UPDATED ACTUAL Exam Questions and
CORRECT Answers
What is personality psychology? - CORRECT ANSWER - Personality psychology is a
branch of psychology that studies personality and its variation among individuals
What is the basic evidence for the notion that personality is within the individual? - CORRECT
ANSWER - because traits are:
-Relatively enduring
-Consistent across time
-Consistent across situations
What is the person-situation debate? - CORRECT ANSWER - the controversy concerning
whether the person or the situation is more influential in determining a person's behavior.
What is S-data? - CORRECT ANSWER - Self-report data
Advantages and Disadvantages of S-data - CORRECT ANSWER - Advantages:
-easy
-individual has best knowledge about personality
Disadvantages
-response set
-acquiescence response set
-social desirability bias
-extreme responding
-fish-out-of-water effect
, Structured and and unstructured measures - CORRECT ANSWER - structured-closed
ended
unstructured-open-ended
Likert rating scale - CORRECT ANSWER - typically 5 to 7 response alternatives with the
end-points labeled to define the extremes
experience sampling - CORRECT ANSWER - Participants provide data one or more times
a day for an extended period of time
response set - CORRECT ANSWER - pattern of individual responses to questions that is
not related to the content of the question
acquiescence response set - CORRECT ANSWER - tendency to agree with items
regardless of content
social desirability bias - CORRECT ANSWER - participants tend to say what they believe
is expected of them
extreme responding - CORRECT ANSWER - tendency to give endpoint responses
the "fish-and-water" effect - CORRECT ANSWER - individuals may not be able to
provide important personality info because they don't really notice
What is O-data? - CORRECT ANSWER - Observers report on personality data
Advantages and Disadvantages of O-data - CORRECT ANSWER - Advantages
-Large amount of information
-Observation of behaviors in real world
-Common sense