Personality Ch8 Stability Change Qs without answers

1 Chapter 8: Stability and Change in Personality Traits Questions based on the lecture and/or textbook. 1. The word “_____” implies stability of an individual’s personality over time and situations (contexts). trait 2. With respect to the stability of traits, the 2 types of continuity are _____ and _____, Absolute continuity, Rank-order stability also known as “Differential continuity.” 3. Continuity is synonymous with the word _____. consistency 4. _____ refers to the constancy in the quantity or amount of an attribute over time. Absolute continuity 5. Absolute continuity describes the stability of an individual’s personality. True or false? False 6. Absolute continuity describes the stability of a group’s personality. True or false? True In brief, absolute continuity reflects the stability of a group’s average score with respect to a personality trait. True or false? True 7. _____ refers to the consistency of individual differences within a sample of individuals over time relative to one’s peers. Rank-order stability 8. Absolute continuity refers to whether the individuals in a group have maintained their same rank over years. True or false? False 9. Differential continuity refers to whether the individuals in a group have maintained their same rank over years. True or false? True 10. With respect to differential continuity, the scores of each individual have to stay the same. True or false? False 11. With respect to differential continuity, the scores of each individual do not have to stay the same. True or false? True 12. According to the textbook, in terms of personality, rank-order stability stays remarkably the same over time. True or false? 13. According to the textbook, in terms of personality, rank-order stability stays remarkably the same over time for men. True or false? 14. According to the textbook, in terms of personality, rank-order stability stays remarkably the same over time for women. True or false? 15. Absolute and differential continuity are dependent on one another. True or false? False 16. Absolute and differential continuity are independent of one another. True or false? True 17. Correlation coefficients can inform us about differential continuity. True or false?

2 True 18. High differential continuity is associated with which one of the following? a. High correlation coefficients b. Low correlation coefficients c. A zero correlation coefficient d. Differential continuity is not associated with correlation coefficients 19. Low differential continuity is associated with which one of the following? a. High correlation coefficients b. Low correlation coefficients c. A zero correlation coefficient d. Differential continuity is not associated with correlation coefficients 20. A _____ measures the strength of the relationship between X and Y. Correlation Coefficient 21. The most common correlation coefficient is _____. Full name please. Pearson r 22. r ranges from _____ to _____. -1.0, +1.0 23. The _____ tells us the proportion of variability in Y due to X and suggests how much of one variable can be accounted for by another variable. Coefficient of Determination 24. r 2 is the abbreviation for the _____. Coefficient of Determination 25. The range of values for r 2 is _____ to _____. 0, 1.0 26. The higher the value of r2, the more variability in Y is accounted for X. True or false? True 27. The lower the value of r2, the more variability in Y is accounted for X. True or false? False 28. How do you calculate the coefficient of determination? Square the correlation coefficient. 29. Overall, it appears that the correlation coefficient between time 1 and time 2 for the Big 5 is _____. +0.65 Use Table 8.1 to answer questions 30 and 31. When more than one study is cited, consider only the highest correlation coefficient. 30. In terms of the Big 5, which one(s) has(have) the strongest rank-order stability? 31. In terms of the Big 5, which one(s) has(have) the weakest rank-order stability? 32. According to the textbook, which group has the greatest change in terms of personality? Options: Children, adolescents, adults. 33. Rank order (from lowest to highest) the following age groups in terms of change in personality: adults, children, adolescents. 34. Rank order (from highest to lowest) the following age groups in terms of change in personality: adults, children, adolescents. 35. Monozygotic twins share _____ percent of their genes. 100% 36. Dizygotic twins share _____ percent of their genes.

4 e. Conscientiousness 48. _____ refers to environmental influences that operate to make family members alike. 49. _____ refers to environmental influences that operate to make family members dissimilar. 50. Name the 2 types of research we conduct to determine the change in personality over time. Cross-sectional studies and Longitudinal studies Use Figure 8.1 to answer the following questions. NOTE: Higher values means we are more of something. 51. Generally speaking, the trend is that as we age conscientiousness _____ with age. a. Increases b. Decreases c. Stays the same 52. Generally speaking, the trend is that as we age social vitality _____ with age. a. Increases b. Decreases c. Stays the same 53. Generally speaking, the trend is that as we age social dominance _____ with age. a. Increases b. Decreases c. Stays the same 54. Generally speaking, the trend is that as we age agreeableness _____ with age. a. Increases b. Decreases c. Stays the same 55. Generally speaking, we become ____ emotionally stable as we age. a. More b. Less c. Unchanged 56. Approximately, at around what age do we begin to become the same person in terms of emotional stability? a. 10 b. 20 c. 30 d. 40 e. 50 f. 60 g. 70 57. _____ theory proposes that people increasingly devote their energies to socially values roles as they move through early and middle adulthood. 58. _____ refers to the self-initiated effort to move one’s position on a trait continuum in a desirable direction. 59. According to the textbook, the data _____ the notion that, on their own, people are able to change their personality to become what the person desires it to be.

5 a. supports b. contradicts c. neither supports nor contradicts Applied Questions: Questions that you should be able to answer based on the lecture and/or textbook, but the answers are not provided in the lecture or book. 1. *Q: Chapter 6 talks about the development of traits. That made me think of something. If traits “develop”, does that mean that they did not exist at one point. If they didn’t exist at one point in time (i.e., you developed a particular trait at some point in your life, does that mean traits are not really traits since they do not exist over time? What do YOU think? 2. *Q: I find that the IQ of college students increases 36 points from the time they start college until the time they finish it. This is an example of absolute continuity. True or false? 3. *Q: In terms of the income of a group of people, what do you expect to happen (over the span of 20 years) in terms of absolute continuity. Do you think absolute continuity will be low, medium, or high? Fully and clearly explain your answer. 4. *Q: My results from taking the Big 5 assessment instrument have not changed in 15 years. This is an example of differential continuity. True or false? 5. *Q: For there to be maximum differential continuity, the scores of the group have to stay the same over time. True or false? 6. *Q: If I know that absolute continuity is HIGH, then what do I know about the level of differential continuity? a. it is high b. it is low c. it is medium d. We don’t know anything about the level of differential continuity. 7. *Q: If I know that differential continuity is HIGH, then what do I know about the level of absolute continuity? a. it is high b. it is low c. it is medium d. We don’t know anything about the level of absolute continuity. 8. *Q: If I know that absolute continuity is LOW, then what do I know about the level of differential continuity? a. it is high b. it is low c. it is medium d. We don’t know anything about the level of differential continuity. 9. *Q: If I know that differential continuity is LOW, then what do I know about the level of absolute continuity? a. it is high b. it is low

7 18. *Q: If a correlation coefficient is found to be 0.8, what percentage of the dependent variable is accounted for by the independent variable? 19. *Q: Q: If a correlation coefficient is found to be 0.5, what percentage of the dependent variable is accounted for by the independent variable? 20. *Q: If a correlation coefficient is found to be 0.3, what percentage of the dependent variable is accounted for by the independent variable? 21. *Q: If a correlation coefficient is found to be 0.8, what percentage of the dependent variable is accounted for by something other than the independent variable? 22. *Q: Q: If a correlation coefficient is found to be 0.5, what percentage of the dependent variable is accounted for by something other than the independent variable? 23. *Q: If a correlation coefficient is found to be 0.3, what percentage of the dependent variable is accounted for by something other than the independent variable? 24. *Q: The heritability quotient for MZ twins should be 1, if a trait is purely genetically determined. Look at the heritability quotients for the Big 5 (Table 8.2, page 223). Based on what you see, do you think the personality traits of neuroticism is genetically determined, environmentally determined, or a combination? Use the number provided in the table and then fully and clearly explain your answer. 25. *Q: The heritability quotient for MZ twins should be 1, if a trait is purely genetically determined. Look at the heritability quotients for the Big 5 (Table 8.2, page 223). Based on what you see, do you think the personality traits of extraversion is genetically determined, environmentally determined, or a combination? Use the number provided in the table and then fully and clearly explain your answer. 26. *Q: The heritability quotient for MZ twins should be 1, if a trait is purely genetically determined. Look at the heritability quotients for the Big 5 (Table 8.2, page 223). Based on what you see, do you think the personality traits of openness to experience is genetically determined, environmentally determined, or a combination? Use the number provided in the table and then fully and clearly explain your answer. 27. *Q: The heritability quotient for MZ twins should be 1, if a trait is purely genetically determined. Look at the heritability quotients for the Big 5 (Table 8.2, page 223). Based on what you see, do you think the personality traits of conscientiousness is genetically determined, environmentally determined, or a combination? Use the number provided in the table and then fully and clearly explain your answer. 28. *Q: The heritability quotient for MZ twins should be 1, if a trait is purely genetically determined. Look at the heritability quotients for the Big 5 (Table 8.2, page 223). Based on what you see, do you think the personality traits of agreeableness is genetically determined, environmentally determined, or a combination? Use the number provided in the table and then fully and clearly explain your answer. 29. *Q: I repeatedly study one group of college students. I study them at the beginning of their freshman year then again in their sophomore, junior, and senior years. What type of research design is this? Longitudinal 30. *Q: I study four groups of college students: freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. I study each group only once. What type of research design is this? Cross-sectional