Week 1 Flashcards
(23 cards)
Which of the following is not one of the four primary sources of personality data discussed this week?
A. S-Data (Self-report)
B. O-Data (Observer-report)
C. T-Data (Test data)
D. P-Data (Peer-rating)
D. P-Data (Peer-rating) ✅
✅ Justification: The notes list S-, O-, T- and L-Data; “P-Data” does not appear.
📚 Week 1 – Sources of Personality Data
What is a key limitation of naturalistic observation (a form of O-Data)?
A. Participants do not behave naturally
B. Researchers cannot control the events they witness
C. It is always more expensive than laboratory testing
D. It provides no real-world relevance
B. Researchers cannot control the events they witness ✅
✅ Justification: Realism is gained at the cost of experimental control.
📚 Week 1 – O-Data Methods
_____ reliability refers to the extent to which two or more observers agree on their ratings.
A. Alternate-forms
B. Inter-rater
C. Test–retest
D. Internal-consistency
B. Inter-rater ✅
✅ Justification: Inter-rater reliability gauges agreement among independent raters.
📚 Week 1 – Reliability Types
Which type of validity is demonstrated when a new measure correlates highly with other tests of the same construct?
A. Face validity
B. Discriminant validity
C. Convergent validity
D. Predictive validity
C. Convergent validity ✅
✅ Justification: Convergent validity reflects alignment with conceptually similar measures.
📚 Week 1 – Validity of Measures
In personality research, aggregation means:
A. Scoring each item separately
B. Combining many observations to yield a more reliable trait estimate
C. Testing people in large groups
D. Using only longitudinal designs
B. Combining many observations to yield a more reliable trait estimate ✅
✅ Justification: Averaging multiple observations reduces random error.
📚 Week 1 – Aggregation
Accepting vague, general statements as uniquely descriptive of oneself exemplifies the:
A. Halo effect
B. Hawthorne effect
C. Barnum effect
D. Contrast effect
C. Barnum effect ✅
✅ Justification: The Barnum effect is accepting generalized feedback as personal.
📚 Week 1 – Common Misperceptions
The criterion of synonym frequency belongs to which approach for identifying important personality traits?
A. Statistical
B. Lexical
C. Theoretical
D. Experimental
B. Lexical ✅
✅ Justification: The lexical approach assumes more synonyms imply greater trait importance.
📚 Week 1 – Lexical Approach
Using factor analysis to cluster correlated trait adjectives illustrates the _____ approach.
A. Lexical
B. Statistical
C. Theoretical
D. Biological
B. Statistical ✅
✅ Justification: Factor analysis underpins the statistical approach to trait discovery.
📚 Week 1 – Statistical Approach
The Sociosexual Orientation Inventory (SOI) was created via which approach to trait identification?
A. Lexical
B. Statistical
C. Theoretical
D. Biochemical
C. Theoretical ✅
✅ Justification: The SOI was constructed from theory-based predictions.
📚 Week 1 – Theoretical Approach Example
Treating traits as descriptive summaries of behaviour (rather than hidden causes) assumes that traits:
A. Directly produce behaviour
B. Exist only in language
C. Are neurological mechanisms
D. Must be genetically based
B. Exist only in language ✅
✅ Justification: The descriptive-summary view defines traits as summaries of observed acts.
📚 Week 1 – How to Conceptualise Traits
The assumption of rank-order consistency relates to which broader claim of trait psychology?
A. Traits are meaningless individual differences
B. Traits are stable over time
C. Traits are unstable across ages
D. Traits are identical across cultures
B. Traits are stable over time ✅
✅ Justification: Rank-order consistency states people keep their relative standing over time.
📚 Week 1 – Stability Over Time
According to the person–situation interaction model, personality traits exert more influence in:
A. Strong situations with clear norms
B. Weak or ambiguous situations
C. Laboratory experiments
D. Childhood only
B. Weak or ambiguous situations ✅
✅ Justification: Weak situations allow dispositions to guide behaviour.
📚 Week 1 – Situational Specificity
Choosing friends who share a love of extreme sports illustrates which person–situation mechanism?
A. Selection
B. Evocation
C. Manipulation
D. Aggregation
A. Selection ✅
✅ Justification: Selection involves entering or avoiding situations based on one’s traits.
📚 Week 1 – Mechanisms: Selection
Sam is habitually irritable, causing coworkers to respond with hostility. This exemplifies:
A. Selection
B. Evocation
C. Manipulation
D. Aggregation
B. Evocation ✅
✅ Justification: Evocation occurs when traits unintentionally elicit reactions from others.
📚 Week 1 – Mechanisms: Evocation
Deliberately using flattery to get a colleague’s help exemplifies which mechanism?
A. Selection
B. Evocation
C. Manipulation
D. Aggregation
C. Manipulation ✅
✅ Justification: Manipulation is intentional influence over others.
📚 Week 1 – Mechanisms: Manipulation
Combining information from S-, O-, T- and L-Data to increase accuracy is called:
A. Validity checking
B. Triangulation
C. Calibration
D. Standardisation
B. Triangulation ✅
✅ Justification: Triangulation integrates multiple data sources.
📚 Week 1 – Triangulation of Data
A reliability coefficient of 0.80 is generally regarded as:
A. Weak
B. Questionable
C. Good
D. Excellent
C. Good ✅
✅ Justification: > 0.80 is labelled “good” for research use.
📚 Week 1 – Reliability Ranges
Which research design is best suited to establish causality between two variables?
A. Case study
B. Correlational design
C. Experimental design
D. Naturalistic observation
C. Experimental design ✅
✅ Justification: Experiments manipulate variables and use control conditions.
📚 Week 1 – Experimental Design
If a study measures two variables without manipulating them and computes their association, it is using a:
A. Case study
B. Correlational design
C. Experimental design
D. Longitudinal experiment
B. Correlational design ✅
✅ Justification: Correlational designs measure naturally occurring variables to assess relationships.
📚 Week 1 – Correlational Design
An in-depth examination of a single individual—such as Phineas Gage—is an example of the _____ method.
A. Experimental
B. Survey
C. Case study
D. Field experiment
C. Case study ✅
✅ Justification: Case studies investigate rare or unique individuals in depth.
📚 Week 1 – Case Study Method
The term generalisability in psychometrics refers to a measure’s:
A. Ability to predict future behaviour
B. Consistency across time
C. Applicability across people and settings
D. Face validity to participants
C. Applicability across people and settings ✅
✅ Justification: Generalisability combines reliability and validity across contexts, samples, and conditions.
📚 Week 1 – Validity & Generalisability
Trait psychology assumes that meaningful individual differences:
A. Are entirely random
B. Have no biological basis
C. Exist and can be systematically studied
D. Disappear in adulthood
C. Exist and can be systematically studied ✅
✅ Justification: The first basic assumption is that individuals differ in consistent, measurable ways.
📚 Week 1 – Theoretical Assumptions
In the interactionist view, behaviour is best explained as:
A. Solely a product of personality
B. Solely a product of the situation
C. A function of both personality and situation
D. Unpredictable and random
C. A function of both personality and situation ✅
✅ Justification: Interaction explanation posits B = f(P × S).
📚 Week 1 – Interaction Explanation
