Week 2

Question 1

What is the “cumulative continuity principle”?

Answer 1

The generalization that personality attributes show increasing stability with age and experience.

Question 2

Heterotypic Stability

Answer 2

Effects of fundamental temperamental tendencies change with age, but temperament and personality stay the same. In other words, behaviors associated with traits manifest differently, but the trait stays similar in each of us.

Question 3

What is the “maturity principle”?

Answer 3

The generalization that personality attributes associated with the successful fulfillment of adult roles increase with age and experience.

Question 4

Define “halo effect”

Answer 4

The halo effect means because of one quality, we attribute other qualities to people.
It is a form of cognitive bias, where persons assume ambiguous information based on other information. I.E. “more outgoing people are more attractive”

Question 5

Are introverts or extraverts more likely to benefit from the halo effect?

Answer 5

Extraverts

Question 6

Who is more sensitive to rewards - extraverts or introverts?

Answer 6

Extraverts

Question 7

Why does brainstorming in a group not produce better results than solo brainstorming?

Answer 7

Although group brainstorming may generate a diversity of ideas, it is not better than solo thinking. Solo thinking is better because it eliminates various group dynamics which can inhibit some individuals (introverts) from speaking up.

Question 8

Which Big 5 trait do employers seek more often? Why?

Answer 8

Conscientiousness - it predicts job performance and absenteeism better than any aptitude test.

Question 9

Which age group can see an increase in conscientiousness?

Answer 9

20 - 40 year-olds

Question 10

Which Big 5 trait is more likely to predict life success compared to other traits?

Answer 10

Conscientiousness

Question 11

Are males or females more likely to have a positive correlation with “agreeableness”?

Answer 11

Females

Question 12

What are some indications of someone high in “neuroticism”?

Answer 12

They tend to be sensitive to social threats, sensitive to negative emotion (pay too much attention to it) and they are more likely to have anxiety disorders.

Question 13

What is “self-monitoring”?

Answer 13

The act of observing and regulating one’s own behavior in a social context.

Question 14

High Self-Monitors

Answer 14

HSMs tend to project a particular image of themselves in order to fit in or impress others. They can easily adjust their behavior to the situation at hand. They look for cues in situations that signal how to act and adjust behavior via “shapeshifting”.

Question 15

Low Self-Monitors

Answer 15

LSMs tend to regulate themselves according to their own internal beliefs and are typically less concerned with social context.

Question 16

What does “delay of gratification” mean?

Answer 16

Delay of gratification means putting off something you want now, for a longer-term reward.

Think - marshmallow experiment.

Question 17

Is there a gender difference between men and women in relation to delayed gratification?

Answer 17

Yes, men are less likely to delay gratification.

Gratification delay in girls aged from 3 to 11 correlate with intelligence and competence.

Question 18

Type A personalities are more likely to have which health complications? Why?

Answer 18

Type A personalities are at of developing cardiovascular diseases because their heightened sense of urgency and competitiveness can increase blood pressure.

Question 19

What personality facets correlate with heart disease?

Answer 19

Urgency, hostility, and competitiveness.

Question 20

What is a “rank-order change”?

Answer 20

A rank-order change refers to a change in an individual’s personality trait, relative to other individuals in that person’s group or community. Rank-order changes are rare.

Question 21

What is “rank-order consistency”?

Answer 21

In a nutshell, most people act similarly as adults to how they acted as children.

Question 22

True or False:

Infants known as “high-reactives” were more likely to become introverts.

Answer 22

True

Question 23

How were researchers able to determine whether an infant was a “low-reactive” or “high-reactive”?

Answer 23

Infants that showed strong reactions such as crying and pumping their arms to stimulus became known as high-reactives.

Infants that remained relatively calm when exposed to similar stimulus became known as low-reactives.

Question 24

How were researchers able to determine that high reactives were more likely to become introverts?

Answer 24

High reactive infants became known as introverts became they had a chronic responsiveness to new situations.