Personality and life outcomes

Question 1

Are spouses similar in personality? (2)

Answer 1

• It was found that correlations between spouses personality scores were fairly small.
• Spouses may be more similar on other psychological characteristics such as mental abilities and attitudes.

Question 2

How do aggreableness and emotional stability predict marital satisfaction?

Answer 2

It was found that an individual’s scores of agreeableness and emotional stability was positively correlated with marital satisfaction.

Question 3

Are friends similar in personality?

Answer 3

It was found friends are similar on scores of openness and honesty-humility, but not on other dimensions.

Question 4

How does high conscientiousness effect academic performance and why might this be the case?

Answer 4

• Higher conscientiousness = better performance in school.
• Behaviours that might lead to better academic performance include attending class and doing homework may be a natural consequence of higher conscientiousness.

Question 5

What types of jobs are agreeableness and extraversion positively associated with?

Answer 5

Agreeableness = customer service.
Extraversion = sales.

Question 6

What is the different between primary and secondary psychopathy.

Answer 6

Primary psychopathy – manipulation and selfishness.
Secondary psychopathy – impulsivity and irresponsibility.

Question 7

What are the three undesirable traits of the dark triad?

Answer 7

1. Machiavellianism.
2. Narcissism.
3. Psychopathy.

Question 8

What are some common traits of the dark triad? (3)

Answer 8

• Tendency to engage in aggressive behaviours.
• Focus on self-advancement with little concern for others.
• Deceptive.

Question 9

List two limitations of the dark triad.

Answer 9

1. Measures of machiavellianism are not able to be distinguished from psychopathy.
2. Largely based on cross-sectional data.