Chapter 1 Vocab Flashcards
Personality
The underlying causes within the person of individual behavior and experience.
Description
Theoretical task of identifying the units of personality, with particular emphasis on the differences between people.
Dynamics
The motivational aspect of personality
Development
Formation or change over time.
Individual differences
Qualities that make one person different from another
Type
A category of people with similar characteristics
Quantitative measures
Measures that permit expression of various amounts of something such as a trait
Trait
Personality characteristic that makes one person different from another and/or that describes an individual’s personality.
Factor
A statistically derived, quantitative dimension of personality that is broader than most traits
Nomothetic
Involving comparisons with other individuals; research based on groups of people
Idiographic
Focusing on one individual
Adaptation
Coping with the external world
Temperament
Consistent styles of behavior and emotional reactions present from early life onward, presumably caused by biological factors.
Scientific method
The method of knowing based on systematic observation
Determinism
The assumption that phenomena have causes that can be discovered by empirical research
Theory
A conceptual tool, consisting of systematically organized constructs and propositions for understanding certain specified phenomena
Construct
A concept used in a theory
Operational definition
Procedure for measuring a theoretical construct
Theoretical proposition
Theoretical statement about relationships among theoretical constructs
Hypothesis
A prediction to be tested
Empirical
based on scientific observations
Verifiable
The ability of a theory to be tested by empirical procedures, resulting in confirmation or disconfirmation
Disconfirmation
Evidence against a theory; observations that contradict the predictions of a hypothesis
Comprehensiveness
The ability of a theory to explain a broad variety of observations
