 | Term | Definition |
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Personality |
A person’s unique and relatively stable behavior patterns |
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Character |
Personal characteristics that have been judged or evaluated; a person’s desirable or undesirable qualities |
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Temperament |
The hereditary aspects of personality, including sensitivity, activity levels, prevailing mood, irritability, and adaptability |
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Personality Trait |
A stable, enduring quality that a person shows in most situations |
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Personality Type |
A style of personality defined by a group of related traits |
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Introvert |
A person whose attention is focused inward; a shy, reserved, self-centered person |
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Extrovert |
A person whose attention is directed outward; a bold, outgoing person |
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Self-Concept |
A person's perception of his or her own personality traits |
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Self-Esteem |
Regarding oneself as a worthwhile person; a positive evaluation of oneself |
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Personality Theory |
A system of concepts, assumptions, ideas, and principles used to understand and explain personality |
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Trait Theorist |
A psychologist interested in classifying, analyzing, and interrelating traits to understand personality |
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Common Traits |
Personality traits that are shared by most members of a particular culture |
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Individual Traits |
Personality traits that define a person's unique individual qualities |
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Cardinal Trait |
A personality trait so basic that all of a person's activities relate to it |
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Central Traits |
The core traits that characterize an individual personality |
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Secondary Traits |
Traits that are inconsistent or relatively superficial |
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Surface Traits |
The visible or observable traits of one's personality |
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Source Traits |
Basic underlying traits of personality; each one of these traits is reflected in a number of surface traits |
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Trait Profile |
A graph of the scores on several personality traits |
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Five-Factor Model |
The ______ proposes that there are five universal dimensions of personality |
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Trait-Situation Interaction |
The influence that external settings or circumstances have on the expression of personality traits |
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Behavioral Genetics |
The study of inherited behavioral traits and tendencies |
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Psychoanalytic Theory |
The Freudian theory of personality that emphasizes unconscious forces and conflicts |
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Neo-Freudian |
A theorist who has revised Freud's theory, while still accepting some of its basic concepts |
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Striving for Superiority |
According to Alfred Adler, this basic drive propels us toward perfection |
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Compensation |
Any attempt to overcome feelings of inadequacy of inferiority |
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Style of Life |
The pattern of personality and behavior that defines the pathway each person takes through life |
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Creative Self |
The "artist" in each of us that creates a unique identity and style of life |
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Basic Anxiety |
A primary form of anxiety that arises from living in a hostile world |
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Persona |
The "mask" or public self presented to others |
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Personal Unconscious |
A mental storehouse for a single individual's unconscious thoughts |
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Collective Unconscious |
A mental storehouse for unconscious ideas and images shared by all humans |
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Archetype |
A universal idea, image, or pattern, found in the collective unconscious |
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Anima |
An archetype representing the female principle |
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Animus |
An archetype representing the male principle |
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Self Archetype |
An unconscious image representing unity, wholeness, completion, and balance |
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Mandala |
A circular design representing balance, unity, and completion |
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Behavioral Personality Theory |
Any model of personality that emphasizes learning and observable behavior |
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Learning Theorist |
A psychologist interested in the ways that learning shapes behavior and explains personality |
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Situational Determinants |
External conditions that strongly influence behavior |
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Habit |
A deeply ingrained, learned pattern of behavior |
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Drive |
Any stimulus (especially internal such as hunger) strong enough to goad a person to action |
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Cue |
External stimuli that guide responses, especially by signaling the presence of absence of reinforcement |
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Response |
Any behavior, either observable or internal |
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Reward |
Anything that produces pleasure or satisfaction; a positive reinforcer |
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Social Learning Theory |
An explanation of personality that combines learning principles, cognition, and the effects of social relationships |
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Psychological Situation |
A situation as it is perceived and interpreted by an individual, not as it exists objectively |
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Expectancy |
Anticipation about the effect a response will have, especially regarding reinforcement |
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Reinforcement Value |
The subjective value a person attaches to a particular activity or reinforcer |
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Self - Efficacy |
Belief in your capacity to produce a desired result |
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Self - Reinforcement |
Praising or rewarding oneself for having made a particular response (such as completing a school assignment) |
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Social Reinforcement |
Praise, attention, approval, and-or affection from others |
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Critical Situations |
Situations during childhood that are capable of leaving a lasting imprint on personality |
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Humanism |
An approach that focuses on human experience, problems, potentials, and ideals |
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Self-Actualization |
The process of fully developing personal potentials |
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Self-Actualizer |
One who is living creatively and making full use of his or her potentials |
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Self |
A continuously evolving conception of one's personal identity |
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Self-Image |
total subjective perception of one's body and personality (another term for self-concept) |
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Incongruence |
A state that exists when there is a discrepancy between one's experiences and self-image and ideal self |
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Incongruent Person |
A person who has an inaccurate self-image or whose self-image differs greatly from the ideal self |
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Ideal Self |
An idealized image of oneself (the person one would like to be) |
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Conditions of Worth |
Internal Standards used to judge the value of one's thoughts, actions, feelings, or experiences |
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Positive Self-Regard |
Thinking of oneself as a good, lovable, worthwhile person |
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Organismic Valuing |
A natural, undistorted, full-body reaction to an experience |
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Unconditional Positive Regard |
Unshakable love and approval given without qualification |
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Personality Interview |
A face-to-face meeting held for the purpose of gaining information about an individual's personal history, personality traits, current psychological state, and so forth |
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Diagnostic Interview |
An interview used to find out how a person is feeling and what complaints or symptoms he or she has |
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Halo Effect |
The tendency to generalize a favorable or unfavorable first impression to unrelated details of personality |
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Direct Observation |
Assessing behavior through direct observation |
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Rating Scale |
A list of personality traits or aspects of behavior on which a person is rated |
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Behavioral Assessment |
Recording the frequency of various behaviors |
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Situational Test |
Simulating real-life conditions so that a person's reactions may be directly observed |
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Personality Questionnaire |
A paper-and-pencil test consisting of questions that reveal aspects of personality |
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Objective Test |
A test that gives the same score when different people correct it |
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Reliability |
The ability of a test to yield nearly the same score each time it is given to the same person |
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Validity |
The ability of a test to measure what it purports to measure |
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MMPI-2 |
the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2. One of the best-known and most widely used objective personality questionnaires |
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MMPI-2 Profile |
A graphic representation of an individual's scores on each of the primary scales of the MMPI-2 |
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Validity Scales |
Scales that tell whether test scores should be invalidated for lying, inconsistency, or "faking good." |
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Honesty Test |
A paper-and-pencil test designed to detect attitudes, beliefs, and behavior patterns that predispose a person to dishonest behavior |
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Projective Tests |
Psychological test making use of ambiguous or unstructured stimuli |
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Rorschach Technique |
A projective test comprised of 10 standardized inkblots |
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Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) |
A projective test consisting of 20 different scenes and life situations about which respondents make up stories |
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Shyness |
A tendency to avoid others plus uneasiness and strain when socializing |
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Social Anxiety |
A feeling of apprehension in the presence of others |
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Private Self-Consciousness |
Preoccupation with inner feelings |
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Public Self-Consciousness |
Intense awareness of oneself as a social object |
