Peter G. Northouse, Leadership: Theory and Practice, Seventh Edition: Instructor Resource
Multiple Choice
1. Kirkpatrick and Locke’s research postulated that
a. Individuals are only born with traits
b. Traits can be learned
c. Traits cannot be learned
d. Traits are unimportant to leadership
2. Conducted two major surveys of research on the trait approach:
a. Stogdill
b. Judge et al.
c. Jung and Sosik
d. Zaccaro
3. Found several consistent traits among charismatic leaders:
a. Stogdill
b. Judge et al.
c. Jung and Sosik
d. Shankman and Allen
Peter G. Northouse, Leadership: Theory and Practice, Seventh Edition: Instructor Resource
4. Conducted studies of social intelligence and its relationship to leadership:
a. Stogdill
b. Judge et al.
c. Jung and Sosik
d. Zaccaro
5. ______________ is described as those abilities to understand one’s own and others feelings,
behaviors and thoughts and to act appropriately.
a. Great Man theory
b. Social intelligence
c. Emotional intelligence
d. Big Five personalities
6. Persistence, dominance, and drive are characteristics of which trait?
a. Extraversion
b. Sociability
c. Determination
d. Intelligence
7. _____________ is one of the five major leadership traits that focuses on a leader’s inclination
to seek out pleasant social relationships.
a. Surgency
b. Agreeableness
c. Extraversion
d. Intelligence
e. Sociability
Peter G. Northouse, Leadership: Theory and Practice, Seventh Edition: Instructor Resource
8. Research related to the trait approach has
a. Been a newer area of research.
b. Been around for over 100 years.
c. Not been a focus of researchers until recently.
d. Consisted of very few known models and studies.
9. In a major review in 1948, Stogdill suggested
a. No consistent set of traits differentiates leaders from non-leaders.
b. Leadership traits are independent of situation factors.
c. Extraversion is a definitive leadership trait.
d. A consistent set of traits differentiates leaders from nonleaders.
10. Which best describes the overall results of Stogdill’s second survey when compared with his
initial survey?
a. There was little to no difference in the findings.
b. Situational factors became less of a focus.
c. It was more balanced in its descriptions of the role of traits and leadership.
d. Personality played a larger role in leadership.
Peter G. Northouse, Leadership: Theory and Practice, Seventh Edition: Instructor Resource
11. Mary has managed the mailroom for 2 years. Management views Mary as a person with
special leadership talent, such as intelligence, sociability, and determination. What approach is
management using in assessing Mary?
a. Trait approach
b. Attributions approach
c. Behavioral approach
d. Managerial grid approach
12. Stogdill’s second study found
a. No significant differences in traits from 1948 to 1974
b. Situational factors could not be identified
c. Emotional intelligence plays a significant role in leadership
d. Both traits and situational factors are determinants of leadership
13. The following traits are associated with charismatic leadership:
a. Intelligence, self-confidence
b. Physical attractiveness, height
c. Desire for power, desire to help others
d. Self-monitoring, impression management
Peter G. Northouse, Leadership: Theory and Practice, Seventh Edition: Instructor Resource
14. The trait approach focuses on
a. Follower-leader interaction
b. Role of the leader
c. Role of the follower
d. Role of the organization
15. A manager arrives an hour early to work every day and is always completing his task early
as well as constantly striving for excellence within the organization. Which two traits best
represent the manager?
a. Articulate and self-confident
b. Dependable and diligent
c. Trustworthy and perceptive
d. Self-confident and empathetic
16. During the 2008 United States presidential election, Barack Obama demonstrated this trait
extensively and brought public attention to its value as it relates to leadership.
a. Readiness
b. Vigor
c. Charisma
d. Drive
e. Capacity
Peter G. Northouse, Leadership: Theory and Practice, Seventh Edition: Instructor Resource
17. Being socially aware, possessing social acumen, practicing self-monitoring, and having the
ability to decide on the best response for any given situation, and then following through with
said decision, are part of Zaccaro’s definition of
a. Problem solving
b. Intelligence
c. Task knowledge
d. Cognitive ability
e. Social intelligence
18. By comparing Stogdill’s findings from his 1948 survey with the findings of his updated 1974
survey, which of the following was suggested?
a. Leadership research has progressed little.
b. That risk taking and originality no longer play a role in problem solving.
c. That situational factors no longer play a large role within leadership.
d. That both personality and situational factors were causals in leadership.
19. Founder and former CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, best demonstrated which trait?
a. Openness
b. Integrity
c. Sociability
d. Intelligence
e. Determination
Peter G. Northouse, Leadership: Theory and Practice, Seventh Edition: Instructor Resource
20. A student who practices the piano daily and tries new music despite the difficulty
demonstrates which trait?
a. Determination
b. Sociability
c. Integrity
d. Self-awareness
21. Developed a model of emotionally intelligent leadership:
a. Stogdill
b. Judge et al.
c. Jung and Sosik
d. Zaccaro
e. Shankman and Allen
22. Goleman suggests that emotional intelligence is a set of
a. Ethical and emotional competencies
b. Social and perceptual competencies
c. Personal and social competencies
d. Cognitive and expressive competencies
23. The underlying premise of emotional intelligence’s impact on leadership is
a. Intelligence is the most essential part of leadership
b. Sensitivity to personal emotions is most important to positive leadership
c. Understanding one’s own and others emotions provides a base for impactful leadership
d. Emotional intelligence has minimal impact on effective leadership
Peter G. Northouse, Leadership: Theory and Practice, Seventh Edition: Instructor Resource
24. The cognitive domain in emotional intelligence describes
a. Confidence
b. Feeling
c. Competency
d. Thinking
25. Emotional intelligence has to do with two different domains and the interplay between them.
Those two domains are
a. Task and process
b. Mind and body
c. Affective and cognitive
d. Traits and styles
26. Shankman and Allen’s (2002) model of emotionally intelligent leadership suggests leaders
must take into account these three fundamental facets of leadership:
a. Context, self, and others
b. Referent power, expert power, and legitimate power
c. Desire for power, desire to help others, and desire to win
d. Determination, integrity, and sociability
27. Openness in the Big Five Personality Model is defined as
a. intellect, being informed, creativity
Peter G. Northouse, Leadership: Theory and Practice, Seventh Edition: Instructor Resource
b. Sociable, assertive, high energy
c. Organized, dependable, decisive
d. Accepting, trusting, nurturing
28. The Big Five personality factor that is weakly associated with leadership is
a. Conscientiousness
b. Neuroticism
c. Agreeableness
d. Sociability
29. Which of the Big Five personality factors is also one of the five major traits identified in the
text?
a. Extraversion
b. Determination
c. Conscientiousness
d. Self-confidence
e. Intelligence
30. Of the Big Five personality factors, which is the most strongly associated with leadership?
a. Openness
b. Neuroticism
c. Social status
d. Extraversion
Peter G. Northouse, Leadership: Theory and Practice, Seventh Edition: Instructor Resource
31. Found a strong relationship between the Big Five traits and leadership:
a. Stogdill
b. Judge et al.
c. Jung and Sosik
d. Zaccaro
32. The Big Five consists of all of the following factors except
a. Openness
b. Neuroticism
c. Conscientiousness
d. Dominance
33. The trait approach is concerned with
a. Leadership situations
b. Leadership skills
c. Follower attributes
d. Leader characteristics
34. The trait approach is
a. No longer a viable leadership approach
b. Is primarily a focus of outdated research
c. Still a focus of contemporary leadership research
d. Irrelevant in modern society
Peter G. Northouse, Leadership: Theory and Practice, Seventh Edition: Instructor Resource
35. A major strength of the trait approach is
a. There is a set list of traits that identify leadership
b. It is easy to identify the best traits for leadership
c. It can be used for leader training and development
d. It highlights the leader component of the leadership process
36. Within an organization, the trait approach can be applied to
a. Low-level managers
b. Middle-level managers
c. Upper-level managers
d. All levels of the organization
37. An organization requires you to fill out a personality assessment instrument as part of your
application process for a specific position with the organization. What best explains why they
would have you do this?
a. To place you with others who share the same traits.
b. To determine whether you fit their needs for the particular position.
c. To examine your attention to detail.
d. To decide on an amount for your salary.
38. People want to be able to identify leaders as those who are leading the way in our society.
This is an example of what strength of the approach?
a. Century of research
Peter G. Northouse, Leadership: Theory and Practice, Seventh Edition: Instructor Resource
b. Intuitive appeal
c. Benchmarking traits
d. Definitive list of traits
39. Having a benchmark for what to look for if we want to be leaders is about
a. Trying to develop specifically the five major traits in the text
b. Giving a boss a specific set of traits to look for in potential new hires
c. Helping individuals see their own traits and decide if these are leadership traits
d. Specifically determining traits for a particular job promotion
40. A strength of the trait approach
a. Self-confidence is the trait most important to leadership
b. There is a clear list of leader traits
c. Identifying traits is highly objective
d. It is appealing to identify special traits in leaders
41. Which of the following is not a strength of the trait approach?
a. Self-confidence is the trait most important to leadership
b. It is appealing to identify special traits in leaders
c. More than a century of research has been conducted on traits
d. It provides a benchmark for what traits to look for in individuals
Peter G. Northouse, Leadership: Theory and Practice, Seventh Edition: Instructor Resource
42. A major criticism of the trait approach is
a. It’s intuitive appeal
b. There is no definitive list of leadership traits
c. It highlights the leader component in the leadership process
d. Research on leadership traits is fairly new
43. The trait approach
a. Takes situations into account
b. Is highly objective
c. Is quite useful for training programs
d. Has not found one definitive list of leadership traits
44. Individuals displaying the five major traits in the text
a. Are leaders in their workplace
b. Also display other leader traits in their workplace
c. May be leaders in their workplace
d. Also display dominance in their workplace
45. Research over the past 100 years on leadership traits
a. Has clear and unambiguous findings
b. Has produced a definitive list of traits
c. Has described leader traits that are common to all situations
d. Has failed to produce a definitive list of traits
Peter G. Northouse, Leadership: Theory and Practice, Seventh Edition: Instructor Resource
46. Arif is the leader of a small group of human resources professionals. Two of these staff
members, Nina and Bohan, disagree about the leadership traits that Arif displays in their work
situation. This disagreement described which of the main criticisms of the trait approach?
a. High subjectivity
b. Century of research
c. Lack of leadership emergence
d. Usefulness in training and development
47. The trait approach is criticized for its failure to take __________ into consideration.
a. Emotional intelligence
b. Personality
c. Differences in leaders
d. Situations
e. Role of the leader
48. I just had an argument with my supervisor about going over budget on my project. I had
strong emotions during the argument and now I and thinking about how to improve my mood at
work. This thinking about my emotions is
a. In the affective domain of emotional intelligence
b. In the cognitive domain of emotional intelligence
c. Is affective judgment of my emotions
d. Is neither affective nor cognitive judgment of my emotions
49. Social competence in emotional intelligence includes
a. Empathy
b. Self-regulation