Personality Psychology exam #1 UPDATED
ACTUAL Exam Questions and CORRECT
Answers
personality - CORRECT ANSWER - set of psychological traits and mechanisms within
the individual that are organized and relatively enduring and that influence his or her interactions
with, and adaptations to the intrapsychic, physical, and social environments
psychological traits - CORRECT ANSWER - characteristics that describe ways in which
people are different from each other
psychological mechanism - CORRECT ANSWER - like traits but refers more to the
process of personality (ex: most psychological mechanisms involve and information-processing
activity
person-situation interaction - CORRECT ANSWER - focusing on interactionism as a
response to Mischel's challenge to trait consistency
2 possible explanations for behaviors
- behavior is a function of personality
- behavior is a function of situational forces
strong situation - CORRECT ANSWER - refers to situations in which nearly all people
react in similar ways
situational specificity - CORRECT ANSWER - in which a person acts in a specific way
under particular circumstances
reliability - CORRECT ANSWER - the degree to which an obtained measure represents
the true level of the trait being measured
, validity - CORRECT ANSWER - the extent to which a test measures what it claims to
measure
generalizability - CORRECT ANSWER - the degree to which a measure retains its validity
across different contexts
response sets - CORRECT ANSWER - tendency of some people to respond to the
questions on some basis that is unrelated to the question content
social desirability - CORRECT ANSWER - refers to the tendency to answer items in such
a way as to come across as socially attractive or likable
4 sources of personality data - CORRECT ANSWER - 1. self report (S)
2. observer report data (O)
3. life outcome data (L)
4. test data (T)
self report data (S) - CORRECT ANSWER - info is provided by the person such as
through a survey or interview
-unstructured item --> open ended
-structured item --> response options provided
observer report data (O) - CORRECT ANSWER - info is provided by someone else about
a person
- who observes --> trained observers vs close others
-where to observe --> naturalistic vs artificial observation
tests data (T) - CORRECT ANSWER - info is provided by behavior in testing situations
-elicited behavior is "scored" without reliance on inference
ACTUAL Exam Questions and CORRECT
Answers
personality - CORRECT ANSWER - set of psychological traits and mechanisms within
the individual that are organized and relatively enduring and that influence his or her interactions
with, and adaptations to the intrapsychic, physical, and social environments
psychological traits - CORRECT ANSWER - characteristics that describe ways in which
people are different from each other
psychological mechanism - CORRECT ANSWER - like traits but refers more to the
process of personality (ex: most psychological mechanisms involve and information-processing
activity
person-situation interaction - CORRECT ANSWER - focusing on interactionism as a
response to Mischel's challenge to trait consistency
2 possible explanations for behaviors
- behavior is a function of personality
- behavior is a function of situational forces
strong situation - CORRECT ANSWER - refers to situations in which nearly all people
react in similar ways
situational specificity - CORRECT ANSWER - in which a person acts in a specific way
under particular circumstances
reliability - CORRECT ANSWER - the degree to which an obtained measure represents
the true level of the trait being measured
, validity - CORRECT ANSWER - the extent to which a test measures what it claims to
measure
generalizability - CORRECT ANSWER - the degree to which a measure retains its validity
across different contexts
response sets - CORRECT ANSWER - tendency of some people to respond to the
questions on some basis that is unrelated to the question content
social desirability - CORRECT ANSWER - refers to the tendency to answer items in such
a way as to come across as socially attractive or likable
4 sources of personality data - CORRECT ANSWER - 1. self report (S)
2. observer report data (O)
3. life outcome data (L)
4. test data (T)
self report data (S) - CORRECT ANSWER - info is provided by the person such as
through a survey or interview
-unstructured item --> open ended
-structured item --> response options provided
observer report data (O) - CORRECT ANSWER - info is provided by someone else about
a person
- who observes --> trained observers vs close others
-where to observe --> naturalistic vs artificial observation
tests data (T) - CORRECT ANSWER - info is provided by behavior in testing situations
-elicited behavior is "scored" without reliance on inference
