Human Relations: Interpersonal Job-Oriented Skills, 12e (DuBrin)
Chapter 2 Understanding Individual Differences
2.1 Multiple Choice Questions
1) The term individual differences refers to the fact that
A) members of the same group behave approximately the same.
B) members of the same group often behave quite differently.
C) many individuals have personality problems.
D) many individuals have intellectual problems.
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2) An example of the consequences of individual differences would be that
A) some workers can concentrate longer and harder on their work.
B) workers need to be treated fairly.
C) the best way to motivate most workers is through financial incentives.
D) good teamwork helps an organization succeed.
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3) Jill scores low on the personality trait of extraversion. She will most likely
A) be careless about details.
B) be agreeable and outgoing.
C) have unpredictable mood swings.
D) be quiet and reserved in most social settings.
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4) Jason scores high on the personality trait, openness. He most likely is
A) well-developed intellectually.
B) conscientious only on the job.
C) disagreeable in many situations.
D) emotionally unstable.
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5) Monica has a high standing on self-monitoring. It is likely that she will often
A) tell other people what they want to hear.
B) be particularly conscientious about details.
C) be tactless about expressing her feelings.
D) become quite temperamental.
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6) Derek has a high standing on risk taking and thrill seeking. He is likely to
A) enter a more traditional occupation.
B) be highly well organized.
C) become quite temperamental when he loses a bet.
D) pursue novel, intense, and complex sensations.
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7) Tony rates high on positive affectivity. He is likely to be a(n)
A) risk taker and thrill seeker.
B) pessimist.
C) optimist.
D) emotionally unstable.
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8) Workers who score high on optimism or positive affectivity are likely to experience
A) high job satisfaction.
B) low job satisfaction.
C) severe job stress.
D) frequent conflict with supervisors.
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9) Jessica scores high on organizational citizenship behavior, so she is likely to
A) help coworkers if she thinks such behavior will lead to a promotion.
B) help coworkers even if such help is not part of her job.
C) demand a reward for performing work outside of her job description.
D) ask for time off to engage in community activities.
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10) Glenn exhibits challenge-oriented citizenship behavior when he
A) asks a coworker to help him with a rush project.
B) challenges a coworker to compete with him in terms of job performance.
C) volunteers to help flood victims in the community.
D) suggests that the company could save money by not giving such big bonuses to executives.
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11) Being a little pessimistic will often help job performance when
A) worrying about negative outcomes is irrelevant.
B) positive interactions with work associates is essential.
C) prevention of problems is an asset.
D) being outgoing with people is a major part of the job.
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12) With respect to job performance and personality, it has been found that
A) an individual trait usually has the biggest impact.
B) a combination of traits is often associated with good performance.
C) any other trait usually has to be combined with extraversion.
D) extraversion and agreeableness are the most effective for job performance.
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13) According to the Golden Personality Type Profiler, the opposite of a thinking person is one
classified as
A) feeling.
B) judging.
C) perceiving.
D) intuiting.
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14) According to the Golden Personality Type Profiler, Marie scores high on Judging. She most
likely orients her life
A) in a spontaneous and open-ended manner.
B) in a deliberate and planned manner.
C) toward making negative judgments about people.
D) toward making positive judgments about people.
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15) When relating to a coworker who appears to be emotionally unstable, it is best for you to
A) explain carefully that you will not be manipulated by him or her.
B) express sarcasm about his or her problems.
C) be laid back and reassuring.
D) frequently tell him or her to “lighten up” or “chill out.”
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16) When dealing with a person who is open to experience, it would be effective for you to
A) appeal to the person’s intellect.
B) avoid presenting fresh information to him or her.
C) avoid talking about cultural trends.
D) talk about traditional approaches to solving problems.
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17) Juan has a strong g factor. He is therefore likely to perform well
A) mostly on tasks requiring numerical reasoning.
B) mostly on tasks requiring good verbal ability.
C) in a variety of tasks that do not call for much mental problem solving.
D) in a variety of mental tasks.
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18) Ginny has strong practical intelligence, so she is probably good at
A) solving everyday problems.
B) solving complex mathematical problems.
C) performing highly on intelligence tests.
D) tasks that will not help her in her career.
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19) A person with high practical intelligence is likely to have good
A) analytical skills.
B) linguistic skills.
C) common sense and street smarts.
D) multiple intelligences.
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20) The theory of multiple intelligences suggests that
A) it takes eight different types of intelligence to be successful.
B) people know and understand their world in different ways.
C) if you struggle academically, you will most likely succeed in business.
D) few people can develop more than one talent well.
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21) A person with a high degree of self-management can readily
A) react with appropriate anger to situations.
B) develop passion about the work he or she is performing.
C) respond to the unspoken feelings of others.
D) understand his or her own moods.
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22) An important part of emotional intelligence is
A) adding figures under pressure.
B) having an above-average IQ.
C) keeping emotions out of problem solving.
D) building strong bonds with people.
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23) The system of classifying values presented in the human relations text suggests that people
A) search for values that match their personality traits.
B) search for values that match their intellect.
C) establish goals to match their values.
D) establish goals to match their intelligence.
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24) Sandra believes strongly in helping poor people, and she finds employment at a company
that donates generously to charity. As a result, Sandra is likely to
A) experience dissatisfaction because her values are not unique.
B) feel that her contribution is not needed.
C) experience high job performance.
D) receive a series of rapid promotions.
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25) Person-role conflict occurs when an individual
A) enters into conflict with a coworker.
B) is asked to perform a task that clashes with his or her values.
C) is asked to perform a task outside his or her specialty area.
D) is expected to perform two different activities at the same time.
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Job Scenario, Multiple-Choice
Pamela wants to obtain as much useful self-knowledge as she can, so she obtains a personal
evaluation from a counseling psychologist. Among the findings from a personality standpoint,
are that Pamela scores high on (a) extraversion, (b) openness, (c) agreeableness, (d)
conscientiousness, and (d) optimism. She scores low on the personality factors of (a)
neuroticism, (b) self-monitoring, (c) risk taking and thrill seeking. Among the findings related to
cognitive ability, Pamela scores quite high on practical intelligence and linguistic intelligence.
She scores average on analytical intelligence, and quite high on emotional intelligence.
26) Imagine yourself as Pamela’s supervisor, and you want to build an effective working
relationship with her. You have given Pamela a key role in a project of major significance to your
team. A useful approach in dealing with Pamela would be to
A) move slowly in forming a working relationship with her, follow up frequently on your
requests, and impose strict deadlines.
B) give her a lot of freedom, do not nag, and be particularly friendly and warm toward her.
C) closely monitor her progress, encourage her to try far-out ideas, and focus your conversation
on the task.
D) be careful not to express your anxiety and fears about the project, and look out for her saying
things that she thinks you want to hear.
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27) Imagine yourself as a coworker of Pamela, working together on a key project. The two of
you are responsible for one of the most analytically challenging parts of the project. As you work
with Pamela, you are best advised to
A) ask her to focus on the part of the project involving the most difficult elements.
B) not ask her advice about the part of the project requiring the most common sense.
C) not ask her to do the most work on the written parts of the project.
D) ask her advice on how clients might react emotionally to the output of the project.
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2.2 True/False Questions
1) Individual differences are behind many differences in job performance.
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2) The concept of personality is based on the fact that the behavior of people is unpredictable
from one situation to another.
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3) The personality trait of openness relates primarily to how eagerly a person enters into
relationships with other people.
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4) A high self-monitoring person has a strong tendency to tell other people what they want to
hear.
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5) The willingness to take risks and pursue thrills on the job is a personality trait that has grown
in importance in the high technology era.
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6) A person with a high degree of optimism is likely to experience low job satisfaction because
he or she tends to have unrealistic expectations.
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7) The personality trait most consistently related to job success is conscientiousness.
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8) Ted is a higher self-monitor than Theresa, so all things being equal, Ted is likely to receive
higher performance ratings from their manager than does Theresa.
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9) A low self-monitor is more likely to engage in organizational citizenship behavior than would
a high self-monitor.
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10) Workers who have strong tendencies toward good organizational citizenship behavior tend to
do a lot of good for the organization but their own career is likely to suffer.
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11) Workers who engage in frequent organizational citizenship behavior appear to be more
concerned about the present than the long-term good of the organization.
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12) Pessimistic workers are often productive because they assume that something will go wrong
and therefore prepare to prevent unfortunate circumstances.
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13) Quite often it is a combination of personality factors that contribute to job success, rather
than one factor alone.
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14) According to the idea of cognitive styles, personality factors detract from problem-solving
ability.
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15) According to the Golden Personality Type Profiler, one of the four dichotomies that direct the
typical use of perception and judgment by the individual is sensing versus intuition.
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16) The Golden personality type referred to as “The Entertainer” tend to have a pessimistic
outlook that make working cooperatively with them difficult.
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17) Individuals who score high on the lifestyle orientation of Judging tend to orient their lives in
a spontaneous and open-ended manner.
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18) When working with a person who appears to be neurotic (low emotional stability), it is best
to be laid back and reassuring.
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19) Traditional intelligence consists of both general and specific factors.
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20) A major factor contributing to high scholastic performance is practical intelligence.
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21) According to the theory of multiple intelligences, people learn in different ways.
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22) Sasha has strong critical thinking skills, so she will carefully evaluate the facts before
accepting a sales presentation about the merits of investing in gold.
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23) A survey found that the majority of respondents believed that emotional expressiveness on
the job makes a person appear weak and ineffective.
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24) Ben has a strong value of stimulation, so he is likely to establish goals that will bring him
excitement, novelty, and thrill.
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25) Job performance is likely to be higher when a person’s job values fit those required on the
job.
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