Trait Theories Flashcards
bodily self
In Allport’s theory, a propriate function that entails coming to know one’s body and its limits.
cardinal disposition
In Allport’s theory, a personal disposition so pervasive that almost every behavior of an individual appears to be influenced by it.
central disposition
In Allport’s theory, a highly characteristic tendency of an individual.
closed system
A concept of personality that admits little or nothing new from outside the organism to influence or change it in any significant way.
common traits
In Allport’s theory, hypothetical construct that permits the comparison of individuals on shared dimensions within a given culture.
continuity theory
A theory that suggests that the development of personality is essentially an accumulation of skills, habits, and discriminations without anything really new appearing in the makeup of the person.
discontinuity theory
A theory of personality that suggests that in the course of development an organism experiences genuine transformations or changes so that it reaches successively higher levels of organization.
expressive behavior
In Allport’s theory, an individual’s manner of performing.
functional autonomy
In Allport’s theory, a concept that present motives are not necessarily tied to the past but may be free of earlier motivations.
idiographic
In Allport’s theory, an approach to studying personality employing techniques and variables that centers on understanding the uniqueness of the individual.
need
In Murray’s theory, a force in the brain that organizes perception, understanding, and behavior in such a way as to change an unsatisfying situation and increase satisfaction.
nomothetic
In Allport’s theory, an approach to studying personality that considers large groups of individuals in order to infer general variables or universal principles.
perseverative functional autonomy
In Allport’s theory, acts or behaviors that are repeated even though they may have lost their original function.
personal dispositions
In Allport’s theory, traits that are unique to an individual.
personology
Murray’s term for his study of individual persons.
press
In Murray’s theory, a force coming from the environment that helps or hinders an individual in reaching goals.
proceeding
In Murray’s theory, a short, significant behavior pattern that has a clear beginning and ending.
propriate functional autonomy
In Allport’s theory, acquired interests, values, attitudes, intentions, and life-style that are directed from the proprium and are genuinely free of earlier motivations.
propriate functions
In Allport’s theory, functions of the proprium that develop gradually as an individual grows from infancy to adulthood and constitute an evolving sense of self as known and felt.
propriate striving
In Allport’s theory, a propriate function that entails projection of long-term purposes and goals and development of a plan to attain them.
proprium
In Allport’s theory, the central experiences of selfawareness that people have as they grow and move forward.
secondary dispositions
In Allport’s theory, specific, focused tendencies that are often situational in character and less crucial to the personality structure.
self-as-rational coper
In Allport’s theory, a propriate function that entails the perception of oneself as an active problem-solving agent.
self-esteem
In Allport’s theory, a propriate function that entails feelings of pride as one develops the ability to do things.