Personality Exam 1 UPDATED ACTUAL
Exam Questions and CORRECT Answers
To obtain S data, a psychologist can ________.
a. recruit informants
b. observe the subject directly
c. develop a questionnaire
d. look up information in public records - CORRECT ANSWER - c. develop a
questionnaire
I data are ________.
a. judgments made by knowledgeable observers
b. easily observable, real-life outcomes
c. self-judgments
d. direct observations of the subject in some predefined context - CORRECT ANSWER -
A. judgments made by knowledgeable observers
The most important and generally useful way to enhance reliability is to ________.
a. aggregate your measurements
b. use the smallest possible number of items
c. measure something that is important
d. maximize error variance - CORRECT ANSWER - A. aggregate your measurements
The fact that much of modern empirical research in psychology has been based on white, middle-
class college sophomores may reduce the ________ of psychological research.
,a. reliability
b. validity
c. generalizability
d. statistical significance - CORRECT ANSWER - C. generalizability
What is the big disadvantage of the case study method?
a. It is not controlled.
b. It describes isolated variables, not the whole phenomenon.
c. It is rarely the source of testable hypotheses.
d. It does not usually apply to particular individuals, only to groups. - CORRECT
ANSWER - A. It is not controlled.
In his book Personality and Assessment, Mischel argues that ________.
a. situations do not reliably predict consistent behavioral trends
b. personality traits transcend the immediate situation and moment, and they provide the most
consistent guide to a person's actions
c. behavior is too inconsistent to predict using broad personality traits
d. traits are the only factors that influence human behavior - CORRECT ANSWER - C.
behavior is too inconsistent to predict using broad personality traits
Which of the following is NOT part of the situationist argument?
a. Everyday intuitions that people have about personality are wrong.
b. Situations are more important than traits for determining behavior.
c. Personality trait measures do not predict behavior very well.
d. Persons and situations interact to predict behavior. - CORRECT ANSWER - D. Persons
and situations interact to predict behavior.
, Which of the following behaviors would be the easiest to predict accurately?
a. At a party on Friday, Susan will talk to at least 10 people.
b. Mary will smile at 10:00 A.M. tomorrow.
c. None of the above; each of these behaviors would be equally easy to predict.
d. David will generally be on time for work most days next week. - CORRECT
ANSWER - D. David will generally be on time for work most days next week.
Funder and Ozer (1983) converted the results of three classic social psychological studies to
effect sizes. After comparing those effect sizes with those typically obtained by personality
psychologists, Funder and Ozer concluded that ________.
a. the three studies were so fundamentally flawed that they do not allow us to conclude anything
about the predictability of behavior from situational variables
b. the upper limit for a situation coefficient is only .20
c. both situational and personality variables are important determinants of behavior
d. situational variables, like personality variables, cannot predict behavior - CORRECT
ANSWER - C. both situational and personality variables are important determinants of
behavior
When taking a(n) ________ test, a person interprets an ambiguous stimulus in order to express
the inner workings of his or her mind.
a. factor analytic
b. rationally constructed
c. projective
d. objective - CORRECT ANSWER - C. projective
Which of the following is a limitation of projective tests?
Exam Questions and CORRECT Answers
To obtain S data, a psychologist can ________.
a. recruit informants
b. observe the subject directly
c. develop a questionnaire
d. look up information in public records - CORRECT ANSWER - c. develop a
questionnaire
I data are ________.
a. judgments made by knowledgeable observers
b. easily observable, real-life outcomes
c. self-judgments
d. direct observations of the subject in some predefined context - CORRECT ANSWER -
A. judgments made by knowledgeable observers
The most important and generally useful way to enhance reliability is to ________.
a. aggregate your measurements
b. use the smallest possible number of items
c. measure something that is important
d. maximize error variance - CORRECT ANSWER - A. aggregate your measurements
The fact that much of modern empirical research in psychology has been based on white, middle-
class college sophomores may reduce the ________ of psychological research.
,a. reliability
b. validity
c. generalizability
d. statistical significance - CORRECT ANSWER - C. generalizability
What is the big disadvantage of the case study method?
a. It is not controlled.
b. It describes isolated variables, not the whole phenomenon.
c. It is rarely the source of testable hypotheses.
d. It does not usually apply to particular individuals, only to groups. - CORRECT
ANSWER - A. It is not controlled.
In his book Personality and Assessment, Mischel argues that ________.
a. situations do not reliably predict consistent behavioral trends
b. personality traits transcend the immediate situation and moment, and they provide the most
consistent guide to a person's actions
c. behavior is too inconsistent to predict using broad personality traits
d. traits are the only factors that influence human behavior - CORRECT ANSWER - C.
behavior is too inconsistent to predict using broad personality traits
Which of the following is NOT part of the situationist argument?
a. Everyday intuitions that people have about personality are wrong.
b. Situations are more important than traits for determining behavior.
c. Personality trait measures do not predict behavior very well.
d. Persons and situations interact to predict behavior. - CORRECT ANSWER - D. Persons
and situations interact to predict behavior.
, Which of the following behaviors would be the easiest to predict accurately?
a. At a party on Friday, Susan will talk to at least 10 people.
b. Mary will smile at 10:00 A.M. tomorrow.
c. None of the above; each of these behaviors would be equally easy to predict.
d. David will generally be on time for work most days next week. - CORRECT
ANSWER - D. David will generally be on time for work most days next week.
Funder and Ozer (1983) converted the results of three classic social psychological studies to
effect sizes. After comparing those effect sizes with those typically obtained by personality
psychologists, Funder and Ozer concluded that ________.
a. the three studies were so fundamentally flawed that they do not allow us to conclude anything
about the predictability of behavior from situational variables
b. the upper limit for a situation coefficient is only .20
c. both situational and personality variables are important determinants of behavior
d. situational variables, like personality variables, cannot predict behavior - CORRECT
ANSWER - C. both situational and personality variables are important determinants of
behavior
When taking a(n) ________ test, a person interprets an ambiguous stimulus in order to express
the inner workings of his or her mind.
a. factor analytic
b. rationally constructed
c. projective
d. objective - CORRECT ANSWER - C. projective
Which of the following is a limitation of projective tests?
