Section 3 (Ch. 5 & 6)

Question 1

Personality Development

Answer 1

The continuities, consistencies, and stabilities over time and the ways in which people change over time.

Question 2

Rank Order Stability

Answer 2

Maintenance of individual position within a group.

Question 3

Rank Order Change

Answer 3

If people fail to maintain their rank order.

Question 4

Mean Level Stability

Answer 4

A population that maintains a consistent average level of a trait or characteristic over time

Question 5

Mean Level Change

Answer 5

Within a single group that has been tested on t wo separate occasions, any difference in group averages across the two occasions.

Question 6

Personality Coherence

Answer 6

Maintaining rank order in relation to other individuals but changing the manifestations of the trait.

Question 7

Temperament

Answer 7

The individual differences that emerge very early in life, and are likely to have a heritable basis, and are often involved with emotionality or arousability.

Question 8

Longitgudinal Studies

Answer 8

Examinations of the same groups of individuals over time.

Question 9

Actometer

Answer 9

Recording device attached to wrists of children during play periods.

Question 10

Stability Coefficients

Answer 10

The correlations between the same measures obtained at two different points in time. Test-retest reliability coefficients.

Question 11

Validity Coefficients

Answer 11

The correlations between different measures of the same trait obtained at the same time.

Question 12

Cohort Effects

Answer 12

Personality change over time as a reflection of the social times in which an individual or group of individuals live.

Question 13

Genome

Answer 13

The complete set of genes an organism possesses.

Question 14

Genetic Junk

Answer 14

The 98% of DNA in human chromosomes that are not protein-encoding genes. Functionless residue - may affect everything from physical size to personality.

Question 15

Eugenics

Answer 15

The notion that we can design the future of the human species by fostering the reproduction of people with certain traits and discouraging the reproduction of people without those traits.

Question 16

Percentage of Variance

Answer 16

What percentage is attributed to environment vs genetics.

Question 17

Heritability

Answer 17

A statistic that refers to the proportion of the observed variance in a group of individuals that can be accounted for by genetic variance.

Question 18

Phenotypic Variance

Answer 18

Observed individual differences.

Question 19

Genotypic Variance

Answer 19

Individual differences in the total collection of genes possessed by each person.

Question 20

Environmentality

Answer 20

The percentage of observed variance in a group of individuals that can be attributed to environmental differences.

Question 21

Nature-Nurture Debate

Answer 21

The arguments about whether genes or environments are more important determinants of personality.

Question 22

Selective Breeding

Answer 22

Identifying a trait and selectively breeding animals to have that trait; only possible if the trait has a genetic basis.

Question 23

Family Studies

Answer 23

Research that correlates the degree of genetic overlap among family members with the degree of personality similarity.

Question 24

Twin Studies

Answer 24

Estimate heritability by gauging whether identical twins are more similar to each other than fraternal twins.

Question 25

Monozygotic Twins

Answer 25

Identical twins; come from single fertilized egg that divides into two during gestation.

Question 26

Dizygotic Twins

Answer 26

Fraternal; not genetically identical, come from two eggs separately fertilized.

Question 27

Equal Environments Assumption

Answer 27

Assumption that the environments experienced by identical twins are no more similar to each other than are the environments experienced by fraternal twins.

Question 28

Adoption Studies

Answer 28

Research that examines the correlations between adopted children and their adoptive parents, compared to correlations between adopted children and genetic parents who had no influence on environments of the children.

Question 29

Selective Placement

Answer 29

If placed with parents who are similar to birth parents, can inflate the correlations between adopted children and adoptive parents.

Question 30

Shared Environmental Influences

Answer 30

Features of the environment that siblings share.

Question 31

Nonshared Environmental Influences

Answer 31

Features of the environment that siblings do not share.

Question 32

Genotype-Environment Interaction

Answer 32

The differential response of individuals with different genotypes to the same environments.

Question 33

Genotype-Environment Correlation

Answer 33

The differential exposure of individuals with different genotypes to different environments

Question 34

Passive Genotype-Environment Correlation

Answer 34

Occurs when parents provide both genes and the environment to children, children do nothing to obtain that environment.

Question 35

Reactive Genotype-Environment Correlation

Answer 35

Occurs when parents respond to children differently depending on the child’s genotype.

Question 36

Active Genotype-Environment Correlation

Answer 36

Occurs when a person with a particular genotype creates or seeks out a particular environment.

Question 37

Molecular Genetics

Answer 37

Methods designed to identify the specific genes associated with personality traits.

Question 38

DRD4 Gene

Answer 38

More frequently examined; located on short arm of chromosome 11, codes for protein called dopamine receptor; function to respond to presence of dopamine; discharges electrical signal activating other neurons.

Question 39

Environmentalist View

Answer 39

The belief that personality is determined by socialization practices; parenting style, other agents of society.