The Person: A New Introduction to Personality Psychology

A‐babies

insecurely attached infants who manifest a good deal of avoidant behavior in the presence of the caregiver. Contrast with B‐babies and C‐babies

achievement motivation

a recurrent preference or desire for experiences of doing well and being successful; also called the “need for achievement.” Individual differences in achievement motivation may be assessed through the PSE

affect

a term usually designating emotion

affiliation motivation

a recurrent preference or desire for establishing, maintaining, or restoring positive affective relationships; also called the “need for affiliation.” Individual differences in affiliation motivation may be assessed through the PSE

age 5–7 shift

a term used to capture a number of interrelated changes in thought and motivation that occur in middle childhood. The general developmental move is from early egocentrism, irrationality, and present‐oriented thinking to more planful, goal‐directed, socio‐centric, rational, and future‐oriented thought. The age 5–7 shift paves the way for the emergence of the motivated agent as a distinct perspective on and layer of human personality

agency

Bakan's general concept for the tendency to separate self from others, to master, dominate, and control the self and the environment. Contrast with communion

agreeableness (A)

one of the Big Five traits, agreeableness encompasses personality descriptors having to do with interpersonal warmth, altruism, affection, empathy, cooperation, and other communal facets of personality

Alternative Model for Personality Disorders (AMPD)

in DSM‐5, an alternative model for conceptualizing personality disorders that blends an overall assessment of level of functioning regarding self‐understanding and interpersonal relationships (Criterion A) with a characterization of the form or style of the personality disorder in terms of five trait dimensions (Criterion B)

amygdala

a small, almond‐shaped region in the forebrain linked to the experience of fear and responses to danger. Certain parts of the amygdala are hypothesized to be implicated in the working of the behavioral inhibition system (BIS) and, by extension, individual differences in traits associated with negative affectivity, or neuroticism

anima

the unconscious archetype of femininity in men (Jung)

animus

the unconscious archetype of masculinity in women (Jung)

anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)

a region in the brain's cortex that is involved in mediating reward‐seeking behavior, control of empathy and other social emotions, and governing certain kinds of conscious, rational decisions. The ACC supports cognitive operations through which people are able to “think before they (impulsively) act.”

antisocial behavior

a general category for aggressive behaviors aimed at hurting other people, destroying property, and/or undermining the norms for self‐regulated activity in groups

antisocial personality disorder

sometimes called “psychopathy” or “sociopathy,” a personality disorder characterized by cruel and extremely aggressive behavior and resulting, oftentimes, in criminal activity such as armed robbery, extortion, mugging, and rape

archetypes

Jung's structural elements of the collective unconscious, referring to universal patterns or predispositions that influence how all humans consciously and unconsciously adapt to their world. Common archetypes include “the mother,” “the child,” “the hero,” “the anima,” “the animus,” and “the shadow.”

attachment

a bond of love formed between two people, especially infant and caregiver, in which various behaviors are organized into an evolutionarily adaptive system designed to ensure close physical proximity of the two

attachment behaviors

in infancy, these include sucking, clinging, following, vocalizing, and smiling

attachment styles

three styles of approaching romantic relationships developed from research on adult romantic love. The three styles parallel Ainsworth's attachment types for infants: secure, avoidant, and resistant (anxious/ambivalent)

attentional processes

in Bandura's process model for observational learning, attentional processes are Step 1, wherein the individual focuses on particular features of the model, with some features capturing attention more than others. See also retention processes (Step 2), motor reproduction processes (Step 3), and motivational processes (Step 4)

authoritarian personality

a pattern of attitudes and traits suggesting an overly conventional, rigid, aggressive, hostile, and power‐oriented kind of person

autobiographical author

one of the three main psychological perspectives from which to understand the person. As an autobiographical author, a person creates a story for life to integrate the remembered past and imagined future. Contrast to social actor and motivated agent

autobiographical memory

memory about the self, including semantic memory about the self (self‐concepts and attributes) and episodic memories (memory for personal scenes)

autobiographical reasoning

the process of generating semantic meanings about the self from episodic autobiographical memories

autonomy

in self‐determination theory, the need to feel independent of external pressures in pursuing goals. More fundamentally, the basic sense that one is and can be an effective motivated agent

B‐babies

securely attached infants who use the caregiver as a secure base from which to explore the world. Contrast with A‐babies and C‐babies

behavioral approach system (BAS)

a functional brain system that governs approach behavior, reward seeking, and the experience and expression of positive emotion

behavioral inhibition system (BIS)

a functional brain system that governs avoidance behavior in the face of threat as well as the experience of negative emotions like anxiety

behaviorism

an intellectual tradition in psychology emphasizing the rigorous and objective study of observable behavior shaped by learning and the environment

bicultural identity integration (BII)

the extent to which bicultural individuals feel that the two cultures in their lives can be unified or harmonized

Big Five Inventory (BFI‐2)

a 60‐item self‐report scale that measures individual differences in the Big Five traits as well as differences in three facets comprising each trait

Big Five

the five broad trait dimensions that consistently emerge in studies of self‐report and peer‐report ratings of personality traits. The most popular conception of the Big Five identifies the five main factors as extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness to experience

bioecological model of socialization

an integrative model for child development wherein the family is viewed as a dynamic system involving complex, bidirectional influences from parents and children, nested within broader contexts such as schools, neighborhoods, and relative societal institutions, which themselves are contextualized within culture

borderline personality disorder

a severe personality disorder characterized by instability in emotions and interpersonal relationships, rooted in a deep fear of abandonment. People afflicted with borderline personality disorder often engage in self‐mutilating behavior and can be a high risk for suicide

California Psychological Inventory (CPI)

a popular personality inventory for normal samples providing scores on 20 trait scales

case study

an in‐depth investigation of a single individual, sometimes conducted over a substantial period of time

C‐babies

insecurely attached infants who manifest a good deal of resistance and ambivalence in the presence of the caregiver. Contrast with A‐babies and B‐babies

classical conditioning

a form of simple learning whereby an unconditioned stimulus is repeatedly paired with a conditioned stimulus such that the conditioned stimulus, originally not likely to evoke a response, comes to be associated with the unconditioned stimulus so that it eventually does evoke a conditioned response

client‐centered therapy

Rogers's brand of psychotherapy, emphasizing empathy, sincerity, warmth, acceptance, role playing, and respect for the dignity of the client

cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)

a group of different approaches to psychotherapy that focus on the faulty cognitions that undergird specific dysfunctional behavior. CBT aims to change distorted and dysfunctional thought patterns to improve self‐regulation and enhance coping skills

cognitive revolution

the rise of cognitive psychology in the post–World War II years (especially the 1960s), with its emphasis on studying human thinking, planning, judging, and decision making

cognitive/social learning/person variables

Mischel's characteristic styles or strategies for approaching situations. Mischel lists five types of cognitive/social learning/person variables: competencies, encoding strategies, expectancies, subjective values, and self‐regulatory systems and plans

Cognitive‐Affective Processing System (CAPS)

Walter Michel's conception of personality as an interlocking set of systems that process cognitive and emotional information in a context‐dependent manner

cohort effect

a finding with respect to a particular psychological phenomenon that is a function of the particular historical cohort being studied, rather than, say, due to developmental factors. In cross‐sectional studies, it is difficult to disentangle cohort and developmental effects because different age cohorts are examined at the same time

collective unconscious

Jung's concept for an inherited storehouse of human potential that is a result of the evolution of the species, containing unconscious patterns and images called archetypes

collectivism–individualism

a broad cultural distinction between societies that tend to prioritize group goals and expressions (collectivism) and those that tend, by contrast, to place more emphasis on the individual's goals and expressions over and against those of the group

commitment script

one kind of script identified by Tomkins, in which a person binds him‐ or herself to a life program or goal that promises the reward of intense positive affect

communion

Bakan's general concept for the tendency to merge or unite with others, to surrender the self as part of a larger whole. Contrast with agency

competence

in self‐determination theory, the need to control the outcomes of events and to feel a sense of mastery and effectiveness

complex

in Jung's theory, a clustering of emotionally charged ideas through which the psyche expresses itself

concrete operations

Jean Piaget's third stage of cognitive development (ages 7–11) wherein children master the concrete, physical world through classification, seriation, conservation, and other reversible mental operations. The emergence of concrete operations roughly dovetails with the age 5–7 shift, through which children make major developmental advances in understanding themselves, and others, as motivated agents

condensation

an aspect of Freud's concept of dream work whereby different latent elements are fused into a single manifest element

conscientiousness (C)

one of the Big Five traits, conscientiousness encompasses personality descriptors denoting self‐control, dependability, responsibility, persistence, and an achievement‐oriented approach to life

construct validity

the extent to which a test measures the construct that it is theoretically intended to measure. Construct validity increases as empirical support is garnered for the various propositions contained in the construct's nomological net. Construct validity is the most basic and encompassing form of validity, and other forms of validity can be seen as derivatives of it

contamination sequence

a movement in a life story from an affectively positive to an affectively negative scene. Contrast with redemption sequence

content validity

the degree to which the items of a test cover the entire content domain of a construct and are not confounded with other domains

context of discovery

the process of discovering new ideas and building theories in science. Contrast with context of justification

context of justification

the process of testing ideas derived from theory in science. Contrast with context of discovery

conventional morality

Stages 3 and 4 in Kohlberg's theory of moral development, wherein people reason about moral issues mainly in terms of social processes and pressure, group norms, and society's laws and conventions. See also preconventional morality and postconventional morality

correlation coefficient

a statistical value, ranging from 1.0 (perfect positive correlation) to −1.0 (perfect negative correlation), that conveys the extent to which two variables covary with each other

correlational design

a methodology for research whereby the scientist examines the extent to which variables covary or relate to each other. Contrast with experimental design

counter narratives

cultural stories that push back against and resist the dominant societal narratives regarding how to live a good life

cross‐sectional study

a research design in which different age cohorts are compared to each other at a given point in time. Contrast to longitudinal study

crystallizing experience

in the realm of creativity, an early experience in life that introduces a fascinating question or idea or thing that stimulates a person's creative passion

culture

social practices, social learning, social institutions, and the various technologies and artifacts that a human group develops over time, and passes down from one generation to the next

dark traits

a group of traits lying at the very low end of the broad agreeableness dimensions, including Machiavellianism, psychopathy, narcissism, and dispositional contempt

D‐babies

a relatively rare classification in attachment research, the D‐baby suffers from disorganized or disoriented attachment patterns with the caregiver, appearing dazed and confused in the presence of the attachment object. The pattern is found among some children who have suffered child abuse

deactivating strategies

in adult attachment, the person facing a threat aims to avoid attachment objects and to solve the problem on their own. Deactivating strategies create distance between the self and important others. Contrast to hyperactivating strategies

death instincts

Freud's concept for a group of instinctual drives assumed to motivate the person toward behavior and experience promoting one's own death and destruction or aggression toward others. Contrast with Eros and life instincts

debriefing

the practice of explaining the purposes of a psychological experiment and disclosing any deceptions that may have been involved, typically done at the conclusion of the experiment

deconstructionism

a literary movement from the 1970s and 1980s that emphasized the indeterminate nature of texts. Applied to psychology, deconstructionism casts doubt on the idea that a psychologist can perform a valid reading of another person's life

default mode network (DMN)

a brain network – linking together the posterior cingulate cortex, ventral medial prefrontal cortex, dorsal medial prefrontal cortex, and certain other brain regions – that appears to be activated when a person's mind is at rest – that is, not engaged in externally dictated tasks or problem solving. The DMN appears to be implicated in processing information about self and social relationships, as well as in autobiographical memory, prospection, time travel, and the construction of scenes that ultimately comprise stories

dependent personality disorder

a personality disorder characterized by a submissive and passive style of relating to others that is rooted in a strong need to be taken care of

dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)

a therapy regimen that has proven effective in the treatment of borderline personality disorder. DBT combines methods from cognitive behavioral therapy with Zen meditation and other contemplative practices

dialogical self

the concept of the self (as I) functioning as multiple narrators of experience. The dialogical self is a dynamic multiplicity of relatively autonomous I‐positions in an imagined landscape. Each I position develops its own voice and point of view

discourse

a word used in scholarly circles to refer to the idea of talk within a social setting. Discursive approaches to psychology analyze everyday talk to understand social relations, social circumstances, and social positioning

displacement

an aspect of Freud's concept of dream work whereby the dreamer unconsciously shifts the emphasis in a dream from an important but threatening source to a trivial but safer one, as when one displaces a powerful emotion from its intended object to a substitute

dispositional contempt

one manifestation of low agreeableness, the tendency to look down on, distance, and denigrate others who violate standards

divergent thinking

human cognition that aims toward generating multiple possibilities and usages. Rather than converging on a single truth or solution, divergent thinking creates novel ideas and associations

dopamine

a neurotransmitter implicated in reward‐seeking behavior and the experience of pleasure

dream

from Daniel Levinson's theory of the seasons of a man's life, a vision for the future that the man begins to formulate in his late 20s, focused largely on career

dream analysis

in Freud's approach, breaking a manifest dream into pieces, engaging in free association in response to each piece, and trying therefore to sort out the different unconscious factors that may have gone into the production of the dream in the first place

dream work

Freud's term for the processes utilized unconsciously by the dreamer as he or she creates a manifest dream from latent unconscious material. Aspects of dream work include condensation, displacement, symbolism, and secondary revision

drive reduction

the general idea, especially prominent in the first half of the 20th century, that behavior is motivated by the reduction of drives, which themselves stem from biological needs or basic instincts in the personality

effect size

the magnitude of relation between two variables in an empirical study. The correlation coefficient provides a direct index of effect size for correlational studies. When comparing mean scores of two different groups (as in an experiment), the d statistic provides an index of effect size

effortful control (EC)

a temperament dimension that emerges in the second and third year of life. EC is the child's active and voluntary capacity to withhold a dominant response in order to enact a subordinate response given situational demands. High levels of EC enable children to resist temptations and delay gratifications in order to accomplish longer‐term aims. EC lays the groundwork for the emergence of the traits agreeableness and conscientiousness

ego

one of three divisions in Freud's structural model of the mind, serving as the mediator among the id, superego, and external reality, and operating according to the reality principle. According to Loevinger, a person's overall framework of meaning, the master synthesizing I

ego development

Jane Loevinger's conception of a series of structural stages that pertain to how a person understands self and world, ranging from early egocentric and concrete stages to higher stages that affirm autonomy and human interdependence

ego integrity

in Erikson's theory of psychosocial development, the positive achievement of the last (eighth) stage of the life span, wherein the adult aims to graciously accept life as it has been experienced. The opposite of ego integrity is despair, which comes from rejecting life in the last years of life

ego psychology

a modern derivative of Freudian theory emphasizing the adaptive and integrating power of the ego over and against the id and superego

elaboration

the extent to which parents encourage children to describe their feelings and thoughts in their conversations about the children's autobiographical memories. Higher levels of conversational elaboration are longitudinally associated with developing more detailed and vivid stories about the self

Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR)

a small, portable audio recorder that can be worn by a research participant in order to obtain samplings of verbal behavior and other sounds in a person's daily life as they are happening

emerging adulthood

a term used by any social scientists today to refer to the period in the life course running from the late teenage years into the mid‐20s. In Erikson's theory of psychosocial development, this is the stage within which the issue of identity is first confronted

emotion regulation

in infants and young children, the ability to control emotions through simple behaviors like turning away from an aversive stimulus, soothing the self through sucking or rocking, and distracting the self from disappointments

Eros

Freud's life instincts

ethic of autonomy

in moral foundations theory, the idea that violations of harm and fairness feed into a broad ethic that respects the individual rights of people

ethic of community

in moral foundations theory, the idea that violations of authority, loyalty, and sacredness feed into a broad ethic that binds people together into a cohesive group

executive functions

the brain's ability to execute a number of different operations indicative of good self‐regulation, such as resisting temptations, thinking before acting, pursuing long‐term goals in a planful and rational manner, and weighing different considerations within working memory in order to arrive at a rational decision

expectancy

in Rotter's and Mischel's social‐learning theories, a subjectively held probability that a particular reinforcement will occur as the outcome of a specific behavior

experience sampling

a method of data collection whereby the researcher aims to sample behaviors, thoughts, and/or feelings as they are experienced by the research participant in daily life. Experience sampling methods have typically relied on technology to obtain samplings, such as electronic pagers and cell phone apps

experimental design

a methodology for research whereby the scientist manipulates or alters one variable of interest (the independent variable) to observe its effect on another variable of interest (the dependent variable)