Psych 345: Module Nine, Personality and positive psychology

According to Gable and Haidt (2005), what is positive psychology primarily concerned with?

Studying the conditions and processes that contribute to flourishing and optimal functioning

Why do Gable and Haidt argue that positive psychology grew rapidly in the early 2000s?

It directed researchers toward important but understudied positive phenomena

Which of the following best reflects the focus of traditional psychology that positive psychology sought to balance?

Greater emphasis on problems, deficits, and pathology than strengths and flourishing

According to the authors, positive psychology examines flourishing at which levels?

Individuals, groups, and institutions

Which criticism of positive psychology do Gable and Haidt acknowledge?

Research on positive institutions had not progressed as much as other areas of the field

According to Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000), positive psychology is the scientific study of:

Positive subjective experiences, positive traits, and positive institutions

What concern did the authors raise about twentieth-century psychology?

It focused too much on pathology and too little on human strengths and flourishing

Which of the following is an example of a positive individual trait discussed by the authors?

Courage

According to the article, studying positive psychology may help:

Improve quality of life and help prevent certain forms of psychological distress

Which of the following topics would best fit within the scope of positive psychology as described by the authors?

Factors that enable individuals, communities, and societies to flourish

Rogers proposed six conditions that are necessary and sufficient for therapeutic personality change. Which of the following lists correctly identifies these six conditions?

Two persons are in psychological contact; the client is in a state of incongruence; the therapist is congruent (genuine); the therapist experiences unconditional positive regard; the therapist experiences empathic understanding of the client's internal frame of reference; and the client perceives, at least to a minimal degree, the therapist's empathy and unconditional positive regard

Rogers described several therapist characteristics that facilitate personality change. Which combination of therapist attitudes did he identify as particularly important for creating a growth-promoting therapeutic relationship?

Congruence (genuineness), unconditional positive regard, and empathic understanding

Rogers proposed that one of the necessary conditions for therapeutic change is that the client experiences a state of incongruence. What did Rogers mean by incongruence in this context?

A discrepancy between a person's self-concept and their lived experiences, resulting in vulnerability or anxiety

In Rogers' theory, congruence refers to:

The therapist being genuine, authentic, and integrated within the relationship

Which statement best reflects Rogers' view of therapeutic change?

Change occurs when a specific relationship climate characterised by empathy, congruence, and unconditional positive regard is present

The lexical hypothesis is based on which assumption about personality traits?

The most important individual differences in personality become encoded in language over time

Research on personality development across the lifespan suggests that personality traits:

Show both stability and systematic change, with traits such as conscientiousness and emotional stability generally increasing with age.

Which of the following best reflects both a key focus of Positive Psychology and a common criticism of the field?

Positive Psychology focuses on strengths, wellbeing, and human flourishing, and critics argue it can underestimate the importance of negative emotions and life challenges.

According to Positive Psychology, how can an individual's wellbeing influence both their relationships and their view of themselves?

Positive emotions, strengths, and wellbeing can promote healthier relationships, greater resilience, and a more positive self-concept.

How does Positive Psychology connect with Rogers' theory of personality?

Both approaches focus on human strengths, growth, self-actualisation, and the conditions that enable individuals to reach their full potential.

What was a major contribution of Rogers' client-centred therapy to psychological practice?

It emphasised the importance of the therapeutic relationship, including empathy, genuineness, and unconditional positive regard, as key factors in facilitating psychological growth and change.

Which of the following correctly identifies the Big Five personality traits?

Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism

How do personality traits differ from states and activities?

Traits are relatively enduring patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours, whereas states are temporary experiences and activities are specific actions or behaviours performed at a given time

What is the lexical hypothesis, and what is the rationale behind it?

The most important personality characteristics become encoded in language over time because people need words to describe meaningful individual differences; therefore, studying trait-descriptive language can help identify fundamental personality traits

According to McAdams and Pals (2006), personality is best understood as:

An individual's unique variation on human nature, expressed through dispositional traits, characteristic adaptations, and self-defining life narratives within a cultural and social context.

Which of the following best describes personality traits according to the trait approach?

Personality traits are consistent, distinctive, and relatively stable patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that differentiate individuals from one another

According to Allport and Odbert (1936), how do personality traits differ from states and activities?

Traits are relatively stable characteristics expressed across time and situations, states are temporary or momentary experiences, and activities are actions that are often associated with those states.

What does the lexical hypothesis propose about personality and language?

All aspects of human personality that are important, useful, or relevant have become encoded in language over time, allowing researchers to study personality through trait-descriptive words.

According to the lexical hypothesis, why do personality researchers analyse language?

If important personality characteristics become encoded in language, analysing trait-descriptive words should help identify the core dimensions of personality

Which of the following examples best illustrates the lexical hypothesis in action?

A person describes themselves or others using words such as "friendly," "reliable," or "outgoing," reflecting personality traits that have become encoded in language.

What does research on trait descriptions suggest about how people describe themselves compared to others?

People are often more willing to generalise about the personality traits of others, whereas they tend to recognise exceptions and situational variation when describing their own traits

Which sequence correctly describes the development of the Big Five personality traits from lexical hypothesis research?

Allport and Odbert identified approximately 18,000 personality-related words, reduced these to 4,500 trait adjectives, Cattell used factor analysis to develop 16 personality factors, and later research further reduced these to the Big Five traits

Which of the following correctly identifies the five personality traits included in the Big Five (OCEAN) model?

Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism

Which of the following statements about measuring the Big Five personality traits is most accurate?

The Big Five personality traits are commonly measured using questionnaires such as the NEO-PI-R and IPIP-NEO, and these measures share some conceptual overlap with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)®

According to McCrae and Costa's (2003) Five-Factor Theory, which of the following statements best reflects their position on the origins of personality traits?

Personality traits are universal psychological structures with a biological basis, and individual differences in the Big Five are primarily determined by genetic influences on neural structures and brain chemistry.

Which of the following best describes the three major areas of personality trait research?

Researchers examine (1) how traits can be described and structured, (2) what traits predict and whether they are useful, and (3) the biological and genetic mechanisms that may explain or underlie traits.

What evidence has led some researchers to suggest the existence of a sixth major personality trait beyond the Big Five?

Cross-cultural studies have identified a factor related to honesty/humility—including sincerity, fairness, greed avoidance, and modesty—leading some researchers to propose a six-factor model of personality.

What did Sibley et al. (2011) contribute to personality research in Aotearoa New Zealand?

They used the Mini IPIP 6 measure with a large nationally representative sample of 5,562 New Zealanders to investigate six personality factors, including honesty-humility, and to enable cross-cultural comparisons

According to Sibley et al. (2011), which personality trait showed the strongest association with hours spent doing charitable work?

Honesty–Humility

According to Sibley and Pirie (2013), which personality traits did females in Aotearoa New Zealand score significantly higher on, on average, than males?

Agreeableness, honesty–humility, conscientiousness, and neuroticism

What was a major contribution of Sibley and colleagues' personality research in Aotearoa New Zealand?

They developed and validated the IPIP6, a brief public-domain personality inventory for New Zealand, and provided norms, psychometric data, and prediction equations for important outcomes in national samples.

What did Hofstee et al. (1997) find regarding the Five-Factor Model across different cultures and languages?

The Five-Factor Model showed considerable consistency across English, Dutch, and German, although some traits—particularly openness—contained somewhat different meanings across cultures.

Which of the following best describes the etic approach to personality research?

It takes an outsider perspective, emphasising universal personality processes across cultures and often applies theories and measures developed in one culture to other cultures

Which of the following best describes the emic approach to personality research?

It takes an insider perspective, seeking to understand personality from within a culture by deriving traits from local language, customs, traditions, and ways of understanding the world

What did Di Blas and Forzi's (1999) emic study of personality in Italy suggest about the universality of the Big Five traits?

Extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness were identified, but neuroticism was not, raising questions about whether some personality traits may be understood differently across cultures

What was the significance of Cheung et al.'s (2001) research on personality in Chinese culture?

They identified several culturally important personality dimensions—such as harmony, ren qing (relationship orientation), face, and thrift versus extravagance—that were not adequately captured by imported Western personality inventories

What was the purpose of the Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory (CPAI) developed by Cheung et al. (2001)?

To combine emic and etic approaches by incorporating both culturally specific Chinese personality constructs and more universal personality dimensions into a single personality assessment

In personality factor analysis, what does it mean when a personality scale shows a high cross-loading?

The scale is strongly associated with more than one factor, indicating that it relates to multiple personality dimensions

According to Cheung et al.'s (2001) Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory (CPAI), which of the following are the four major personality factors identified?

Dependability, Chinese Tradition, Social Potency, and Individualism