Exam #2 Psych 331 – Personality Questions and Answers 2024

Trait - Correct Answer Dimension of personality used to categorize people according to the degree to which they manifest a particular characteristic. - Relatively stable over time - Stable across situations Research within the trait approach relies heavily on: - Correct Answer Correlational designs. Gordon Allport - Correct Answer -Identified two general strategies to use when investigating personality: 1. Nomothetic approach to identify common traits (Traits selected by researcher for measuring) 2. Idiographic approach to identify central traits (Traits are identified directly by the individual) - Took 4,500 words to describe traits from a dictionary Gordon Allport's 3 Levels of Traits - Correct Answer 1. Cardinal Traits - Serve as the master control, or ruling passions. Ex. Hitler's hate 2. Central Traits - General characteristics found in every person Ex. Loyalty, Kindness 3. Secondary Traits - Only present under certain circumstances, including things like preferences and attitudes. Henry Murray - Correct Answer - Used a combination of psychoanalytic and trait concepts in which he coined "personology" approach - 27 psychogenic needs such as the need for Autonomy, Affiliation, Achievement, Dominance, and Oder - Personal hierarchy of needs: If your need for Affiliation is higher than your need for Achievement, you might choose going out to the party over studying for your exam. - Introduced Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) What does the TAT test do ? - Correct Answer Asks test takers to create a story about what is going on in a series of ambiguous pictures Ex: Man pictured pondering at a desk. If you're story is about a man deep in thought on his way to accomplishing than you would score high in Achievement, if you see a man bored at his desk you would score low. Raymond Cattell - Correct Answer - Employed a statistical technique referred to as factor analysis