Intro to Personality Psychology Exam III

According to research by Jokela and colleagues, people high in _______ and ________ prefer to settle in culturally diverse and vibrant urban areas, and report greater well-being if they do, illustrating person-environment fit at a broader scale.

Openness and extraversion

People who score high in _______ and place considerable value on close relationships, choose to live near family and are unlikely to relocate.

Agreeableness

People who live in more mountainous regions tend to be (more/less) introverted than people who live in less mountainous regions. This association is robust to controlling for population density, sunny days, and income

More

Obschonka et al. (2018) examined the impact of coal-based industries on present-day psychological functioning among N = 381,916 residents who live in different regions of England and Wales.

What were the researchers interested in testing? In other words, they proposed that historical local dominance of large-scale coal-based industries might influence present day levels of personality in what ways?

They proposed that historical local dominance of large-scale coal-based industries might influence present-day levels of personality by creating lasting marks on traits, especially due to adversity and economic shifts from the industry's collapse.

People who lived in regions that were historically dominated by large-scale coal industries tended to be lower in which two facets of the Big Five? They tended to be higher in which two facets of the Big Five?

Lower in conscientiousness and extraversion, higher in neuroticism

Nations with higher natural disaster risk scores tended to be ______ (higher/lower) in collectivism compared to nations with lower natural disaster risk scores. Why is this the case?

Higher, because collective efforts and interdependence are adaptive responses to recurrent disasters, fostering stronger.

Which two of the Big Five traits are most useful for predicting political behavior, whether people will vote for a conservative versus liberal candidate?

Openness for liberals and conscientiousness for conservatives

Compared to East Asians, European Americans place (greater/lesser) value on experiencing high arousal positive emotions, such as excitement, joy, and ecstasy.

Greater

_______ refers to cultures with with strict social norms and high levels of punishment for nonconformity

Tightness

High levels of tightness tend to develop in nations or regions that have faced (greater/less) historical and ecological threats. For example, nations that are relatively high in tightness tend to have (higher/lower) food deprivation, (more/less) natural disasters such as floods and droughts, and have had (more/less) territorial threats from their neighbors throughout their history, relative to looser nations.

Greater, higher, more, more

Nations with high levels of tightness have (more/less) laws placing controls on media communication, (more/fewer) political rights and civil liberties, and (less severe/stricter) punishments for violating laws.

More, fewer, stricter

oOn average, people who live in nations that are relatively high in tightness tend to report (higher/lower) dutifulness and self-regulation, (higher/lower) needs for structure, and (higher/lower) self-monitoring, compared to people in looser nations.

Higher, higher, higher

_______ refers to the degree to which people can freely choose their social relations, or alternatively, relations are ascribed (Kitayama & Salvador, 2024).

Relational mobility

Describe the features of a nation or society characterized by low and high levels of relational mobility

Low Relational Mobility: people develop lifelong relationships but have few options to develop new ones, show greater social cautiousness in order to avoid conflict

High Relational Mobility: people have many options to find new social partners, making it easier to leave old friends behind and make new friends

On average, Latin American nations tend to be:

Relatively (high/low) in collectivism

Relatively (high/low) in tightness

Relatively (high/low) in relational mobility

High, low, high

When something bad happened to another person, people who lived in Latin American nations expressed significantly greater (positive socially engaging/negative socially engaging/positive socially disengaging /negative socially disengaging) emotion, emotions like _______ relative to people who lived in the U.S.

Positive socially engaging, guilt

I’d rather depend on myself than others

Horizontal individualism

It is important that I do my job better than others

Vertical individualism

It is my duty to take care of my family, even when I have to sacrifice what I want

Vertical collectivism

The well being of my coworkers is important to me

Horizontal collectivism

o Which 2 of the 4 dimensions above are positively associated with prejudice towards outgroups? In other words, people who score higher on these dimensions tend to show greater prejudice towards members of outgroups (i.e., people who do not share their identities)?

Vertical individualism and vertical collectivism

In dignity cultures, a person’s worth is perceived as inherent and cannot be taken away by others. (True/False)

True

In honor cultures, anti-social behavior is regulated _____ and people’s behavior is guided by BOTH ______ (i.e., expectation to repay personal favors) and ________ (i.e., norm of retaliating directly against insults)·    

Socially, reciprocity, and retribution

Leung & Cohen (2011) found that, compared to people who grew up in a non-honor culture, people who grew up in an honor culture and endorsed retaliatory violence (assessed via their ratings of the videos) devoted (much greater/ far less) effort in attempting to return a disc/valued object to a (fake) participant who had shared candy with them.

Much greater

Chinese students at The Chinese University of Hong Kong rated themselves as being (significantly higher/ significantly lower/ about the same) in creativity if the confederate (fake participant) saw their high-score sheet, compared to the condition in which the confederate (fake participant) saw their low-score sheet.

Significantly lower

White students at the University of Illinois rated themselves as being (significantly higher/ significantly lower/ about the same) in creativity if the confederate (fake participant) saw their high-score sheet, compared to the condition in which the confederate (fake participant) saw their low-score sheet.

About the same

These findings illustrate the importance given to group members’ perceptions of one’s worth, skills, and reputation in (dignity/ face/ honor) cultures.

Face

The ___________ describes how people tend to see greater variation, or individual differences, among members of their own group, and perceive members of outgroups to be more similar to one another, or “all the same.”

Outgroup homogeneity effect

What are the three components of subjective well-being (SWB)? Which of these three components shows the greatest test-retest stability, and is considered to be a “trait”?

Life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect. Life satisfaction can be considered a trait

On average, people tend to “adapt” or bounce back to their equilibrium of happiness more quickly after experiencing (positive/negative) events.

Positive

According to the Hedonic Adaptation Prevention (HAP) Model, there are two pathways through which adaptation occurs, or we return to our equilibrium of well-being following a positive change in our lives (e.g., starting a new job, entering into a romantic relationship, etc.). What are those two pathways? Provide a real-life example of each.

Two pathways are declines in positive events or emotions (getting used to a pay raise and no longer feel happy about it) and satisfaction treadmill (entering a relationship but later focus on partners flaws instead of the initial joy

Research that has examined the sources of well-being across cultures has found that self-esteem is a stronger predictor of life satisfaction in (individualistic/collectivistic) cultures.

Individualistic

Soto & Luhmann (2013) tested whether the associations between fluctuations in people’s incomes (increases or decreases) and changes in life satisfaction might be moderated, or depend on, people’s levels of the Big Five traits. Which of the Big Five traits was particularly important for understanding how people differed in their responses to increases/decreases in their income? How did this trait moderate the trends they observed?

Neuroticism was the trait, people high in neuroticism were more sensitive to income decreases and less response to income increases

What are the three components of meaning in life, as studied by psychologists?

Coherence, purpose, and significance

Approximately what percentage of people report that their lives are meaningful?

90%

In a set of two studies, Heintzelman and colleagues (2013) presented participants with a series of 16 photos of trees. The trees were either presented in a seasonal order (spring, summer, fall, winter [then repeat]), or in an arbitrary order of four cycles, none of which conformed to seasonal patterns. People who viewed the trees in seasonal order reported significantly (higher/lower) meaning in life than people who viewed the images in a random order. These findings illustrate which of the three components of meaning in life?

Higher, coherence

Cyberball is a classic paradigm used to set up a situation of (faked) social exclusion in the lab. People are led to believe that they are playing a ball-tossing online game with two other participants. A short while into the game, the other two (fake) participants stop passing the participant the ball, and the participant sits there being excluded until the game ends. One of the most, if not the most, consistent effects of being socially excluded is a drop in (which of the three components of meaning in life?).

Significance

If people are told that their exclusion was being executed randomly by a computer (Zadro et al., 2004), they (still show a significant drop in feelings that their existence matters/ they no longer show a significant drop in feelings that their existence matters).

Still show

If people are able to keep more money if they are passed the ball fewer times (van Beest & Williams, 2006), they (still show a significant drop in feelings that their existence matters/ they no longer show a significant drop in feelings that their existence matters).

Still show

King et al. (2006) recruited participants for a week-long daily diary study. Participants provided ratings of their daily positive affect, daily negative affect, and daily meaning in life. At the end of the study, the researchers asked participants to reflect back on the past week and rate their global meaning in life. They found that the strongest predictor of global meaning in life was …..

Daily positive mood not daily meaning in life

Conscientiousness is consistently linked to (increased/ reduced) risk for physical illnesses; +1 SD conscientiousness is associated with a ___ reduced mortality risk, or risk of dying (i.e., Turiano et al., 2015). Research shows:

Reduced, 13%, more exercise, engage in few risky behaviors, report lower levels of alcohol consumption, get higher quality sleep

Neuroticism is consistently linked to (increased/ reduced) risk for physical illnesses; ; +1 SD neuroticism is associated with a 10% greater mortality risk, or risk of dying (i.e., based on N = 491,323 U.K. participants; Deason et al., 2025). Research has shown that:

Increased, increased levels of alcohol, exposed to more stressful situations

Depression and anxiety disorders show a (high/ moderate / low) degree of comorbidity.

High

Neuroticism shares a genetic correlation of ____ with depression and ____ with anxiety disorders. What does this mean?

.40, .50, this means that people who are genetically predisposed to higher neuroticism are also more likely to be genetically vulnerable to these disorders.

In the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiToP), symptoms of major depression, anxiety disorders, phobias, eating disorders, and PTSD cluster together under the broader ______ spectrum, which is highly correlated with the trait ______

Internalizing, neuroticism

In HiToP, substance use disorders, antisocial behavior, and conduct problems cluster together under the broader ______ spectrum.

Externalizing

Antisocial personality disorder is, for the most part, a combination of traits from ______ (e.g., deceitfulness, manipulative, callousness) and ______- (e.g., impulsivity, irresponsibility, theft, impatient urgency), which correspond to low levels of ___________ respectively.

Antagonism, disinhibition, agreeableness and conscientiousness

_______ personality disorder is characterized by a pervasive pattern of detachment from social relationships, a tendency to withdraw from social interactions, and a limited range of emotional expression in interpersonal settings. This personality disorder is associated with _______

Schizoid, low extraversion

Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) has been shown to be particularly effective in treating which personality disorder?

Borderline personality disorder

Describe some of the core components and strategies used in dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT).

Mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness

In general, individuals with personality disorders are (more/less) likely to seek treatment or therapy, compared to people who have other psychological disorders. Why is this the case?

Less, they may not perceive themselves as needing help, and their symptoms are often ego-syntonic—meaning the traits feel like a natural part of who they are, rather than something distressing or out of place.

According to the Hedonic Adaptation Prevention (HAP) Model, what are the two ways in which we can prevent or slow adaptation, or the return to our equilibrium or baseline of well-being, following positive life changes? Give an example of how you might implement each of these strategies.

Slowing down or reducing the frequency of positive experiences (Slowed Hedonic Adaptation): By spacing out or savoring positive experiences, we allow ourselves to fully appreciate them and prevent them from becoming routine.
Example: Instead of eating your favorite dessert every night, enjoy it once a week as a treat to maintain its specialness.

Continuously varying the experience or focusing on appreciating new aspects (Variety and Appreciation): Introducing novelty or shifting focus can renew excitement and gratitude.
Example: If you’ve started a new relationship, you might explore different activities together or take time to reflect on unique qualities of your partner that you’re grateful for.

Provide a brief (3 sentences) description of Markus & Kitayama’s (2013) framework describing the mutual constitution of cultures and selves. In your description, comment on the differences between interdependent and independent self-construals.

Markus & Kitayama’s (2013) framework describes the mutual constitution of cultures and selves, emphasizing that culture and individual psychology shape each other in an ongoing cycle. People in independent self-construal cultures (e.g., U.S., Western Europe) define themselves as autonomous and unique, prioritizing personal goals and self-expression. In contrast, those in interdependent self-construal cultures (e.g., East Asia, Latin America) define themselves in terms of social roles and relationships, emphasizing harmony and group goals.