A leptokurtic distribution has what characteristic?

• A. Too many scores in the tails and too peaked
• B. Too few scores in the tails and flat
• C. Symmetric with light tails
• D. Uniform distribution

Answer: (A)

Kurtosis describes how concentrated a distribution is around the center and how heavy or light the tails are compared with a normal curve. A leptokurtic distribution is more peaked than normal and has heavier tails, meaning there’s a taller central peak and more scores in the tails than you’d expect under normality. That combination is captured by the description of having too many scores in the tails and being too peaked.

For context, a flat-topped, light-tailed shape is platykurtic; a normal-looking, moderate-tailed shape is mesokurtic; and a completely flat (uniform) distribution is not peaked at all.