Exercises — Chapter 8: Personality

These exercises move from conceptual understanding to applied self-knowledge. Work through them in order; they build on each other.

Part A: Conceptual Foundations

Exercise 1: The Three Criteria

The definition of personality includes three criteria: characteristic patterns, relative stability, and individual differences. For each criterion, provide: - A brief explanation in your own words - One example of a behavior that qualifies as personality on this criterion - One example of a behavior that does NOT qualify (and why)

Write at least two sentences for each of the six cells (criterion × example/non-example).

Exercise 2: Nomothetic vs. Idiographic

A) Define nomothetic and idiographic approaches to personality research.

B) A researcher administers a standardized Big Five questionnaire to 5,000 participants and analyzes which traits predict occupational success. Is this nomothetic or idiographic? Explain.

C) A therapist spends three sessions understanding how one patient's perfectionism interacts with her fear of rejection, her career history, and her family dynamics. Is this nomothetic or idiographic?

D) Both approaches reveal something important. What does each approach miss that the other captures? Write a paragraph.

Exercise 3: Big Five Profiles

Below are four brief character sketches. For each person, rate them on each of the Big Five dimensions using the scale Low / Moderate / High, and briefly justify your rating.

Person A: Mira always arrives early to everything, keeps meticulous notes, but freezes when confronted with ambiguity. She rarely volunteers for new projects and gets irritated when plans change.

Person B: Leon talks to everyone at parties, pitches bold ideas in meetings, takes on more work than he can finish, and seems genuinely energized by chaos. He doesn't track much — he figures it'll work out.

Person C: Priyanka would rather spend her weekend alone with a novel than at a social event. She asks questions in conversations that nobody else thinks to ask. She has a wide circle of interests but a small circle of friends.

Person D: Tom is warm, patient, and reliably supportive. He rarely argues, accommodates others' preferences readily, and doesn't seem to have many strong opinions of his own — at least none he shares.

Exercise 4: The MBTI — Evaluating the Criticism

Review the three scientific criticisms of the MBTI presented in the chapter (poor test-retest reliability, false binary, poor predictive validity).

A) For each criticism, explain it in your own words.

B) Someone defends the MBTI: "I've taken it three times and I'm always an INFJ. The type description fits me exactly. How can it be unreliable?" Write a 150-word response that takes their experience seriously but explains the scientific concern.

C) What purpose, if any, do you think the MBTI legitimately serves? What purposes should it NOT be used for?

Part B: Temperament and Development

Exercise 5: Goodness of Fit

Thomas and Chess introduced the concept of goodness of fit — the match between a child's temperament and their caregiving environment.

A) Describe a scenario in which a "difficult" infant temperament (irregular rhythms, intense reactions, slow adaptation) would be particularly poorly matched to their caregiving environment. What outcomes might you expect?

B) Describe a scenario in which that same temperament would be relatively well matched — where the environment accommodated or complemented the child's temperament. How might outcomes differ?

C) Apply the goodness-of-fit concept to adult work environments: describe a situation in which someone's temperament is well-suited to their role, and one where it is poorly suited. What can the individual do when goodness of fit is poor?

Exercise 6: Behavioral Inhibition

Jerome Kagan's research on behavioral inhibition tracked children who showed caution and withdrawal in the face of novelty from early childhood.

A) Describe what high behavioral inhibition looks like in a 3-year-old and in a 14-year-old.

B) The chapter notes that high behavioral inhibition is associated with increased risk of anxiety disorders but is not deterministic. What environmental and experiential factors might moderate this risk — reducing the likelihood that a temperamentally inhibited child develops an anxiety disorder?

C) If you recognize behavioral inhibition in yourself or someone you know, what is the practical implication? What does "working with rather than against temperament" look like concretely?

Exercise 7: Tracing Your Own Temperament

This exercise asks you to reflect on your own early development. (If this is difficult due to limited information about your childhood, focus on your earliest clear memories and descriptions from family members if available.)

Reflect on the following: - Were you described as an easy, difficult, or slow-to-warm-up child? By whom, and in what circumstances? - What were your characteristic patterns of emotional reaction as a child? What situations triggered strong responses? - How consistent have those early patterns been with your current personality?

Write 200–300 words. Note where information is uncertain or unavailable.

Part C: Personality Change

Exercise 8: The Maturity Principle in Practice

The maturity principle describes systematic personality changes across adulthood: increasing conscientiousness and agreeableness, decreasing neuroticism.

A) Think of someone you know well who is 15+ years older than they were when you first knew them (or when you first began to understand them as a person). Do you observe changes consistent with the maturity principle? Describe specifically.

B) What might explain these changes? Offer two possible mechanisms — one biological, one experiential.

C) Is there any aspect of personality change across adulthood that you find troubling or concerning (e.g., decrease in openness)? Why?

Exercise 9: Deliberate Personality Change

The Hudson and Fraley research found that people who set intentional goals to change Big Five traits showed more change than controls, particularly for extraversion and conscientiousness.

A) Choose one Big Five trait you would genuinely like to move on — either increasing or decreasing. Be specific: not "more conscientious" but "better follow-through on commitments I make to others."

B) Design a 4-week behavioral experiment to shift in your chosen direction. Your experiment should include: - Three specific behaviors to practice or stop practicing - A simple measurement method (how will you know if it's working?) - A plan for dealing with setbacks

C) Why does the chapter suggest that focusing on specific behavioral change may be more practical than attempting trait change directly? Do you agree? Why or why not?

Exercise 10: The "People Never Change" Belief

"People never change" is a common folk belief.

A) Under what circumstances might this belief be functionally useful — that is, what might it protect someone from?

B) Under what circumstances is this belief harmful — to the person holding it, or to someone else?

C) The empirical evidence suggests personality changes normatively with age and can change deliberately under the right conditions. What would it mean for you, in a specific relationship or situation, to take this evidence seriously?

Exercise 11: The Self-Other Personality Gap

Research consistently shows that self-reports of personality correlate with behavioral observation, but the two measures are not identical — people tend to rate themselves more favorably and have systematic blind spots.

A) Why might self-reports of personality diverge from behavioral observation? Identify at least three mechanisms.

B) Design a simple method for gathering feedback on how others perceive your personality. Be concrete: who would you ask, what would you ask, and how would you create conditions for honest feedback?

C) Reflect on one trait where you suspect there may be a gap between your self-concept and your actual behavior. What evidence do you have, and what would you need to close the gap?

Exercise 12: The "Arranged" Self

Jordan reflects on the distance between the person he is professionally — organized, measured, confident — and the person he is at midnight, uncertain and restless. Nila calls the latter "more of the real you."

A) Do you experience a gap between your "public" and "private" personality? Describe it.

B) Is one of these "more you" than the other? Or are both equally authentic expressions of who you are? Argue for a position.

C) When, if ever, is the gap between public and private personality problematic? When might it be adaptive?

Exercise 13: The Feedback Audit

For this exercise, you will collect actual data about how others perceive your personality.

Choose 2–3 people who know you in different contexts (e.g., a colleague, a close friend, a family member). Ask each of them to describe you using five adjectives — without explaining the purpose or prompting them with the Big Five.

After collecting responses: - Tabulate the adjectives. What patterns emerge? - Which descriptions match your self-concept? Which surprise you? - Do the descriptions vary significantly by context (work vs. personal)? What does this variation tell you?

Write a 250-word reflection.

Part E: Personality in Relationships

Exercise 14: Neuroticism and Relationship Quality

Neuroticism is the strongest personality predictor of relationship difficulty.

A) Describe the specific mechanisms through which high neuroticism might damage a relationship. Be concrete: what does high neuroticism look like in a conflict, in an ordinary day, in an uncertain situation?

B) If you are in a significant relationship with someone who is high in neuroticism, what are the most useful things to know? What adjustments might improve the relationship?

C) If you are high in neuroticism yourself, what are the most important things to understand? What can be done?

Exercise 15: Personality Compatibility Design

You are advising two people who are forming a long-term partnership. One (Person A) is high in conscientiousness, low in agreeableness, moderately neurotic, and introverted. The other (Person B) is low in conscientiousness, high in agreeableness, low in neuroticism, and extraverted.

A) Identify three likely points of compatibility in this pairing.

B) Identify three likely points of tension or conflict.

C) Design three specific agreements or practices that could help this couple navigate their differences proactively — things they could agree on before conflict arises.

Exercise 16: The Dark Triad — Recognition and Navigation

A) Define each component of the Dark Triad (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy) and describe one behavioral indicator of each in a professional context and one in a personal relationship context.

B) Why might Dark Triad individuals be initially appealing or compelling? What makes them hard to identify early in a relationship?

C) If you suspect you are in a relationship (professional or personal) with someone high in Dark Triad traits, what practical steps can you take? (Focus on self-protective strategies, not attempts to change the person.)

Part F: Synthesis

Exercise 17: Your Big Five Profile

Take a free, validated Big Five inventory (the IPIP-NEO is freely available online and scientifically validated; the BFI-2 is available in research publications). Record your scores.

A) Describe your profile in one paragraph, covering all five dimensions.

B) In what ways does this profile match your self-perception? In what ways does it surprise you?

C) Look up the research on outcomes associated with your score on neuroticism (the most consequential trait for wellbeing). What does the research suggest about risks and protective factors for someone at your level? What, if anything, will you do with this information?

Exercise 18: A Personality Letter to Your Younger Self

Based on what you now know about personality, temperament, and development, write a letter to yourself at age 14 (or another formative age). The letter should:

Describe two or three patterns that were already forming then that you can trace into adulthood
Explain what was personality (likely to persist) and what was context-dependent behavior
Offer one piece of advice about working with rather than against your temperament
Offer one reassurance about what the longitudinal research shows about personality change

Length: 300–400 words. This is a reflective exercise — there is no single correct answer.

Exercise 19: Chapter Integration

You have read about the Big Five, the MBTI, temperament, personality change, self-concept, Dark Triad, and personality in relationships.

Write a 400-word essay in response to the following:

"Given everything this chapter covers, what does it mean to 'know your own personality'? What is achievable, and what is the irreducible uncertainty?"

Your essay should draw on at least four concepts from the chapter.

Discussion Questions (for groups or reflection)

Discussion 1: "Personality is biological destiny." Construct the strongest version of this argument. Then dismantle it using evidence from the chapter.

Discussion 2: If the MBTI predicts little but people find it meaningful, is that a problem? What would it mean to use it responsibly?

Discussion 3: Is knowing someone's Big Five profile sufficient to understand them as a person? What does the profile miss?

Discussion 4: The chapter suggests that working with rather than against temperament is often more effective than trying to override it. When, if ever, should someone try to fundamentally work against their temperament? Are there cases where overriding it is the right move?