Ch. 1 - What is Personality? Flashcards
superficial aspect of the psyche that a person displays publicly; it includes the various roles one must play to function in a society
Persona
contention that the mind influences the body and the body influences the mind (the mind and body are causally related)
Interactionism
directing one’s thoughts inward to discover the truth about one’s self
Introspection
variables in the environment that provide the setting in which person variables manifest themselves
Situation Variables
that portion of the phenomenological field that becomes differentiated because of experiences involving terms such as I, me, and mine
Self
belief that knowledge can be gained only by exercising the mind, for example, by thinking, deducing, or inferring
Rationalism
combination of the philosophical schools of rationalism and empiricism, with two major functions: (1) to explain many observations and (2) to generation new information
Scientific Theory
those qualities that characterize all humans
Human Nature
theory’s ability to generate new information
Heuristic Function
contention that the major motive in life is to seek pleasure and avoid pain
Hedonism
contention that an attribute is determined by experience rather than by genetics; the belief that all knowledge is derived from sensory experience
Empiricism
contention that mental events are the by-products of bodily events, therefore mental events can be ignored in the analysis of human behavior
Epiphenomenalism
study of groups of individuals
Nomothetic Research
intense study of a single person
Idiographic Research
study of the nature of human knowledge
Epistemology
contention that an environmental event causes both mental and bodily reactions at the same time; bodily and mental phenomena run parallel to each other and are therefore not causally related
Parallelism
goal-directed or future-oriented behavior
Teleological Behavior
predictions that run the risk of being incorrect
Risky Predictions
term used by Kuhn to describe a theoretical viewpoint shared by many researchers
Paradigm
a scientific theory must make predictions that could conceivably be false and, if so, would refute the theory
Principle of Falsifiability
epistemological pursuit that combines the philosophical schools of empiricism and rationalism
Science
contention that no mind-body problem exists because no mind exists; no mental events occur, only physical events
Physical Monism/Materialism
important ways in which humans differ from one another
Individual Differences
the stipulation that scientific propositions must be capable of objective, empirical testing that is available to any interested person
Principle of Verification
a theory’s ability to organize and explain several otherwise disjointed observations
Synthesizing Function
highest level in the hierarchy of needs, which can be reached only if the preceding need levels have been adequately satisfied
Self-Actualization
variables contained within the person that determine how they respond to a situation
Person Variables
belief that the determinants of behavior are found in the environment instead of in the person
Environmentalism
argument concerning the extent to which an attribute, such as intelligence, is influenced by inheritance as opposed to experience
Nativism-Empiricism Controversy
belief that behavior is a function of a finite number of variables, and if those variable were completely known, behavior could be predicted with complete accuracy
Determinism
