.

d. It assists in the development of assessment devices.

d. It assists in the development of assessment devices.

Cattell's approach to understanding personality can best be described as

a. theoretical.

b. rational.

c. empirical.

d. psychoanalytic.

c. empirical.

Cattell used the _________ criterion for his factor analysis of personality dimensions.

a. rational

b. commonsense

c. ubiquity

d. lexical

d. lexical

Cattell's empirical work resulted in a personality scale which is called the

a. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory.

b. 16PF.

c. Source Trait Inventory.

d. MCMI.

b. 16PF.

Unlike Cattell's approach to studying personality, Eysenck's approach

a. was rooted in theory.

b. disregarded the observation of reality.

c. disregarded the use of factor analysis.

d. was not based on any theory.

a. was rooted in theory.

According to Eysenck's categorization, a melancholic (depressed) person would be considered

a. extraverted and low in neuroticism.

b. extraverted and high in neuroticism.

c. introverted and high in neuroticism.

d. introverted and low in neuroticism.

c. introverted and high in neuroticism.

Second-order factoring is used to determine

a. if the results from one factor analysis can be repeated.

b. whether the factors that emerge from an initial factor analysis form factors (i.e., correlate in clusters).

c. if factors determined in an initial factor analysis can be broken down further.

d. all of these answers are correct

b. whether the factors that emerge from an initial factor analysis form factors (i.e., correlate in clusters).

Which of Eysenck's concepts has received less attention than the others?

a. Extraversion

b. Neuroticism

c. Introversion

d. Psychoticism

d. Psychoticism

Factors derived from factor analysis may themselves be interrelated. When such factors are themselves factor analyzed, the resulting factors are called

a. basic factors.

b. primary factors.

c. second-order factors.

d. cardinal factors.

c. second-order factors.

Eysenck believes his two type dimensions of personality relate to qualities of

a. the nervous system.

b. interpersonal interaction.

c. early childhood experiences.

d. social learning experiences.

a. the nervous system.

A third dimension identified by Eysenck that reflects a predisposition toward disorders involving detachment from others, hostility, manipulation, and impulsiveness is

a. sociopathy.

b. psychoticism.

c. schizophrenia.

d. Eysenck only identified two dimensions.

b. psychoticism

Eysenck believed

a. extraversion and neuroticism have roots in nervous system functioning.

b. there are four dimensions underlying behavior.

c. there is one dimension underlying behavior.

d. extraversion and introversion are the top two dimensions in the hierarchy forming

personality.

a. extraversion and neuroticism have roots in nervous system functioning.

Wiggins's perspective emphasized _________ aspects of personality.

a. interpersonal

b. internal

c. behavioral

d. cognitive

a. interpersonal

Wiggins proposed two trait dimensions basic to human values. These dimensions are

a. passion and power.

b. power and achievement.

c. dominance and love.

d. intelligence and affect.

c. dominance and love.

Wiggins proposed a set of eight psychological patterns, which he called the

a. type-trait model.

b. value-meaning model.

c. eight-factor model.

d. interpersonal circle.

d. interpersonal circle.

A person who is high on the dimension of love and high on the dimension of dominance would most likely be considered

a. unassuming.

b. introverted.

c. extraverted.

d. arrogant.

c. extraverted.

The emerging consensus among researchers is that there are _________ basic personality traits.

a. 3

b. 5

c. 10

d. 25

b. 5

Which of the following is one reason why there is a fair amount of disagreement as to what the five dimensions of personality are?

a. Different factors emerge depending on the measures included in a study.

b. Different factors emerge in different cultures.

c. Personality measures have low test-retest reliability.

d. all of these answers are correct

a. Different factors emerge depending on the measures included in a study.

Which of the following is the basic personality trait characterized by assertiveness, open expression of impulses, and confident assurance?

a. Conscientiousness

b. Dominance

c. Extraversion

d. Confidence

c. Extraversion

Conscientiousness does not reflect which of the following?

a. Purposeful striving toward goals.

b. Persistence.

c. Planning.

d. Peacekeeping.

d. Peacekeeping.

Some researchers prefer to use the term _________ for qualities Cattell labeled as culture.

a. sociability

b. intellect

c. eagerness

d. enthusiasm

b. intellect

The largest disagreement about a label for one of the personality factors deals with

a. extraversion.

b. openness to experience.

c. conscientiousness.

d. neuroticism.

b. openness to experience.

Adolescents high in agreeableness are

a. more likely to express an interest in joining fraternities/sororities.

b. less likely to be victimized by peers.

c. less likely to receive social support from family members.

d. less likely to value tradition.

b. less likely to be victimized by peers.

Extraversion is related to valuing

a. achievement.

b. tradition.

c. benevolence.

d. all of these answers are correct

a. achievement.

Openness to experience is related to all of the following EXCEPT

a. greater sexual satisfaction in marriage.

b. artistic expression.

c. fewer prior arrests among prisoners.

d. more favorable interracial attitudes.

c. fewer prior arrests among prisoners.

It has been argued that Eysenck's dimension of psychoticism is a blend of

a. extraversion and agreeableness.

b. neuroticism and agreeableness.

c. agreeableness and conscientiousness.

d. neuroticism and conscientiousness.

c. agreeableness and conscientiousness.

Zuckerman disagrees with the traditional five-factor view in that he

a. proposed an alternative five factors.

b. argued that there were more than five factors.

c. argued that there were fewer than five factors.

d. endorsed eight factors.

a. proposed an alternative five factors.

Compared to lower-level traits, superordinate traits seem to provide

a. more predictive power.

b. less predictive power.

c. about the same amount of predictive power.

d. a more confusing depiction of the structure of personality.

b. less predictive power.

Mischel argued that traits are

a. strong predictors of behavior.

b. modest predictors of behavior.

c. unrelated to behavior.

d. only strongly predictive of behavior when biology is accounted for.

b. modest predictors of behavior.

Psychologists were surprised when it was reported that the correlation coefficients between trait self-reports and actual behavior were around

a. 0.0.

b. 0.1.

c. 0.3.

d. 0.6.

c. 0.3.

The idea that situational variables are more important than personality variables in determining how people act is termed

a. environmentalism.

b. interactionism.

c. Mischelianism.

d. situationism.

d. situationism.

_________ is the idea that traits and situations jointly provide a complete account of behavior.

a. Interactionism

b. Trait-situationism

c. Person-environment duality

d. none of these answers are correct

a. Interactionism

The idea that personality can best be explained by considering the combination of settings and people is called

a. environmentalism.

b. interactionism.

c. trait behaviorism.

d. situationism.

b. interactionism.

When a situation and a trait are examined in the same study, there are _________ systematic sources of influence on behavior.

a. four

b. three

c. exactly two

d. five

b. three

A university campus is a _________ situation, whereas an army boot camp is a(n) _________ situation.

a. weak; strong

b. strong; weak

c. poorly defined; clearly defined

d. constrained; unconstrained

a. weak; strong

Situations in which individual differences can be expressed easily are termed

a. malleable situations.

b. strong situations.

c. weak situations.

d. expressive situations.

c. weak situations.

The analysis of variance model derived from lab research has the problem of neglecting the idea that

a. people actively choose the situations they want to enter.

b. situations elicit different responses from different people.

c. people behave similarly across different situations.

d. all of these answers are correct

a. people actively choose the situations they want to enter.

The fact that people often use verbal "hedges" when describing someone's personality indicates they

a. are less confident in their judgments than are psychologists.

b. don't really know other people.

c. believe traits may be reflected in only particular kinds of situations.

d. don't believe personality is related to behavior.

c. believe traits may be reflected in only particular kinds of situations.

According to Mischel and Shoda, traits are best characterized as

a. freestanding tendencies to act.

b. having very little relation to behavior.

c. patterns of links between situation and action.

d. none of these answers are correct

c. patterns of links between situation and action.

A behavioral signature is

a. an individual's characteristic way of acting across situations.

b. an individual's pattern of situation-behavior links.

c. the effect of an individual's behavior on the people around them.

d. none of these answers are correct

b. an individual's pattern of situation-behavior links.

Traits are most often assessed through

a. projective assessment.

b. interviewing.

c. self-reports.

d. behavioral observations.

c. self-reports.

Trait theorists believe all of the following EXCEPT

a. all people have a unique combination of trait levels.

b. given traits do not interact with one another.

c. any particular trait dimension is the same from one person to another.

d. knowing a person's profile gives a sense of what the person is like and how they will behave in a variety of situations.

b. given traits do not interact with one another.

The attempt to understand psychopathology from a trait perspective is largely an attempt to

a. understand the underlying dynamics of the individual.

b. determine indicators that are associated with a given class of problems.

c. look at biological vulnerabilities or susceptibilities.

d. none of these answers are correct

b. determine indicators that are associated with a given class of problems.

Recent research has indicated that _________ personality disorders are represented within the five-factor model.

a. all

b. most

c. very few

d. no

a. all

From an interactionist perspective, susceptibility to a particular personality problem means

a. one has the problem.

b. one has family members with the problem.

c. there is nothing one can do to avoid developing the problem.

d. the problem occurs more easily for one person than for another.

d. the problem occurs more easily for one person than for another.

A vulnerability to a particular psychological problem is known as a

a. nomothetic.

b. diathesis.

c. behavioral signature.

d. idiograph.

b. diathesis.

The trait approach has been criticized because it:

a. has little to say about intrapersonal functioning.

b. doesn't offer explanations for why people behave as they do.

c. often relies on circular explanations to explain causality.

d. all of these answers are correct

d. all of these answers are correct