The goal of the dissertation in the process of scientific education is to demonstrate that the future scientist ________.
has memorized all of the known facts about a given topic
has read all of the known articles about a given a topic
can contribute something new to the field
can apply the technical knowledge learned in graduate school
According to the text, the goal of a scientific education is ________.
to question what is known and how to find out what is not yet known
to convey what is known about a subject so it can be applied in a medical context
to train individuals to exclusively rely on deductive reasoning to solve problems
all of the above
According to the text, a ________ would receive technical training, whereas a ________ would receive scientific education.
pharmacologist; pharmacist
physician; biologist
botanist; computer programmer
research psychologist; clinical psychologist
According to the textbook, there are no perfect ________ of personality, only ________.
measures; devices
indicators; clues
theories; hypotheses
reliable measures; valid measures
Researchers must use clues to personality in their research because________.
personality is defined solely by biological factors that cannot be observed
personality tests are unethical
personality is something hidden that resides inside an individual
personality is defined by responses to self-report questionnaires
When gathering data or clues about personality, the best policy is to ________.
gather only a very small number of clues and focus on the important ones
gather only clues that are certain not to be misleading
rely solely on self-report data
collect as many clues as possible
Because each kind of data has limitations, personality psychologists should ________.
not bother collecting data
gather as much data as possible
only use L data, which are the most reliable
use only one source of data and control for its limitations
There is a possibility that individuals are so accustomed to certain aspects of their personality that they might not be aware of those traits. This is called the ________ effect.
fish-and-water
self-verification
self-expectancy
narcissism
In order to examine the relationship between early life experiences and adult criminality, Dr. Robbins asks his research participants to fill out questionnaires describing their early life. He then obtains copies of their arrest records from the county courthouse. The questionnaires used in Dr. Robbins’s study would be ________ data, whereas the arrest records would be ________ data.
L; B
S; I
S; L
B; L
To assess the personality traits of a group of 5-year-olds, researchers use puppets to illustrate different personality traits. Children are then asked to pick the puppet that best matches their personality. This is an example of ________ data.
S
I
L
B
________ data are the most frequently used basis for personality assessment.
I data are ________.
self-judgments
judgments made by knowledgeable observers
easily observable, real-life outcomes
direct observations of the subject in some predefined context
I data essentially measure ________.
your internal states or emotions
your level of self-awareness
your reputation
work productivity (in industrial psychology)
According to the text, accidental mistakes in judging personality are considered ________, whereas inaccurate judgments that are influenced by prejudices are considered ________.
biases; stereotypes
heuristic errors; formal errors
errors; biases
trivial; serious
What is the minimum number of informants that Funder recommends for each person in a study?
one
two
three
five
According to the text, what simple example of L data is considered by clinical psychologists to be a potential indicator of psychopathology?
an arrest record by age 21
an annual income below the poverty line
being fired from a job by age 30
never being married by age 40
The Thematic Apperception Test and the Rorschach test elicit ________ data.
The typical experimental social psychologist collects ________ data.
To obtain S data, a psychologist can ________.
develop a questionnaire
recruit informants
observe the subject directly
look up information in public records
What you do may be influenced by how you see yourself and how you are seen by others. This means that your self-perceptions and others’ perceptions have ________.
definitional truth
causal truth
phenomenological force
causal force
What is the best way for a researcher to judge the face validity of items on a measure?
Conduct an exploratory factor analysis on the items.
Conduct a confirmatory factor analysis on the items.
Conduct an internal consistency analysis on the items.
Read and consider the content of the items.
________ data are fairly easily verifiable, concrete, real-life outcomes of possible psychological significance.
________ data derive from the researcher’s direct observation of what the subject does.
In a priming study, participants solved puzzles that included words such as gray, wise, retired, and Florida. After solving these puzzles, participants were observed as they walked down a hallway. The observation of participants’ speed of walking would be considered ________ data.
experience sampling
experimental B
projective
Which kind of data would be the easiest way to obtain information about the content of dreams?
Dr. Garcia wants to measure the earliest autobiographical memories of the participants in her project. She would most likely obtain ________ data.
Different informants may not agree about the personality of a common target individual because ________.
each judge may see the target person in only a limited number of social contexts
judges may form a mistaken impression based on the recollection of a single, uncharacteristic behavior
some informants may have biases that affect the accuracy of their judgments
What kinds of behaviors by an acquaintance would most likely be remembered?
an atypical behavior that was emotionally evocative
only behaviors consistent with the acquaintance’s personality
the most recently observed typical behavior
behaviors that are observed every day
Records of employee absenteeism are what type of data?
Which of the following types of personality data is the most objective and verifiable?
Which of the following would be an example of natural B data?
observations of the number of times a subject told a joke in a day
number of seconds a subject waits before seeking help in an experimental emergency situation
a subject’s verbal responses to a Rorschach test
number of times a subject interrupts others during a videotaped laboratory situation
Which type of data is likely to be the most subjective and judgmental?
Which of the following is LEAST likely to be considered B data?
measures of heart rate and other physiological measurements
observation of how many times a participant spoke during a five-minute conversation
a psychologist’s interpretation of a participant’s responses to an unstructured clinical interview
a participant’s records of his daily activities in a daily research “diary”
When a psychologist asks a question because he or she wants to know the answer, the question elicits ________. When a psychologist asks a question because he or she wants to see how the individual will respond to that stimulus, the test elicits ________.
B data; I data
S data; I data
S data; B data
laboratory B data; natural B data
Which kind of data is the LEAST expensive to collect?
According to the text, which of the following is another term for behavioral confirmation?
action verification
expectancy effect
narcissistic reflection
The tendency for us to become what other people believe us to be is called a(n) ________ effect.
confirmation
expectancy
self-monitoring
The fact that behavior is frequently determined by multiple causes presents the most significant disadvantage for ________ data.
The judgments that others make of your personality affect your opportunities and expectancies. Thus, these judgments have ________.
generalizability
validity
reliability
A major advantage of S data is that ________.
only a trained personality psychologist can interpret S data
the best information about personality is obtainable from real-life social outcomes
you are the world’s best expert about your own personality
to assess personality, you must observe what the person actually does
If Dr. O’Connell wants to learn about Laura, why might Dr. O’Connell want to avoid using S data?
The person supplying the S data may not want to or be able to provide accurate reports about Laura.
The S data often do not have psychological relevance.
The S data are influenced by too many factors to reveal much about a person’s personality.
The S data have definitional truth.
Because Jesse’s teacher believes that he is intelligent, she challenges him with extra assignments and generally encourages his curiosity. At the end of the school year, Jesse performs better on the school’s achievement test than any other student. Jesse’s enhanced performance is likely due to the ________.
recency effect
self-serving bias
judgment bias
A researcher asks participants to imagine that they have been excluded from their circle of friends and then takes images of their brains using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning technology. The images generated in this study would be considered ________ data.
The most important advantage of B data is that they are based on ________.
common sense, so they have greater psychological relevance
a report by the best expert, so they are more accurate
direct psychological tests, so they have greater causal force and scientific value
direct observations of behavior, so they are more objective and quantifiable
When someone is high in narcissism, what type of data about this person might be the LEAST trustworthy?
Which of the following is NOT an advantage of I data?
They have causal force.
They include common sense.
They are based on large amounts of information.
They come from carefully controlled experimental situations.
A major disadvantage of L data is ________.
that they provide too much information
that informants may have access to only a narrow range of the target’s behavior
that the data are influenced by multiple factors besides just personality
that judges may be biased about the person they are describing
Which of the following is NOT an advantage of B data?
Direct observations require little in the way of psychological interpretation.
Direct observations are easily quantifiable.
Direct observations can be made with extreme precision, as in the case of reaction times.
Psychologists can construct situations to elicit particular behaviors.
One concern with items on measures like the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is that they often lack face validity. What kind of problem does this create?
Participants can easily fake responses on the items.
Such items raise concerns with social desirability.
Responses are difficult to interpret in psychological terms.
Such items tend to make participants very anxious.
As part of a research project, a participant uses a smart phone application that signals her at random times throughout the day. At those times, the application presents a series of questions for her to answer regarding her current activities. This is an example of ________ data.
What term describes computer-assisted methods to measure thoughts and feelings that occur during normal daily activities?
experiential assessment
ambulatory assessment
projective assessment
digitally assisted experimental assessment
What term is sometimes used to describe instruments like the Rorschach and Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)?
S instruments
omnibus personality test batteries
objective tests
performance-based personality tests
A behavioroid measure is a combination of which two types of data?
S and B
L and B
I and B
S and L
According to principles described in the text, it would be relatively difficult to create a reliable measure of attitudes toward ________.
paper clips
casual sexual encounters
outgroup members
the self (like self-esteem)
If measurement errors are truly random, then they should ________.
never occur
not affect the reliability of a measure
not attenuate the validity of a measure
sum to zero
Which formula in psychometrics quantifies the principle of aggregation?
alpha
Spearman-Brown
kappa
Kaiser-Guttman
If you can get the same answer repeatedly, then your measure is ________.
reliable
valid
significant
generalizable
The technical meaning of reliability refers to ________.
how much measurement error is present in your assessment instrument
whether an instrument accurately assesses the construct it is intended to measure
whether an instrument correlates with a similar measure of the same construct
whether a sample of participants reasonably represents the population of interest
On Friday, Terence completes the Self-Monitoring Scale and receives a score of 49. On the following Tuesday, he fills out the scale again and receives a score of 28. Terence’s scores on the Self- Monitoring Scale do not appear to be ________.
free of unwanted biases
Linda is taking an intelligence test. During the test, the teachers walk through the halls and chat loudly with each other. Due to these distractions, Linda scores lower on the test than she would have if she had been able to concentrate fully. The influence of the teachers’ chatting is an example of ________.
a validity bias
a cohort effect
measurement error
The most important and generally useful way to enhance reliability is to ________.
use the smallest possible number of items
measure something that is important
aggregate your measurements
maximize error variance
At the heart of aggregation is the idea that ________.
random errors cancel each other out
random errors never cancel each other out
reliable errors cancel each other out
a sufficiently precise measure has no reliable error
Dr. Grant is creating a new measure of shyness, and she decides to include more than one item in her scale. She believes that using multiple items will lead to a more reliable measure. Dr. Grant is following which principle of measurement?
multitrait assessment
content validation
aggregation
construct validation
A researcher can increase the reliability of a personality test by ________.
refusing to aggregate items
measuring something important
using very few items to reduce the risk of mistakes
constructing items with complicated words and phrases
Which of the following is NOT likely to undermine the reliability of a survey?
entering data into a database incorrectly after collection
the immediate state of the participant
the mood of the experimenter
aggregation of responses to different items
In simple language, questions about reliability concern ________, whereas questions about validity concern ________.
accuracy; consistency
consistency; dependability
stability; dependability
consistency; accuracy
Validity is the degree to which a measurement ________.
is consistent and stable
provides the same result if repeated
actually reflects or measures what you think it does
is reliable
According to Cronbach and Meehl’s (1955) terminology, psychological attributes such as intelligence and sociability are examples of ________, whereas an IQ test and extraversion questionnaire are both examples of specific tests or measurements.
constructs
valid ideas
assessments
manifest factors
Jane recently completed a new test that was designed to measure her IQ. She took the test twice and each time received the same score. The test administrator told her that her scores indicate she is extremely intelligent. However, Jane scored well below average when she completed the Stanford- Binet and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), two well-established intelligence tests. Based on this pattern of results, it appears that the new measure of IQ was a ________.
valid measure of intelligence
valid but unreliable measure of intelligence
reliable but not valid measure of intelligence
more accurate measure of intelligence than the Stanford-Binet or the WAIS
Reliability is ________ for validity.
a necessary and sufficient condition
a necessary but not sufficient condition
a sufficient condition
not at all relevant
A research strategy that involves gathering as many different measurements as you can of a particular construct and determining if those measurements correlate is called ________.
aggregation validation
generalization
internal validation
Many psychologists tend to use college students as participants in their research and then assume that what they learn applies to people in general. However, this common practice may limit ________.
the ecological reliability of their research
the internal validity of their studies
the generalizability of their findings
the construct validity of their studies
Reliability and validity are actually both aspects of a broader concept called ________.
factorial invariance
psychometric integrity
measurement equivalence
The fact that much of modern empirical research in psychology has been based on white, middle-class college sophomores may reduce the ________ of psychological research.
statistical significance
Which of the following sampling methods affords a researcher the greatest generalizability?
randomly selecting a sample of introductory psychology students
randomly selecting a sample of both high school and college students
recruiting all the executives at a large company to participate
selecting participants using a random telephone dialing system
According to the text, which of the following would NOT be a threat to the generalizability of personality research?
More women than men participate in research.
Participants who show up for research studies are more conventional than individuals who do not show up.
Personality researchers strive to study multiple cohorts.
Much personality research is based on samples of college students.
Narrative psychology is an example of the ________ method.
case study
correlational
experimental
behavioral
What is the big disadvantage of the case study method?
It describes isolated variables, not the whole phenomenon.
It is rarely the source of testable hypotheses.
It does not usually apply to particular individuals, only to groups.
It is not generalizable.
The major difference between the experimental and correlational methods is that in the experimental method the presumed causal variable is ________, whereas in the correlational method the same variable is ________.
externally derived; internally derived
significant; important
manipulated; measured
reliable; valid
The strongest advantage of the experimental method is that ________.
it allows the assessment of causality
it allows the study of naturally occurring individual differences that already exist in the participants
participants are always randomly sampled from the general population
it can take advantage of extreme levels of the independent variable
Random assignment allows researchers to ________.
ignore problems of measurement
assume that groups of participants are more or less equivalent on preexisting conditions
ignore ethical constraints on research
control for selective attrition
If test scores decrease as anxiety increases, then ________.
test scores and anxiety are positively correlated
test scores and anxiety are negatively correlated
test scores and anxiety are unrelated
the correlation between test scores and anxiety must be 1.0
Dr. Low is interested in studying the effect mood has on the willingness to help a stranger. She randomly assigns half of her participants to the pleasant mood condition and shows them funny film clips. The other half of her participants is assigned to the unpleasant mood condition and is forced to watch boring film clips. She then gives every participant an opportunity to donate money to a homeless stranger. Dr. Low is using a(n) ________ design.
repeated measures
To conduct an experimental study of the causal effect smoking has on physical health, we would have to ________.
find a group of smokers and compare their physical health to a group of nonsmokers
randomly assign some people to a smoking condition and some others to a control condition
compare the physical health of a heavy smoker to the physical health of a person who has never smoked
teach one group of people to adopt good health habits and see if they are more likely to begin smoking than a group of people who have not been taught good health habits
Dr. Low is interested in studying the relation between mood and willingness to help a stranger. Every participant in her study completes a mood-rating questionnaire and is then given an opportunity to donate money to a homeless stranger. Dr. Low is using a(n) ________ design.
Which design is best suited for addressing the third-variable problem?
