Personality Psych Exam 2 (Chapters 3,4,5, &
8) UPDATED ACTUAL Exam Questions
and CORRECT Answers
trait-descriptive adjectives - CORRECT ANSWER - words that describe traits; attributes
of a person that are reasonably characteristics.
-they imply consistent and stable characteristics: most personality psychologists hypothesize that
traits are reasonably stable over time and somewhat consistent across situations.
traits as internal causal properties - CORRECT ANSWER - some personality
psychologists view these traits as internal properties of persons that cause their behavior.
Example: Diedre has a desire for material things--> might cause her spend a lot of time shopping
at the mall, work extra hard to earn more money, and acquire many household possessions. *Her
internal desire (for material things) influences her external behavior, causing her to act in certain
ways.
-these traits are presumed to exist, even in the absence of observable behavioral expressions.
-viewing traits as causes of behavior lies in ruling out other causes.
traits as descriptive summaries - CORRECT ANSWER - describe behavior without
assuming causality; these are attributes of people that make no assumptions about internality or
causality. These personality psychologists merely use traits to describe the trend in a person's
behavior. Example: George glares at men who talk to his girlfriend: trait = jealousy: simply used
to describe his behavior (glaring) but w/ no assumptions about causality. It's possible that there's
an internal cause of his jealousy such as being insecure but it's also possible that his jealousy
might be due to the social situation (the men flirting with his gf).
lexical approach to traits - CORRECT ANSWER - according to this approach, all traits
listed and defined in the dictionary form the basis of describing differences among people.
-starts with the hypothesis that all important differences have become encoded within the natural
language. Over time differences among people are noticed and words such as "creative",
"reliable", etc. are created to talk about those differences.
*The trait terms that people find helpful in describing people become encoded in the natural
language while those that are not useful in describing people don't become encoded.
,*a good starting point for identifying traits, but shouldn't be used exclusively
synonym frequency - CORRECT ANSWER - 1 criteria for identifying important traits
using the lexical approach; means that if an attribute has many adjectives to describe it, then it's a
more important dimension of individual difference. For example, there are many terms used to
describe dominance (bossy, powerful, forceful, influential, assertive, etc), which conveys that
dominance is an important trait and that different shades of dominance are important in social
communication.
cross-cultural universality - CORRECT ANSWER - another criteria for identifying
important traits using the lexical approach; if a trait is sufficiently important in all cultures and its
members have codified terms to describe the trait, then the trait must be universally important in
human affairs. If a trait term exists in only a few cultures or languages, then it may only be of
local relevance and it's unlikely to be a candidate for universal taxonomy of personality traits
statistical approach to traits - CORRECT ANSWER - this approach starts with a pool of
personality items: can be trait words or questions about behavior, experience, or emotion.
-consists of having people rate themselves or other on items, then the statistical procedure is used
to identify groups or clusters of items.
-The goal of this approach is to identify the major dimensions of the personality map.
factor analysis - CORRECT ANSWER - the most common statistical produced used to
identify traits; this procedure essentially identifies groups of items that covary (go together) but
tend not to covary with other groups of items. This provides a means for determining which
personality variables have some common property.
-It can also be useful in reducing the large array of personality traits into a smaller/more useful
set of underlying factors.
*A means for organizing personality traits
-Example: this tells us that hard-working, productive, and determined all covary sufficiently that
they can be considered a single trait, rather than 3 separate.
factor loadings - CORRECT ANSWER - indexes of how much of the variation in an item
is "explained" by the factor; indicates the degree to which the item correlates with the underlying
,factor. Example: "extraversion" factor having high correlations with humorous, amusing, and
popular.
theoretical approach to traits - CORRECT ANSWER - this approach starts with a theory
that determined which variables are important. Example: sociosexual orientation: because the
theory dictates that the mating strategy one pursues (monogamous vs. promiscuous) is a critical
individual difference, researchers Gangestad and Simpson developed a measure of sociosexual
orientation.
*Ultimately, the strength/weakness of this approach coincides with the strength/weakness of the
theory
Eysenck's Hierarchical Model of Personality - CORRECT ANSWER - Model of
personality based on traits that Eysenck believed were highly heritable and had
psychophysiological foundation; included PEN: Psychoticism, Extraversion, Neuroticism
extraversion - CORRECT ANSWER - a dimension of personality that concerns our
tendencies toward sociability, liveliness, activeness, and dominance. People who are high in this
trait tend to like parties, have many friends, like having people to talk to, display a carefree and
easy manner, and they tend to be highly active.
-Eysenck predicted that people high in this seek situations of higher stimulation/arousal because
they demonstrate less cortical arousal/ alertness when nothing is happening than introverts
express. They ultimately function better in an environment that's more stimulating.
introversion - CORRECT ANSWER - the opposite end of the extraversion scale;
dimension of personality in which people tend to withdraw from excessive stimulation. People
high in this trait like to spend more time alone, prefer quiet, are sometimes seen as aloof/distant,
have a small number of intimate friends, are more serious, well-organized, and prefer/value
routine in life.
-Eysenck thought that people high in this had more neurological activity/might show more
activity in cortical arousal, which affects heart rate, breathing, etc. Because they demonstrate a
higher amount of arousal, they seek less stimulating environments.
neuroticism - CORRECT ANSWER - refers to one's degree of emotional stability;
concerns the ease and frequency with which people become upset and distressed; includes traits
such as anxious, irritable, guilty, lacking self-esteem, tense, shy, and moody.
, -A typical high scorer tends to be a worrier who's frequently anxious and depressed, has trouble
sleeping and experiences a wide array or psychosomatic experiences.
-One hallmark of a high scorer is over-reactivity to negative symptoms/emotions
high neuroticism - CORRECT ANSWER - anxious, angry, depressed, responds overly-
emotionally
-they experience more arousal to everyday stresses
-they stay angry longer and are less likely to forgive
-they're more likely to be vigilant to threats
low neuroticism - CORRECT ANSWER - emotionally stable, even-tempered, calm,
slower to react to stressful events, returns to normal self quickly after an upsetting event.
psychoticism - CORRECT ANSWER - In trait theory, the measure of nonconformity or
social deviance of an individual; the tendency for psychotic detachment; this includes traits such
as aggressive, egocentric, creative, impulsive, lacking empathy, and antisocial
-high scorers are typically described as loners
-high scorers are aggressive both verbally and physically with loved ones
-because they lack empathy, high scorers may be cruel and inhumane
-men tend to score 2x as high on this trait as women- could be due to testosterone levels
-high scorers are unusual and may disregard danger in pursuit of novelty
-high scorers have a history of cruelty to animals
-high scorers like to make fools of others and have antisocial tendencies
-biologically, high scorers are predicted to be high in testosterone and low in MAO, a
neurotransmitter inhibitor: low levels might promote sensation seeking.
psychoticism predictions - CORRECT ANSWER - -those who score high on this trait
show a strong preference for violent films, they prefer unpleasant paintings and photos.
-men, but not women, endorse promiscuous and hostile sexual attitudes; those high in this trait
are more likely to become sexual predators
8) UPDATED ACTUAL Exam Questions
and CORRECT Answers
trait-descriptive adjectives - CORRECT ANSWER - words that describe traits; attributes
of a person that are reasonably characteristics.
-they imply consistent and stable characteristics: most personality psychologists hypothesize that
traits are reasonably stable over time and somewhat consistent across situations.
traits as internal causal properties - CORRECT ANSWER - some personality
psychologists view these traits as internal properties of persons that cause their behavior.
Example: Diedre has a desire for material things--> might cause her spend a lot of time shopping
at the mall, work extra hard to earn more money, and acquire many household possessions. *Her
internal desire (for material things) influences her external behavior, causing her to act in certain
ways.
-these traits are presumed to exist, even in the absence of observable behavioral expressions.
-viewing traits as causes of behavior lies in ruling out other causes.
traits as descriptive summaries - CORRECT ANSWER - describe behavior without
assuming causality; these are attributes of people that make no assumptions about internality or
causality. These personality psychologists merely use traits to describe the trend in a person's
behavior. Example: George glares at men who talk to his girlfriend: trait = jealousy: simply used
to describe his behavior (glaring) but w/ no assumptions about causality. It's possible that there's
an internal cause of his jealousy such as being insecure but it's also possible that his jealousy
might be due to the social situation (the men flirting with his gf).
lexical approach to traits - CORRECT ANSWER - according to this approach, all traits
listed and defined in the dictionary form the basis of describing differences among people.
-starts with the hypothesis that all important differences have become encoded within the natural
language. Over time differences among people are noticed and words such as "creative",
"reliable", etc. are created to talk about those differences.
*The trait terms that people find helpful in describing people become encoded in the natural
language while those that are not useful in describing people don't become encoded.
,*a good starting point for identifying traits, but shouldn't be used exclusively
synonym frequency - CORRECT ANSWER - 1 criteria for identifying important traits
using the lexical approach; means that if an attribute has many adjectives to describe it, then it's a
more important dimension of individual difference. For example, there are many terms used to
describe dominance (bossy, powerful, forceful, influential, assertive, etc), which conveys that
dominance is an important trait and that different shades of dominance are important in social
communication.
cross-cultural universality - CORRECT ANSWER - another criteria for identifying
important traits using the lexical approach; if a trait is sufficiently important in all cultures and its
members have codified terms to describe the trait, then the trait must be universally important in
human affairs. If a trait term exists in only a few cultures or languages, then it may only be of
local relevance and it's unlikely to be a candidate for universal taxonomy of personality traits
statistical approach to traits - CORRECT ANSWER - this approach starts with a pool of
personality items: can be trait words or questions about behavior, experience, or emotion.
-consists of having people rate themselves or other on items, then the statistical procedure is used
to identify groups or clusters of items.
-The goal of this approach is to identify the major dimensions of the personality map.
factor analysis - CORRECT ANSWER - the most common statistical produced used to
identify traits; this procedure essentially identifies groups of items that covary (go together) but
tend not to covary with other groups of items. This provides a means for determining which
personality variables have some common property.
-It can also be useful in reducing the large array of personality traits into a smaller/more useful
set of underlying factors.
*A means for organizing personality traits
-Example: this tells us that hard-working, productive, and determined all covary sufficiently that
they can be considered a single trait, rather than 3 separate.
factor loadings - CORRECT ANSWER - indexes of how much of the variation in an item
is "explained" by the factor; indicates the degree to which the item correlates with the underlying
,factor. Example: "extraversion" factor having high correlations with humorous, amusing, and
popular.
theoretical approach to traits - CORRECT ANSWER - this approach starts with a theory
that determined which variables are important. Example: sociosexual orientation: because the
theory dictates that the mating strategy one pursues (monogamous vs. promiscuous) is a critical
individual difference, researchers Gangestad and Simpson developed a measure of sociosexual
orientation.
*Ultimately, the strength/weakness of this approach coincides with the strength/weakness of the
theory
Eysenck's Hierarchical Model of Personality - CORRECT ANSWER - Model of
personality based on traits that Eysenck believed were highly heritable and had
psychophysiological foundation; included PEN: Psychoticism, Extraversion, Neuroticism
extraversion - CORRECT ANSWER - a dimension of personality that concerns our
tendencies toward sociability, liveliness, activeness, and dominance. People who are high in this
trait tend to like parties, have many friends, like having people to talk to, display a carefree and
easy manner, and they tend to be highly active.
-Eysenck predicted that people high in this seek situations of higher stimulation/arousal because
they demonstrate less cortical arousal/ alertness when nothing is happening than introverts
express. They ultimately function better in an environment that's more stimulating.
introversion - CORRECT ANSWER - the opposite end of the extraversion scale;
dimension of personality in which people tend to withdraw from excessive stimulation. People
high in this trait like to spend more time alone, prefer quiet, are sometimes seen as aloof/distant,
have a small number of intimate friends, are more serious, well-organized, and prefer/value
routine in life.
-Eysenck thought that people high in this had more neurological activity/might show more
activity in cortical arousal, which affects heart rate, breathing, etc. Because they demonstrate a
higher amount of arousal, they seek less stimulating environments.
neuroticism - CORRECT ANSWER - refers to one's degree of emotional stability;
concerns the ease and frequency with which people become upset and distressed; includes traits
such as anxious, irritable, guilty, lacking self-esteem, tense, shy, and moody.
, -A typical high scorer tends to be a worrier who's frequently anxious and depressed, has trouble
sleeping and experiences a wide array or psychosomatic experiences.
-One hallmark of a high scorer is over-reactivity to negative symptoms/emotions
high neuroticism - CORRECT ANSWER - anxious, angry, depressed, responds overly-
emotionally
-they experience more arousal to everyday stresses
-they stay angry longer and are less likely to forgive
-they're more likely to be vigilant to threats
low neuroticism - CORRECT ANSWER - emotionally stable, even-tempered, calm,
slower to react to stressful events, returns to normal self quickly after an upsetting event.
psychoticism - CORRECT ANSWER - In trait theory, the measure of nonconformity or
social deviance of an individual; the tendency for psychotic detachment; this includes traits such
as aggressive, egocentric, creative, impulsive, lacking empathy, and antisocial
-high scorers are typically described as loners
-high scorers are aggressive both verbally and physically with loved ones
-because they lack empathy, high scorers may be cruel and inhumane
-men tend to score 2x as high on this trait as women- could be due to testosterone levels
-high scorers are unusual and may disregard danger in pursuit of novelty
-high scorers have a history of cruelty to animals
-high scorers like to make fools of others and have antisocial tendencies
-biologically, high scorers are predicted to be high in testosterone and low in MAO, a
neurotransmitter inhibitor: low levels might promote sensation seeking.
psychoticism predictions - CORRECT ANSWER - -those who score high on this trait
show a strong preference for violent films, they prefer unpleasant paintings and photos.
-men, but not women, endorse promiscuous and hostile sexual attitudes; those high in this trait
are more likely to become sexual predators
