Personality and Individual Differences Flashcards

A comprehensive collection of vocabulary flashcards defining key personality traits, cognitive and physical abilities, goal orientations, and social skills covered in the lecture notes.

Personality

The unique and relatively stable pattern of behavior, thoughts, and emotions shown by individuals.

Individual Differences

The ways people differ from one another in personality, abilities, skills, and other characteristics that influence behavior.

Interactionist Approach

The approach stating that behavior results from the interaction between personality and situational factors.

Personality Measurement

The process of measuring personality using psychological tests and questionnaires designed to assess individual characteristics.

Organizational Personality

The tendency for people to perceive organizations as having stable qualities or characteristics similar to personality.

Big Five Dimensions of Personality

The five basic personality dimensions that are strongly related to different forms of organizational behavior.

Extraversion

A tendency to seek stimulation and enjoy the company of other people; high levels are associated with being energetic, enthusiastic, sociable, and talkative.

Agreeableness

A tendency to be compassionate toward others; high levels are associated with being good-natured, cooperative, trusting, and helpful.

Conscientiousness

A tendency to show self-discipline and strive for competence and achievement; high levels are associated with being organized, careful, responsible, and precise.

Neuroticism

A tendency to experience unpleasant emotions easily; high levels are associated with being nervous, anxious, and high-strung.

Emotional Stability

The tendency to be poised, calm, composed, and emotionally steady; it is the opposite of neuroticism.

Openness to Experience

A tendency to enjoy new experiences and new ideas; high levels are associated with being imaginative, witty, curious, and having broad interests.

Positive Affectivity

The tendency to experience positive moods and feelings in a wide range of settings and under many different conditions.

Negative Affectivity

The tendency to experience negative moods in a wide range of settings and under many different conditions.

Core Self-Evaluations

People’s fundamental evaluations of themselves and their bottom-line conclusions about themselves.

Four Core Self-Evaluations

Self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, locus of control, and emotional stability.

Self-Esteem

The overall value a person places on himself or herself as a person.

Generalized Self-Efficacy

A person’s beliefs about his or her capacity to perform specific tasks successfully.

Locus of Control

The extent to which individuals feel that they are able to control things in a manner that affects them.

Machiavellianism

A personality characteristic involving a manipulative approach to relationships with others.

High Machs

People high in Machiavellianism who tend to be pragmatic and willing to do or say whatever is necessary to get their way.

Achievement Motivation

The strength of an individual’s desire to excel, succeed at difficult tasks, and do better than others.

Merit-Based Pay

Pay and rewards based on individual performance; high achievement-oriented people tend to prefer this system.

Seniority-Based Pay

Pay based on how long an employee has worked in an organization; high achievement-oriented people generally dislike this system.

Learning Goal Orientation

The desire to perform well because of an interest in meeting a challenge and learning new skills.

Performance Goal Orientation

The desire to perform well in order to demonstrate one’s competence to others.

Avoidance Goal Orientation

The desire to achieve success in order to avoid appearing incompetent or receiving negative evaluations from others.

Morning Person

A person who feels most energetic early in the day.

Evening Person

A person who feels most energetic at night.

Intelligence

The capacity to perform various mental or cognitive tasks effectively.

Cognitive Intelligence

The ability to understand complex ideas, adapt effectively to the environment, learn from experience, reason, and overcome obstacles through careful thought.

Practical Intelligence

The ability to come up with effective ways of getting things done.

Emotional Intelligence

A cluster of abilities involving the understanding and management of emotions.

Physical Abilities

People’s capacities to engage in the physical tasks required to perform a job.

Strength

The capacity to exert physical force against various objects.

Flexibility

The capacity to move one’s body in an agile manner.

Stamina

The capacity to endure physical activity over prolonged periods.

Speed

The ability to move quickly.

Social Skills

The capacity to interact effectively with others.

Social Perception

Accuracy in perceiving others, including accurate perceptions of their traits, motives, and intentions.

Impression Management

A social skill involving the ability to control or influence the impressions other people form of oneself.