Test Bank for Theories of Personality 11th Edition Schultz
Chapter 1—Personality: What It Is and Why You Should Care
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. We research theories of personality to:
a. | establish one of them as superior amongst all. |
b. | describe their use for real-world problems. |
c. | show how personality theories are superior to any other theories. |
d. | generalize that all people are the same across cultures. |
ANS: B
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Take a Look at the Word
REF: 2
FEEDBACK: We discuss research conducted on these theories of personality to describe their use for real-world problems of diagnosis and therapy. It's important to recognize that personality theorists from the last century rarely considered the importance of ethnic and cultural differences.
2. Which of the following is true about personality?
a. | Personality is a characteristic exhibited by only a few people. |
b. | Personality can limit or expand the choices one has in life. |
c. | Personality is characterized by most psychologists as either terrific or terrible. |
d. | Personality remains constant in all circumstances. |
ANS: B
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Take a Look at the Word
REF: 2
FEEDBACK: Your personality can limit or expand your options and choices in life, prevent you from sharing certain experiences, or enable you to take full advantage of them. It restricts, constrains, and holds back some people and opens up the world of new opportunities to others.
3. Which of the following statements can be used to sum up personality?
a. | Personality is how we perceive ourselves and also how others perceive us. |
b. | Personality shows that we are deterministic, mechanical, and do not change throughout our lives. |
c. | Personality is entirely the reflection of fantasies and past recollections of repressed memories. |
d. | Personality is entirely based on how we were treated during our childhood years. |
ANS: A
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Take a Look at the Word
REF: 4
FEEDBACK: One psychologist suggested that we can get a very good idea of the meaning of personality if we examine our intentions—what we mean—whenever we use the word I. Our personality can also be defined in terms of the impression we make on others—that is, what we appear to be.
4. Around 1500, the Latin word persona was used to refer to:
a. | a person's mechanistic behavior. | c. | a mask used by actors in a play. |
b. | predictable and automatic responses. | d. | a robe worn by noblemen. |
ANS: C
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Take a Look at the Word
REF: 4
FEEDBACK: The word personality goes back to about the year 1500 and derives from the Latin word persona, which refers to a mask used by actors in a play. It's easy to see how persona came to refer to our outward appearance, the public face we display to the people around us.
5. Identify a true statement about an individual's personality.
a. | It can be stable and predictable. | c. | It is based on personal traits and behavior. |
b. | It is generally resistant to sudden changes. | d. | All of these are correct. |
ANS: D
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Take a Look at the Word
REF: 5
FEEDBACK: We assume that personality is relatively stable and predictable. Sometimes our personality can vary with the situation. Yet although it is not rigid, it is generally resistant to sudden changes.
6. The personality of an individual is _____.
a. | completely based on self-perception | c. | a unique cluster of characteristics |
b. | unstable and unpredictable | d. | determined at birth and stays unchanged |
ANS: C
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Take a Look at the Word
REF: 6
FEEDBACK: Personality is an enduring and unique cluster of characteristics that may change in response to different situations. We see similarities among people, yet we sense that each of us possesses special properties that distinguish us from all others.
7. Which of the following is true of people using social networking sites, such as Facebook?
a. | They tend to portray an idealized self-image of themselves. |
b. | They feel they are able to express their true selves. |
c. | They have a tendency to present themselves as much more emotionally stable. |
d. | All of these are correct. |
ANS: D
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Personality and the Social Media
REF: 6
FEEDBACK: Increasingly, many of us display another face, not in person, but through the Internet on social networking Web sites such as Facebook. Some research suggests that most people are honest about their online faces. A recent large-scale study in Germany found that many people have a tendency to present themselves online as being much more emotionally stable than they really are (Blumer & Doring, 2012).
8. Research that was conducted in diverse countries, such as the Netherlands, Serbia, Hong Kong, and Korea, suggests that those who have a high level of social network use are _____ than those who use it less.
a. | more introverted |
b. | less irritable |
c. | less anxious |
d. | more emotionally stable |
ANS: A
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Personality and the Social Media
REF: 7
FEEDBACK: Psychologists have found that the use of online social networking sites like Facebook can both shape and reflect our personalities. Studies conducted in such diverse countries as the Netherlands, Serbia, Hong Kong, and Korea have demonstrated that those who reported excessive use of social media tend to be more lonely, introverted, and low in self-esteem than those who use it less.
9. Which of the following is true of the personality differences among cell phone users as discovered by research?
a. | Those who were less conscientious spent more time texting than those who were more conscientious. |
b. | Individuals with a weak sense of self-identity spent much more time making calls than individuals who scored higher on that personality characteristic. |
c. | Those who were shy spent less time texting when compared to those who were extraverted. |
d. | Introverts spent much more time changing their ring tones and wallpapers than extraverts. |
ANS: A
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Personality and the Social Media
REF: 8
FEEDBACK: Studies found that those who were more neurotic and less conscientious and shy spent more time texting on their phones than those who were less neurotic and more conscientious. Research involving teenagers and adults in Australia found that extraverts and those with a strong sense of self-identity spent much more time making calls and changing their ring tones and wallpaper than those scoring lower on these personality characteristics.
10. In the past, _____ were more likely to be used in research on personality theory.
a. | White women | c. | White men |
b. | Latino men | d. | Black men |
ANS: C
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: The Role of Race and Gender in Shaping Personality
REF: 8
FEEDBACK: In the field of personality theory, virtually all the patients and subjects the earlier theories were based on were White. Also, the majority of the patients and subjects were men. Yet, the personality theorists confidently offered theories that were supposed to be valid for all people, regardless of gender, race, or ethnic origin.
11. Which of the following is true of the assumptions made by early personality theorists?
a. | Personality theories were valid for all people, regardless of gender and race. |
b. | Siblings growing up together had highly identical personality types. |
c. | Social and environmental forces do not have any effect on shaping personality. |
d. | A person's ethnic background largely influences his or her personality. |
ANS: A
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: The Role of Race and Gender in Shaping Personality
REF: 8
FEEDBACK: The personality theorists confidently offered theories that were supposed to be valid for all people, regardless of gender, race, or ethnic origin. Although the theorists accepted, to some degree, the importance of social and environmental forces in shaping personality, they tended to ignore or minimize the influence of gender and ethnic background.
12. Girls and boys are usually reared according to:
a. | the norms of the neighborhood where they were raised. |
b. | the explicit wishes of the grandparents. |
c. | books on parenting. |
d. | traditional stereotypes. |
ANS: D
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: The Role of Race and Gender in Shaping Personality
REF: 9
FEEDBACK: We know that boys and girls are usually reared according to traditional gender stereotypes, and this upbringing also influences personality in different ways. Research has documented many differences between men and women on specific personality factors.
13. The research conducted by Barrett, Lane, Sechrest, and Schwartz (2000) suggests that:
a. | men are more concerned with what people think of them than women do. |
b. | women exhibit greater emotional complexity than men. |
c. | women are more resistant to emotional disorders than men. |
d. | men are more likely to suffer from anxiety than women. |
ANS: B
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: The Role of Race and Gender in Shaping Personality
REF: 9
FEEDBACK: One large-scale study of the intensity of emotional awareness and expression compared male and female college undergraduates at two American universities and male and female students at medical schools in the United States and in Germany. The results showed that women from both countries displayed greater emotional complexity and intensity than did men (Barrett, Lane, Sechrest, & Schwartz, 2000).
14. Which of the following statements is true of research on the effect of culture in shaping personality?
a. | European Americans displayed a far greater number of negative emotions than did the Asian Americans. |
b. | Recent Chinese immigrants to Canada scored significantly higher in extraversion than those who have been living for past ten or more years. |
c. | Brain wave activity in response to a particular visual stimulus has been found to be the same among people from all cultures. |
d. | In general, people from Western cultures are more optimistic than people from Eastern cultures. |
ANS: D
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: The Role of Culture in Shaping Personality
REF: 9
FEEDBACK: Western people in general, and Americans, in particular, also exhibit greater optimism and view themselves and their future more positively. They even consider their sports teams, cities, and friends to be superior, when compared to those of Asian cultures (Endo, Heine, & Lehman, 2000).
15. The concept of karma:
a. | may be seen as a deterministic view of human nature by Buddhists. |
b. | emphasizes free choice and action. |
c. | encourages an active, rebellious personality type. |
d. | has shaped the beliefs of many Islamic communities. |
ANS: A
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: The Role of Culture in Shaping Personality
REF: 10
FEEDBACK: The concept of karma has for centuries shaped the outlook of the people of India and other countries that accept Hinduism or Buddhism. It may be seen as a fatalistic and deterministic view of human nature.
16. A person from a collectivist society is more likely to focus on:
a. | group values. | c. | competitiveness. |
b. | assertiveness. | d. | self-enhancement. |
ANS: A
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: The Role of Culture in Shaping Personality
REF: 10
FEEDBACK: In an individualistic society, the focus is on personal freedom, choice, and action. In a collectivist society, the focus is on group norms and values, group role expectations, and other cultural constraints on behavior.
17. Identify a cultural difference between individualism and collectivism.
a. | The levels of anxiety and depression have been found to be higher in collectivistic cultures than in the individualistic ones. |
b. | Individualism has traditionally been encouraged in Asian cultures. |
c. | Collectivism has traditionally been encouraged in Western cultures. |
d. | The levels of anxiety and depression have been found to be lower in collectivistic cultures than in individualistic ones. |
ANS: D
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: The Role of Culture in Shaping Personality
REF: 10
FEEDBACK: Individual competitiveness and assertiveness are often seen as undesirable and contrary to Asian cultural standards. Western cultures are typically depicted as the opposite. Genetic differences between people in collectivistic versus individualistic cultures have been linked to lower levels of anxiety and depression in collectivistic cultures and higher levels in individualistic cultures.
18. A study on child-rearing practices in different cultures and their effects on personality concluded that:
a. | restrictive parental practices adversely affected the mental health and emotional well-being of Arab teenagers. |
b. | the effect child-rearing practices have on the development of personality is neutralized by the time an individual reaches adolescence. |
c. | parents in individualistic cultures tended to be noncoercive, democratic, and permissive. |
d. | Chinese mothers living in Canada were found to be less authoritarian in raising their children than non-Chinese mothers in Canada. |
ANS: C
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: The Role of Culture in Shaping Personality
REF: 11
FEEDBACK: In the individualistic culture of the United States, parents tend to be noncoercive, democratic, and permissive in their child-rearing techniques. In collectivist cultures, such as Asian and Arab societies, parental practices tend to be more authoritarian, restrictive, and controlling.
19. Which of the following is true of self-enhancement?
a. | It is prevalent among Nordic cultures. | c. | It is defined as the tendency to make one conspicuous. |
b. | It is defined as the process of administering rewards or punishments to oneself. | d. | It is genetically induced and determined at birth. |
ANS: C
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: The Role of Culture in Shaping Personality
REF: 11
FEEDBACK: Self-enhancement is defined as the tendency to promote oneself aggressively and make one conspicuous. The opposite of that, self-effacement, is considered to be more in agreement with the cultural values of Asian and Nordic societies.
20. Which of the following is a problem limiting the applicability of cross-cultural personality research?
a. | Much less research has been conducted on personality in English-speaking countries than in Latin America. | c. | The majority of the research on personality has been done on children and the aged in Latin America. |
b. | Much of the personality research that has been done in other languages have not been made widely available in English-language sources. | d. | The majority of the research on personality conducted in the English-speaking countries has not been well-documented until very recently. |
ANS: B
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: The Role of Culture in Shaping Personality
REF: 12
FEEDBACK: Much less research has been conducted on personality in African and South American nations than in English-speaking countries, or in many of the countries of Europe and Asia. Also, much of the research that has been conducted among those populations has not been made widely available in English-language sources.
21. A limiting factor in the applicability of cross-cultural research of personality is that subjects:
a. | demand exorbitantly high amounts to participate in research studies. |
b. | easily conform to how a researcher wants them to respond. |
c. | are mostly American college students. |
d. | are mostly children and adolescents in treatment. |
ANS: C
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: The Role of Culture in Shaping Personality
REF: 12
FEEDBACK: A problem limiting the applicability of cross-cultural personality research is that the majority of studies in personality use American college students as subjects. Much less research has been conducted on personality in African and South American nations than in English-speaking countries, or in many of the countries of Europe and Asia.
22. Which of the following is true of the principle of reliability that is used in personality assessment?
a. | It involves the consistency of response to an assessment device. |
b. | It is an indicator of the validity of an assessment technique. |
c. | It is an assessment device measuring what it is expected to measure. |
d. | It involves selecting the most accurate score from a group of results. |
ANS: A
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 13
FEEDBACK: Reliability involves the consistency of response to an assessment device. It is common to find some slight variation in scores when a test is taken a second time, but if the variation is large, then something is wrong with the test or with the method of scoring it.
23. Which question best clarifies the meaning of validity?
a. | Has the test been taken by many people? |
b. | Does the student know what is on the test? |
c. | Does the test measure what it is intended to measure? |
d. | Are the results of the test consistent? |
ANS: C
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 13
FEEDBACK: Validity refers to whether an assessment device measures what it is intended to measure. If a test does not measure what it claims to, then it is not valid and its results cannot be used to predict behavior.
24. Which of the following approaches to personality assessment involves asking people to give an account of and answer questions about their behavior and feelings in various situations?
a. | Behavioral assessment procedures | c. | Experience sampling procedures |
b. | Projective techniques | d. | Self-report personality tests |
ANS: D
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 14
FEEDBACK: The self-report inventory or test approach involves asking people to report on themselves by answering questions about their behavior and feelings in various situations. These tests include items dealing with symptoms, attitudes, interests, fears, and values.
25. The most widely used self-report personality test is the:
a. | Rorschach Inkblot Technique. | c. | Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. |
b. | Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. | d. | Thematic Apperception Test. |
ANS: B
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 14
FEEDBACK: The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) has been translated into more than 140 languages and is the world's most widely used psychological test. The MMPI is a true-false test that consists of 567 statements.
26. In 1992, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-A (MMPI-A) was developed for use with _____.
a. | adults | c. | children |
b. | adolescents | d. | illiterates |
ANS: B
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 14
FEEDBACK: In 1992, the MMPI-A was developed for use with adolescents. The number of questions was decreased from 567 to 478, to reduce the time and effort needed to administer it.
27. For which of the following is the MMPI is not appropriate?
a. | For those with lower intelligence | c. | For children |
b. | For those with lower reading skills | d. | All of these are correct. |
ANS: D
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 15
FEEDBACK: Although there are self-report inventories to assess many facets of personality, the tests are not always appropriate for people whose level of intelligence is below normal, or for those with limited reading skills. Even minor changes in the wording of the questions or the response alternatives on self-report measures can lead to major changes in the results.
28. Self-report measures of personality are advantageous because:
a. | they are designed to be taken by both children and adults. |
b. | they are designed for people of all ranges of intelligence. |
c. | they are designed and automated to be scored quickly. |
d. | they are designed for people with all ranges of reading ability. |
ANS: C
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 15
FEEDBACK: Despite the problems involved in self-report inventories, these still remain the most objective approach to personality assessment. Their greatest advantage is that they are designed to be scored objectively and quickly through automated personality assessment programs, providing a complete diagnostic profile of the test-taker's responses.
29. A main reason for administering an online self-report inventory is that:
a. | it prevents test-takers from looking ahead at questions. |
b. | the scoring is highly subjective. |
c. | it allows test-takers to change answers already given. |
d. | the method is easily understood by children. |
ANS: A
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 16
FEEDBACK: It has been found that most of us are significantly more likely to reveal sensitive, even potentially embarrassing, information when responding online to self-report inventories than to paper-and-pencil tests given in person by a live test administrator. Understandably, many people feel a greater sense of anonymity and privacy when interacting with a computer and so reveal more personal information.
30. Projective techniques are used to assess personality by:
a. | having individuals associate personal needs, fears, and values onto an ambiguous stimulus. |
b. | observing the behavior of individuals in a given situation. |
c. | talking to individuals being evaluated and asking relevant questions about problems that led them to seek psychological help. |
d. | recording individuals' thoughts and providing samples over a period of time. |
ANS: A
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 16
FEEDBACK: The theory underlying projective techniques is that when we are presented with an ambiguous stimulus, like an inkblot or a picture that can be interpreted in more than one way, we will project our innermost needs, fears, and values onto the stimulus when we're asked to describe it. Because the interpretation of the results of projective tests is so subjective, these tests are not high in reliability or validity.
31. A projective test of personality:
a. | clearly describes an objective assessment of personality. |
b. | has low inter-scorer reliability and validity. |
c. | was initially based on the behavioral theory of personality. |
d. | is consistent across circumstances and individuals taking the test. |
ANS: B
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 16
FEEDBACK: Because the interpretation of the results of projective tests is so subjective, these tests are not high in reliability or validity. It is not unusual for different people giving the test to form quite different impressions of the same person, based on the results of a projective test. In such a case, the inter-scorer reliability of the test is low.
32. In research for the Rorschach, conclusions on validity and reliability are _____.
a. | mixed | c. | absolute |
b. | highly consistent | d. | largely positive |
ANS: A
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 17
FEEDBACK: There is no universal agreement about the Rorschach's usefulness and validity, even with the Comprehensive System for scoring. Some researchers have concluded that there is no scientific basis for the Rorschach; others insist that the test is as valid as any other personality assessment measure.
33. The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is a projective technique that _____.
a. | is a highly valid and reliable test |
b. | is highly objective and easy to interpret |
c. | consists of 19 ambiguous pictures and 1 blank card |
d. | consists of multiple-choice and true-false questions |
ANS: C
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 18
FEEDBACK: Two popular projective tests are the Rorschach Inkblot Technique and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). There are no objective scoring systems for the TAT, and its reliability and validity are low when used for diagnostic purposes.
34. The Rorschach Inkblot Technique:
a. | was an instant success at the time of its publication. |
b. | is used to objectively interpret the values, needs, and fears of a person. |
c. | can be used with greater confidence than the MMPI for ethnic minority groups. |
d. | is rated lower than the MMPI in validity research. |
ANS: D
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 18
FEEDBACK: Overall, validity research is generally more supportive of the MMPI than of the Rorschach. Thus, the MMPI can be used with greater confidence, especially for ethnic minority groups and diverse cultural groups.
35. The Thematic Apperception Test was developed by:
a. | Sigmund Freud. | c. | Carl Jung. |
b. | Morgan and Murray. | d. | John Watson. |
ANS: B
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 18
FEEDBACK: Henry Murray and Christiana Morgan developed the TAT (Morgan & Murray, 1935). The test consists of 19 ambiguous pictures, showing one or more persons, and 1 blank card.
36. In thought and experience assessment, _____.
a. | response words are analyzed for their commonplace or unusual nature |
b. | subjects are asked relevant questions about the problems that led them to seek psychological help |
c. | subjects are presumed to project personal needs, fears, and values onto their interpretation or description of an ambiguous stimulus |
d. | the observer and the person being observed are the same |
ANS: D
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 19
FEEDBACK: In thought and experience assessment, the observer and the person being observed are the same. Because thoughts are private experiences and cannot be seen by anyone else, the only person who can make this type of observation is the individual whose thoughts are being studied.
37. In the context of assessment of personality, identify a true statement about research on gender and ethnic issues.
a. | Girls exhibit higher levels of depression than boys in the same age group. |
b. | Women tend to score lower than men on tests measuring assertiveness. |
c. | Women are more often diagnosed with depression than are men. |
d. | All of these are correct. |
ANS: D
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 20
FEEDBACK: Whatever the cause, personality test results often show differences between males and females on a number of characteristics and at every age. For example, women tend to score lower than men on tests measuring assertiveness and a study of 474 children, median age 11, reported that girls showed a higher level of depression and a greater concern with what other people thought of them than boys did.
38. In the context of the effect of ethnicity on personality assessment, Asians _____.
a. | tend to score low on collectivism |
b. | tend to view any form of mental disorder as a shameful condition |
c. | tend to avoid self-effacement and view it negatively |
d. | tend to score low on self-criticism |
ANS: B
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 21
FEEDBACK: Asian Americans tend to view any form of mental disorder as a shameful condition that they are embarrassed to admit. As a result, they are less likely to seek treatment from a therapist or counselor for emotional problems.
39. In the context of the ethnic issues that affect personality assessment, Hispanics tend to:
a. | constantly seek therapy compared to Whites and other minority groups. |
b. | never follow up on their first visit by returning for additional sessions. |
c. | avoid doctors who are from the same ethnic and racial background as themselves. |
d. | keep their distress hidden and only reveal this distress to close family members. |
ANS: B
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 21, 22
FEEDBACK: Asian Americans tend to view any form of mental disorder as a shameful condition that they are embarrassed to admit. As a result, they are less likely to seek treatment from a therapist or counselor for emotional problems. Among Hispanics who do seek counseling, half never follow up on their first visit by returning for additional sessions (Dingfelder, 2005).
40. Which of the following statements characterizes the Hispanic population with respect to personality assessment?
a. | Hispanics tend to seek help for their mental condition from personnel of other ethnicities in order to avoid potential embarrassment in their own community. |
b. | Hispanics are highly individualistic and tend to score high on self-enhancement. |
c. | Compared to Blacks, Hispanics score considerably higher on suspicion and lack of trust in other people. |
d. | Compared to Whites, there is a higher rate of PTSD symptoms among Hispanic civilian survivors with physical injuries. |
ANS: D
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 23
FEEDBACK: A study of civilian survivors with physical injuries also found a higher rate of PTSD symptoms among Hispanics as compared to Whites. The collectivist orientation may help explain the higher rates of PTSD found in a study of Hispanic police officers when compared to Black officers and non-Hispanic White officers.
41. Which of following is true of the problems regarding the cross-cultural application of personality assessment techniques?
a. | Responding to questions in a true-false format or multiple-choice format, which is natural to American college students, may be an awkward or alien way of answering in other cultures. |
b. | The TAT cannot be used effectively in Nordic cultures because of the Nordic prohibitions against representing humans in pictorial form. |
c. | Due to the ongoing ethnic tensions in the Arab world, there has been a steady decline in the number of personality tests, developed in America, being successfully translated into Arabic. |
d. | People of European origin may reflect mistrust or interpersonal wariness due to pervasive discrimination and perceived racism. |
ANS: A
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 24
FEEDBACK: Although some personality tests have been translated for use in other cultures, there are potential problems with their cross-cultural application. Responding to items in a true-false format or multiple-choice format seems natural to American college students, who have been taking these types of tests since childhood. To others, it may be an awkward and alien way of answering questions.
42. In the context of the clinical method used in personality research, a _____ refers to a detailed history of an individual that contains data from a variety of sources.
a. | primary disclosure document | c. | consent form |
b. | white paper | d. | case study |
ANS: D
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Research in the Study of Personality
REF: 24
FEEDBACK: The major methods used in personality research are the clinical method, the experimental method, virtual research, and the correlational method. The primary clinical method is the case study or case history, in which psychologists probe their patients' past and present lives for clues to the source of their emotional problems.
43. In the context of the personality research methods, _____ is a technique for determining the effect of one or more variables on behavior.
a. | an experiment | c. | a projective test |
b. | a case study | d. | a clinical observation |
ANS: A
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Research in the Study of Personality
REF: 25
FEEDBACK: An experiment is a technique for determining the effect of one or more variables or events on behavior. When psychologists want to determine the effect of just one stimulus variable, they arrange an experimental situation in which only that variable is allowed to operate.
44. In experimental research, the _____ variable is the one manipulated by the experimenter.
a. | independent | c. | external |
b. | dependent | d. | internal |
ANS: A
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Research in the Study of Personality
REF: 25
FEEDBACK: There are two kinds of variables in an experiment. One is the independent or stimulus variable, which is the one manipulated by the experimenter. The other is the dependent variable, which is the subjects' behavior in response to that manipulation.
45. Online or virtual research is advantageous because:
a. | there are objective and reliable sources, such as Wikipedia. |
b. | online samples are almost truly representative of a population as a whole. |
c. | studies conducted on the Web are cheaper and lead to faster responses. |
d. | subjects provide honest and accurate answers related to questions about age, race, and income. |
ANS: C
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Research in the Study of Personality
REF: 27
FEEDBACK: Virtual research offers advantages over traditional experimental research. Studies conducted on the Web produce faster responses, are less costly, and have the potential to reach a broader range of subjects of different ages, levels of education, employment, income, social class, and ethnic origin.
46. The correlational method of research:
a. | employs inkblots to assess an individual's psychological makeup. |
b. | involves exposing one of two groups to the stimulus variable. |
c. | requires people to describe ambiguous pictures to understand how they feel and think. |
d. | measures the relationship between two variables. |
ANS: D
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Research in the Study of Personality
REF: 27
FEEDBACK: Correlation method is a statistical technique that measures the degree of the relationship between two variables, expressed by the correlation coefficient. Rather than manipulating an independent variable, the experimenters deal with the variable's existing attributes.
47. The primary limitation of the correlation method deals with:
a. | solving the highly complex results. | c. | determining cause and effect. |
b. | using statistical analysis. | d. | analyzing the experimental variables. |
ANS: C
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Research in the Study of Personality
REF: 28
FEEDBACK: The primary limitation of the correlational method relates to the matter of cause and effect. Just because two variables show a high correlation with each other, we cannot conclude that one has caused the other.
48. Which of the following is true about the role of theories in the study of personality?
a. | Theories disrupt the order data brings in, helping to create more possibilities. |
b. | Theories often turn out to be contradictions of reality. |
c. | Theories provide vague, abstract, and speculative ideas. |
d. | Theories help us to understand, predict, and change behavior. |
ANS: D
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: The Role of Theory in Personality Theories
REF: 30
FEEDBACK: Theories should help us to understand and predict behavior. Those theories that can be tested and can explain, understand, and predict behavior may then be applied to help people change their behaviors, feelings, and emotions from harmful to helpful, from undesirable to desirable.
49. _____ refers to the view that personality is basically fixed in the early years of life and subject to little change thereafter.
a. | Natural selection | c. | Attribution theory |
b. | Historical determinism | d. | Social exchange theory |
ANS: B
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Questions about Human Nature: What Are We Like?
REF: 32
FEEDBACK: According to historical determinism, our personality is mostly fixed by the age of 5 or so and is subject to little change over the rest of our life. The adult personality is determined by the nature of these early experiences.
TRUE/FALSE
1. Personality accounts for the large and small ways in which an individual is different from everybody else.
ANS: T
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Take a Look at the Word
REF: 1
FEEDBACK: Personality is everything about us that makes us what we are are—unique individuals who are different, in large and small ways, from everybody else. According to a standard dictionary definition, personality is defined as the characteristics and qualities that form a person's distinctive character.
2. Those who feel they are able to express their true selves are more active on Facebook and other social media sites than those who do not feel that way about themselves.
ANS: T
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Personality and the Social Media
REF: 6–7
FEEDBACK: It has also been found that those who feel they are able to express their true selves are more active on Facebook and other social media sites than those who do not feel that way about themselves (Seidman, 2014). Increasingly, many of us display another face, not in person, but through the Internet on social networking Web sites such as Facebook.
3. Rearing of girls and boys according to traditional gender stereotypes plays a major role in shaping their personalities in different ways.
ANS: T
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: The Role of Race and Gender in Shaping Personality
REF: 9
FEEDBACK: Boys and girls are usually reared according to traditional gender stereotypes, and this upbringing also influences personality in different ways. Research has documented many differences between men and women on specific personality factors.
4. The reliability of assessment techniques is concerned with whether a test measures what it is intended to measure.
ANS: F
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 13
FEEDBACK: Reliability involves the consistency of response to an assessment device. Validity refers to whether an assessment device measures what it is intended to measure.
5. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is considered a projective measure of personality assessment.
ANS: F
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 14
FEEDBACK: There are a number of self-report personality tests in use today, but one of the most useful is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). The MMPI is a true-false test that consists of 567 statements.
6. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is not appropriate for people with limited reading skills.
ANS: T
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 15
FEEDBACK: Although there are self-report inventories to assess many facets of personality, the tests are not always appropriate for people whose level of intelligence is below normal, or for those with limited reading skills. Even minor changes in the wording of the questions or the response alternatives on self-report measures can lead to major changes in the results.
7. A test-taker tends to make himself or herself appear acceptable and socially desirable on a self-report inventory.
ANS: T
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 15
FEEDBACK: There is the tendency for test-takers to give answers that appear to be more socially desirable or acceptable, particularly when they are taking tests as part of a job application. When a group of college students took a self-report test with instructions to make themselves appear as good, or as socially acceptable, as possible, they were more careful with their answers and took longer to complete the test than students who were not deliberately trying to look good.
8. Self-report inventories remain the most objective approach to personality assessment.
ANS: T
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 15
FEEDBACK: Self-report inventories remain the most objective approach to personality assessment. Their greatest advantage is that they are designed to be scored objectively and quickly through automated personality assessment programs, providing a complete diagnostic profile of the test-taker's responses.
9. Online testing is less expensive and less time-consuming than conventional classroom tests.
ANS: T
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 16
FEEDBACK: Online testing is less expensive and less time-consuming than conventional classroom tests for both an applicant and an organization. Many employers prefer that job applicants take tests this way as a prescreening method, rather than taking up time and space at the company's office.
10. Significant differences in responses to most self-report inventories have been found between paper-and-pencil tests and the same tests administered online.
ANS: F
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 16
FEEDBACK: No significant differences in responses to most self-report inventories have been found between paper-and-pencil tests and the same tests administered online. It has also been found that most of us are significantly more likely to reveal sensitive, even potentially embarrassing, information when responding online to self-report inventories than to paper-and-pencil tests given in person by a live test administrator.
11. Projective tests are highly accurate and objective in their ability to describe personality.
ANS: F
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 16
FEEDBACK: Because the interpretation of the results of projective tests is so subjective, these tests are not high in reliability or validity. It is not unusual for different people giving the test to form quite different impressions of the same person, based on the results of a projective test.
12. Although projective tests have low reliability and low validity, they are still widely used for assessment and diagnostic purposes.
ANS: T
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 16
FEEDBACK: It is not unusual for different people giving the projective test to form quite different impressions of the same person, based on the results of a projective test. In such a case, the inter-scorer reliability of the test is low. Nevertheless, these tests are widely used for assessment and diagnostic purposes.
13. The Rorschach Inkblot tests, unlike the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), can be widely used for ethnic minorities.
ANS: F
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 18
FEEDBACK: The MMPI can be used with greater confidence, especially for ethnic minority groups and diverse cultural groups. Overall, validity research is generally more supportive of the MMPI than of the Rorschach.
14. Clinical interviews are more systematic than formal behavioral assessment procedures.
ANS: F
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 19
FEEDBACK: In clinical interviews, counselors routinely observe their clients' behavior—considering, for example, facial expressions, nervous gestures, and general appearance—and use that information in formulating their diagnoses. Such observations are less systematic than formal behavioral assessment procedures, but the results can provide valuable insights.
15. Men are more often diagnosed with depression than are women.
ANS: F
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 20
FEEDBACK: Women are more often diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and related disorders than are men. There actually may be a higher incidence of these disorders among women, or the differential rate may be related to gender bias or gender stereotyping in interpreting the assessment results.
ESSAY
1. Discuss the various ways in which personality can be defined.
ANS: One psychologist suggested that we can get a very good idea of the meaning of personality if we examine our intentions—what we mean—whenever we use the word I. The word I is what defines an individual, separate from everybody else.
Another way of trying to understand personality is to look to its source. Personality is derived from the Latin word persona, which refers to a mask used by actors in a play. Based on its derivation, then, we might conclude that personality refers to our external and visible characteristics, those aspects of us that other people can see. Our personality would then be defined in terms of the impression we make on others—that is, what we appear.
We may in our use of the word personality refer to enduring characteristics. We assume that personality is relatively stable and predictable. Sometimes our personality can vary with the situation. Yet although it is not rigid, it is generally resistant to sudden changes.
The definition of personality may also include the idea of human uniqueness. We see similarities among people, yet we sense that each of us possesses special properties that distinguish us from all others. Personality is an enduring and unique cluster of characteristics that may change in response to different situations.
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Take a Look at the Word
REF: 4–6
2. Discuss the ways in which the use of social media and an individual's personality affect each other.
ANS: Our increasing, almost constant use of the various social media to interact with other people in a virtual reality rather than in person has led to a great deal of recent research which attempts to relate our personalities to the online world in which we now live. The three ways in which the use of social media and our personality have been found to affect each other are as follows:
a. Our virtual depiction: Some research suggests that most people are honest about their online faces. Studies conducted in the United States and in Germany found that social networking sites do convey accurate images or impressions of the personality profiles we offer. The researchers concluded that depictions of personalities presented online are at least as accurate as those conveyed in face-to-face interactions. Research has found that more women than men send selfies and that excessive use of them can make the sender less likeable and even reduce the intimacy or closeness of friendships. They can even reinforce the idea that how people look is more important than how they actually behave in real life toward their friends. We are not always honest in how we depict ourselves in person either, particularly when we meet new people we want to impress, like a date or an employer. With people we have known for a while, with whom we feel secure, and who represent no threat, we may be less likely to pretend to be something we are not. Perhaps the major difference with social networking sites is that there is a much wider and more instantly reachable audience than in our everyday offline lives.
b. Effect of social media on personality: Psychologists have found that the use of online social networking sites like Facebook can both shape and reflect our personalities. One study of adolescents in China aged 13 to 18 found that excessive time spent using the Internet resulted in significant levels of anxiety and depression when compared to teenagers who spent considerably less time online. An online survey of college students in the United States showed that those who spent time talking with their parents on the telephone had more satisfying personal and supportive relationships with them than students who kept in touch with the parents through social networking sites. In addition, college students who communicated with their parents on social networking sites reported greater loneliness, anxiety, and conflict in their relationships with their parents.
c. Effect of personality on social media: In addition to affecting our personalities, social networking sites can also reflect them. Studies in both Eastern and Western cultures found that those who were more extraverted and narcissistic (who had an inflated, unrealistic self-concept) were much more likely to use Facebook than those who did not score high on those personality characteristics.
The more narcissistic teenagers were also more likely to update their Facebook status more frequently. Other studies suggest that those who report high use of social networking sites tend to be more extraverted, more open to new experiences, lower in self-esteem and socialization skills, less conscientious, and lower in emotional stability than those who report lower levels of usage.
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Personality and the Social Media
REF: 6–8
3. Discuss the roles of race, gender, and culture in shaping personality.
ANS: Despite their disagreements and divergences, however, all personality theorists share certain defining characteristics in common. All are White, of European or American heritage, and almost all are men. At the time, nearly all of the great advances in the arts, philosophy, literature, and the sciences, including the development of the scientific methods, were propounded and promoted by White men of European or American background. In most fields, educational and professional opportunities for women and people of ethnic minority groups were severely limited. In addition, in the field of personality theory, virtually all the patients and subjects the earlier theories were based on were also White. Even the laboratory rats were white. Also, the majority of the patients and subjects were men. Although the theorists accepted, to some degree, the importance of social and environmental forces in shaping personality, they tended to ignore or minimize the influence of gender and ethnic background.
Individual competitiveness and assertiveness are often seen as undesirable and contrary to Asian cultural standards. Western cultures are typically depicted as the opposite. For example, when college students in Australia were compared with college students in Japan, the Australians were found to emphasize the importance of individuality much more than the Japanese, who were more oriented toward the collective or the group. People in individualistic cultures show greater extraversion, self-esteem, happiness (or subjective well-being), optimism about their future, and a belief in their ability to control and direct it. For example, one massive study of over 400 million people in 63 countries found that the personality trait of individualism was strongly and consistently related to positive well-being. The impact on behavior and personality of cultural differences in child-rearing practices is also substantial. In the individualistic culture of the United States, parents tend to be noncoercive, democratic, and permissive in their child-rearing techniques. In collectivist cultures, such as Asian and Arab societies, parental practices tend to be more authoritarian, restrictive, and controlling. Nordic cultures such as Norway, Sweden, and Denmark provide another example of cultures encouraging self-effacement. The cultural concept of Janteloven enjoins people not to place their own interests above those of their community and to show humility in the presence of others. A comparison of college students in the United States and Norway found that the Americans rated themselves significantly higher than average on positive personality traits and lower than average on negative traits than the Norwegian students did.
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: The Role of Race and Gender in Shaping Personality, The Role of Culture in Shaping Personality
REF: 8–12
4. Define the terms reliability and validity. List the major approaches of personality assessment.
ANS: Reliability can be defined as the consistency of response to a psychological assessment device. Validity refers to whether an assessment device measures what it is intended to measure. If a test does not measure what it claims to, then it is not valid and its results cannot be used to predict behavior.
The major approaches to personality assessment are as follows:
a. Self-report or objective inventories
b. Projective techniques
c. Clinical interviews
d. Behavioral assessment procedures
e. Thought and experience sampling procedures
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: Assessing Your Personality
REF: 13–14
5. How have personality theories been shaped by the life experiences of the personality theorists?
ANS: Psychologists have long recognized that some personality theories have a subjective component, which may reflect events in the theorist's life as a sort of disguised autobiography. The theorist may draw on these events as a source of data to describe and support his or her theory. No matter how hard scientists try to be impartial and objective, their personal viewpoint is likely to influence their perception to some degree. This should not surprise us. Personality theorists are human too, as we will see, and like most of us they sometimes find it hard to accept ideas that diverge from their own experience. Perhaps it is not the person's life experiences that influence the development of the theory. Maybe it's the other way around. Perhaps the theory influences what the theorists remember and choose to tell us about their lives. Much of our information about a theorist's life comes from autobiographical recollections. These accounts are usually written late in life, after the person has proposed and defended the theory.
PTS: 1
A-HEAD: The Role of Theory in Personality Theories
REF: 30
