Multiple choice quiz

Take the quiz test your understanding of the key concepts covered in the chapter. Try testing yourself before you read the chapter to see where your strengths and weaknesses are, then test yourself again once you’ve read the chapter to see how well you’ve understood.

1. Psychometric reliability refers to the degree to which a test is …

  1. free from measurement error
  2. consistent
  3. dependable
  4. all of the above

Answer:

d. all of the above

2. The items in a personality test correlate strongly with one another. What kind of reliability or validity does this imply?

  1. Convergent validity
  2. Content validity
  3. Internal consistency
  4. Retest reliability

Answer:

c. Internal consistency

3. To assess the convergent validity of a new test of self-esteem, a researcher should establish that…

  1. it correlates highly with a different test of self-esteem
  2. it does not correlate too highly with a different test of self-esteem
  3. it correlates highly with a test of narcissism
  4. it does not correlate too highly with a test of narcissism

Answer:

a. it correlates highly with a different test of self-esteem

4. Consider the following statements about a hypothetical personality test. Which one is not possible based on the relationship between reliability and validity?

  1. The test is high in predictive validity and high in reliability
  2. The test is high in predictive validity and low in reliability
  3. The test is low in predictive validity and high in reliability
  4. The test is low in predictive validity and low in reliability

Answer:

b. The test is high in predictive validity and low in reliability

5. To test the predictive validity of a test of extraversion, a researcher could show that people’s scores on the test correlate with …

  1. their scores on another extraversion test
  2. their scores on the same extraversion test at a later date
  3. another person’s ratings of their extraversion
  4. their frequency of attending parties over a two-month period

Answer:

d. their frequency of attending parties over a two-month period

6. Which of the following is not a weakness of interview methods of personality assessment?

  1. They allow interviewers to follow personal lines of questioning
  2. They are sensitive to the interpersonal dynamics between interviewer and interviewee
  3. They have advantages when it comes to assessing personality disorders
  4. They are time-consuming

Answer:

c. They have advantages when it comes to assessing personality disorders

7. A test-taker who repeatedly answers ‘false’ on a personality inventory with true/false response options is showing which response bias?

  1. Malingering
  2. Faking bad
  3. Nay-saying
  4. Self-deception

Answer:

c. Nay-saying

8. Which of the following statements is not correct about personality inventories?

  1. They tend to have high inter-rater reliability
  2. They assess a single personality characteristic
  3. They are developed through a process of selecting the best items from a larger set
  4. They are susceptible to several response biases because they rely on self-report

Answer:

b. They assess a single personality characteristic

9. The rationale for using projective tests is that they …

  1. allow people to use the defence mechanism of projection
  2. have superior re-test reliability
  3. are labour-intensive
  4. avoid self-report biases

Answer:

d. avoid self-report biases

10. Which of the following statements is correct about the Rorschach inkblot test?

  1. All of the blots are monochromatic
  2. Interpretation is based only on the content of people’s responses
  3. It aims to bypass the test-taker’s defences
  4. It has demonstrated strong evidence of incremental validity

Answer:

c. It aims to bypass the test-taker’s defences

11. Which of the following do the Thematic Apperception Test not aim to assess?

  1. Traits
  2. Defence mechanisms
  3. Motives
  4. Object relations

Answer:

a. Traits

12. Which of the following is not a weakness of many projective personality tests?

  1. Poor predictive validity
  2. Poor inter-rater reliability
  3. Susceptibility to faking good bias
  4. Susceptibility to poor incremental validity relative to inventories

Answer:

c. Susceptibility to faking good bias

13. Implicit personality tests …

  1. rely on rapid responses to stimuli presented on computer screens
  2. attempt to bypass the response biases that plague self-report inventories
  3. often do not correlate strongly with inventory-based measures of the same characteristic
  4. all of the above

Answer:

d. All of the above

14. The repertory grid is unlike self-report inventories because it …

  1. assesses characteristics (constructs) that are unique to each person
  2. is a projective test
  3. is unsystematic
  4. has very few items

Answer:

a. assesses characteristics (constructs) that are unique to each person

15. What have most studies of clinical versus actuarial prediction shown?

  1. Psychologists with access to personality test data make more valid predictions than statistical formulas
  2. Psychologists and statistical formulas make equally valid predictions
  3. Statistical formulas make more valid predictions than psychologists
  4. Statistical formulas fail to make valid holistic personality assessments

Answer:

c. Statistical formulas make more valid predictions than psychologists