58 Questions
Which term is used to describe characteristics of people?
Trait-descriptive adjectives
In what way are psychological traits different from states?
Traits describe average tendencies, states are individual-specific
How do psychologists conceptualize traits?
As dimensions within a range
Which model of personality traits has achieved the greatest consensus in the history of personality trait psychology?
The Big Five Model
What is the main advantage of psychological traits according to the text?
They describe and explain behavior while predicting future behavior
What are the three sub-traits that make up Type A personality?
Achievement motivation, time urgency, and hostility
Which personality trait is characterized by a tendency to respond with anger and aggression to everyday frustrations?
Type A personality
What distinguishes Type A behavior from Type B behavior?
The level of competitive achievement motivation
Which sub-traits must be present in high levels for an individual to be at risk for further cardiac problems according to the text?
Negative affectivity and social inhibition
What is a key characteristic of individuals with Type D personality that increases the risk for cardiovascular disease?
Exaggerated stress response and poor health-related behaviors
According to the Interactional Model, which variable influences the direction and degree of the relationship between two other variables?
Coping responses
Which of the following models suggests that personality affects health indirectly, through health-promoting or health-degrading behaviors?
Health Behaviour Model
In the context of the Transactional Model, what is the term used to describe the effect of one variable on another due to a third variable?
Mediation
Which of the Big Five personality dimensions has 'imaginative, curious, and creative' as its positive side, and 'shallow and imperceptive' as its negative side?
Openness
In the example of James and Kim contracting COVID-19, which personality trait is most likely responsible for James' longer recovery time?
Extraversion
Which personality trait is most closely associated with engaging in health-protective behaviors and avoiding health-risk behaviors?
Conscientiousness
Which of the following is a common coping strategy for individuals with high neuroticism?
Broad-disengagement coping
Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of Type A behavior pattern?
Compassion
Which Big Five personality trait is negatively correlated with resilience?
Neuroticism
Which of the following is NOT a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease?
High levels of conscientiousness
Which model best explains the relationship between neuroticism and frequent visits to the doctor?
Illness-Behaviour Model
How does conscientiousness potentially lead to a longer life?
By engaging in healthier behaviours
Which model suggests that the relationship between personality and illness may be due to a shared underlying process?
Predisposition Model
Which of the following is not true about individuals with high neuroticism?
They exhibit higher tolerance for stress and aversive stimuli
Which model best explains the relationship between hostility and heart disease?
Predisposition Model
Which of the following best describes the relationship between personality and the stress process?
Personality factors, as relatively stable traits, influence an individual's appraisal of external events and their subsequent stress response.
What is the nature of the stress process?
The stress process is a dynamic process where external demands may lead to illness, and the illness itself may become a further source of stress.
What is the definition of personality according to the text?
Personality is the set of psychological traits and mechanisms within the individual that are organized, enduring, and influence their interactions with and adaptations to their environments.
How do individual differences impact the stress process?
Individual differences, including personality factors, determine how an individual appraises external events and therefore the impact of stress on them.
What is the role of resilience in the stress process?
Resilience is a dynamic trait that can be developed instead of experiencing stress.
Which personality trait is most associated with a positive reappraisal coping strategy?
Openness
What is the primary difference between hardy individuals and resilient individuals?
Hardy individuals have a higher sense of purpose
Which coping strategy is considered more effective in reducing the effects of stress?
Engagement coping
Which personality trait is most associated with disengagement coping?
Neuroticism
What is the difference between positive reappraisal and engagement coping?
Positive reappraisal focuses on the good, while engagement coping deals directly with the stressor
Which personality trait is most associated with active and problem-focused coping?
Conscientiousness
What is the relationship between social support and resilience?
Social support is positively associated with resilience
Which personality trait is most associated with a greater variety of unsuccessful coping strategies over time?
Neuroticism
What is the primary difference between engagement coping and disengagement coping?
Engagement coping deals directly with the stressor or emotions invoked in the individual, while disengagement coping involves escaping and avoiding the stressor
Which personality trait is most associated with effective coping?
Extraversion
Which of Eysenck's findings supports the idea that introverts have a more active physiological system?
All of these findings support the idea
According to the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory, which system is associated with exaggerated negative affect to punishment?
Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS)
Which of the following is NOT a facet of the Openness personality trait as described in the Five Factor Model?
Conscientious
Which of the following is NOT true about Eysenck's Personality Inventory (PEN)?
It is not a widely accepted model of personality
Which of the following is NOT a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease?
Type E personality
Which of the following models suggests that personality affects health indirectly, through health-promoting or health-degrading behaviors?
The Interactional Model
Which personality trait has been empirically found to be a protective factor in dealing with stress, according to research studies?
Conscientiousness
According to empirical findings, which personality trait has been found to increase the risk for cardiovascular disease?
Type D personality
What is the primary difference between engagement coping and disengagement coping, according to research studies?
Engagement coping involves active coping strategies, while disengagement coping involves passive strategies.
Which model of personality suggests that the relationship between personality and illness may be due to a shared underlying process, according to empirical findings?
Biological Predisposition Model
Which of the following models suggests that personality affects health indirectly, through health-promoting or health-degrading behaviors, according to research studies?
Health-Related Behaviors Model
Which coping strategy has been found to be most effective in reducing the effects of stress, according to research studies?
Engagement coping
According to the Segovia et al. (2012) study, which variable was the strongest predictor of outcomes as continuous or categorical?
Optimism
Which study examined the association between locus of control (LOC) at age 10 and health outcomes and behavior at age 30?
The British Cohort Study (1970)
According to the British Cohort Study (1970), what was the association between low LOC and health outcomes compared to high LOC?
Low LOC was associated with being overweight/obese, reporting health as fair/poor, and psychological distress compared to high LOC
What is the main finding of the Segovia et al. (2012) study regarding optimism and outcomes?
Optimism was the strongest predictor of outcomes as continuous (17%) or categorical (14%)
What is the impact of 'vulnerable' personality traits on stress and wellbeing according to the text?
Vulnerable personality traits can enhance or diminish indices of stress and wellbeing
What is the relationship between personality traits and lifestyle behaviors according to the text?
The impact of vulnerable personality traits may be softened by lifestyle behaviors
Study Notes
Personality Traits
- Unreliable trait: within the individual, personality is influenced by environment and people, but sources of personality reside within us and tend to be stable over time and across different situations.
- Organized: psychological traits and mechanisms within are connected to one another.
- Adaptation: important for personality, involving goal-directed and purposeful goals.
Types of Traits
- Psychological traits: describe how people are different/similar, stable, and consistent, and describe average tendencies.
- State of being: differs from psychological traits, only activated in specific situations.
- Advantages of psychological traits: describe people, explain behavior, and predict future behavior.
Conceptualizing Traits
- Traits exist as dimensions, not categories, with a range of expressions (e.g., extraversion vs. introversion).
- Bell curve in population: normal distribution of traits.
The Big Five Model
- OCEAN (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism): a taxonomy of personality traits, receiving the most attention from personality researchers.
- Each broad trait consists of many narrow traits/facets.
Type A and Type B Personality
- Type A: a major personality trait, including competitive achievement motivation, time urgency, and hostility.
- Sub-traits: not a single trait, but a collection of three sub-traits.
- Type A is not strictly categorical, but rather dimensional.
Type D Personality
- A distressed personality type, characterized by high negative affectivity and social inhibition.
- Associated with depression, anxiety, and chronic stress.
- Not a true type, but a dimension.
Hardy Personality
- A stress-resistant personality, exhibiting courage through the interaction of three cognitive elements: control, challenge, and commitment.
- The Five-Factor Model: 5 personality dimensions: Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness.
Models of the Personality-Illness Connection
- Interactional Model: personality determines the impact of events by influencing coping abilities.
- Transactional Model: personality affects the appraisal of events and the events themselves.
- Health Behaviour Model: personality affects health indirectly through health-promoting or health-degrading behaviors.
- Predisposition Model: associations between personality and illness exist due to a third variable that influences both.
- Illness-Behaviour Model: personality influences the degree to which a person perceives and attends to bodily sensations, and interprets and labels sensations as illness.
Neuroticism and Stress
- Neuroticism makes one vulnerable to life stress.
- Individuals with high neuroticism: exhibit lower tolerance for stress, respond with negative emotions more frequently and intensely, and experience more frequent and intense negative affect in daily life.
Importance of Individual Differences in the Stress Process
- Any external event can be a stressor, and individual differences in the stress process involve personality factors.
- External events cannot be identified as stressors independently of individual's appraisals of them.
- Individual differences in the stress process involve: personality factors, relatively stable traits/characteristics.### Hardiness and Resilience
- Hardiness involves perceiving stress and change as opportunities for growth and personal development, rather than threats to avoid.
- Hardy individuals commit to their surroundings, set goals, and have a sense of purpose.
- They perceive challenges as problems to overcome, not as threats to avoid, and evolve in their environment.
- Resilience is the ability to adapt positively and cope successfully after a stressful situation.
- Resilience involves high self-esteem, optimism, and a sense of personal control in life.
- Social support is positively associated with hardiness and resilience.
Personality and Coping with Stress
- Hardy and resilient individuals are better at resisting the negative effects of stress and coping with stress over time.
- Personality traits such as neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness are associated with coping with stress.
- Individuals high in neuroticism use more unsuccessful coping strategies over time.
- Individuals high in conscientiousness use more active and problem-focused coping.
- Individuals high in extraversion and agreeableness seek support and use positive reappraisal to cope with stress.
Models of Personality
- Eysenck's PEN model proposes that personality is based on underlying biological differences in temperament.
- The PEN model includes extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism.
- Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory proposes that personality is based on the sensitivity of the behavioral activation system (BAS) and behavioral inhibition system (BIS).
- The Big Five model includes openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.
Vulnerable and Protective Personality Traits
- Vulnerable personality traits, such as neuroticism, are associated with poor coping mechanisms and stress.
- Protective personality traits, such as optimism and internal locus of control, are associated with better coping mechanisms and health outcomes.
Personality, Stress, and Health
- The biological predisposition model proposes that personality traits affect health outcomes through underlying temperament.
- The health-related behaviors model proposes that personality affects health outcomes through health-related behaviors.
- Moderation models propose that personality moderates the relationship between stress and health outcomes.
Test your knowledge on the importance of individual differences in the stress process, focusing on how external events can become stressors based on individual appraisals and personality factors.
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