Personality Psychology Glossary

Personality Psychology Glossary # 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16 PFQ): 185 multiple-choice selfreporting test developed by Raymond Cattell et al. for use primarily in psychotherapy, and sometimes in career planning.

A Abnormal Psychology: Study of psychological conditions of varying degrees of deviation from the norm.

Agreeableness (A): Extent to which an individual exhibits traits of modesty, altruism, trust, and compliance.

Anthropology: Study of culture and development of humans over time, through social, environmental, or physical effects and correlations.

Applied Psychology: Branch of psychology that focuses upon using learned concepts to actively effect change (e.g. social work, psychotherapy, social engineering) in the environment and other individuals.

Archetypes: An idealistic and psychoanalytical representation or image of a persona embedded in the collective unconscious, as proposed by Jung.

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Personality Psychology Glossary B Behavioral Science: Study of human behavior through various experimental and observational methods.

Behavioral Epigenetics: Study of how the environment (e.g. diet, toxin exposure) directly impacts the expression of particular genes—whether or not they're switched 'on' or stay 'off'—and behaviors which are pronounced as a result.

Behavioral Data (B-Data): Observation-based data obtained from experimental or natural settings.

Big Five Traits (Five Factor Model, FFM, OCEAN): Personality psychology's most scientifically-accepted model, stands for Openness (O), Conscientiousness (C), Extraversion (E), Agreeableness (A), and Neuroticism (N).

B-Values (Metamotives, Growth Motivation): Maslow's interpretation of the positive driving forces behind human nature; Aliveness, Beauty, Completion, Effortlessness, Goodness, Justice, Perfection, Playfulness, Richness, Self-Sufficiency, Simplicity, Truth, Uniqueness, Wholeness.

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Personality Psychology Glossary C CliftonStrengths: 34 colloquial 'strengths' originally proposed by Gallup to create functional and effective teams in organizations.

Clubs (in Socionics): Four groups that account for the differences in the Intuition–Sensing and Logic–Ethics Reinin dichotomies: Socials (SF), Pragmatists (ST), Researchers (NT), and Humanitarians (NF).

Conscientiousness (C): Extent to which an individual exhibits traits of orderliness, ambition, self-discipline, and deliberation.

Construct: Hypothetical concept used to better elucidate or clarify how a concept (in any discipline) is presented.

Creativity: Ability to merge and bring forth new ideas or rework old ones under a new light.

Cultural Validity: Validity of results which could be applied on a global (rather than local) scale.

Culture: Traditions, customs, and accepted norms of a particular social group in terms of geography, ethnicity, nationality, or a combination of the three.

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Personality Psychology Glossary D Dark Triad: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and Psychopathy. Psychology's malevolent trio which may snowball into various personality disorders.

DISC: A communication-based model of personality in the workplace, stands for Dominant (D), Influencing (I), Steady (S), and Conscientious (C).

Disintegration (in the Enneagram): Moving in the direction of stress; toward unhealthy levels of an Enneatype.

E Ego: Reality-dealing part of personality; social 'mask' worn to protect one's personal interests while simultaneously attaining acceptance in dealing with the world.

Emotional Intelligence (EI): Ability to intuit and correctly identify the emotions of others and create interpersonal harmony in various situations.

Enneagram: A nine-pointed, interconnected model of personality types.

Enneatype (in the Enneagram): Technical term for each of the core nine Enneagram types.

Extraversion (E): Tendency to seek out stimulation through interpersonal interaction and physical activity to regulate energy levels.

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Personality Psychology Glossary F Four Humors: Melancholic, Choleric, Phlegmatic, and Sanguine.

Dispositional attitudes developed by ancient Greeks and Romans to explain the differences in behavior as a result of imbalances in bodily fluids (i.e. black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood).

H HEXACO: Six-factor personality model by Michael Ashton and Kibeom Lee: Honesty-Humility (H), Emotionality (E), Extraversion (X), Agreeableness (A), Conscientiousness (C), and Openness (O).

Highly Sensitive Person (HSP): Individual who is easily overstimulated by sensory stimulus (e.g. loud noises and smells) and requires large amounts of solitude to recoup.

High Sensation Seeker (HSS): Individual who thrives on adrenalineinducing activities to regulate dopamine levels in their brain.

Holland Codes (RIASEC): A careers-based interests inventory, standing for six unique codes: Realistic (R), Investigative (I), Artistic (A), Social (S), Enterprising (E), and Conventional (C).

Humanist Theory: A lens in psychology, often referred to as the "third force" behind psychoanalysis and behaviorism. Stresses the importance of free will and personal responsibility.

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Personality Psychology Glossary I Id: Pleasure-seeking and instinctive component of the three-part Freudian psychodynamic model. It is highly emotional and quick-acting.

Informants' Data (I-Data): Comments about an individual from their significant others and primary group(s) (e.g. family members, close friends).

Idiographic: Applicable to highly individualized settings (e.g. the individuals themselves).

Instinctual Variants (in the Enneagram): A triple-stack extension of one's Enneatype, namely: Self-Preserving (SP), Sexual (SX), and Social (SO). The third (and weakest) variant is known as the blind spot.

Integration (in the Enneagram): Moving in the direction of growth; toward healthy levels of an Enneatype.

Introversion: Tendency to 'recharge' by time alone; having a preference to conserve energy instead of expending it.

J Jungian Functions: Original four Introverted (-i) / Extraverted (-e) cognitive function pairs proposed by Jung: Thinking (Ti/Te), Feeling (Fi/Fe), Intuition (Ni/Ne), and Sensing (Si/Se).

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Personality Psychology Glossary K Keirsey Temperament Sorter: Self-assessment questionnaire which breaks down personality types into four temperaments: Artisans (ST), Guardians (SF), Idealists (NF), and Rationals (NT).

L Life Data (L-Data): Specific outcomes based on real life records of an individual.

Lexical Hypothesis: Idea where the personality traits most relevant to a culture become ingrained in their speech and communication.

Looking-Glass Self: Concept coined by sociologist Charles Cooley: "I am who I think you think I am."

M Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI): Widely-used and recognized self-test questionnaire developed by Starke Hathaway and John McKinley with applications in psychopathology, forensics, and industrialorganizational psychology.

Model A (in Socionics): Organizational eight-boxed grid where eight Jungian functions are arranged for the sixteen Sociotypes. Four blocks (and eight functions): Ego (Leading, Creative), Super-Ego (Role, Vulnerable), Super-Id (Suggestive, Mobilizing), Id (Ignoring, Demonstrative).

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Personality Psychology Glossary Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®): A well-known psychometrics instrument popularized by mother-daughter duo Katherine C. Briggs and Isabel B. Myers. It uses four scales: Introversion–Extraversion, Sensing– Intuition, Thinking–Feeling, Judging–Perceiving.

N Neurolinguistics: Study of the intersection between neuroscience and linguistics; how the brain processes words and their sounds in different contexts.

Neuroscience: Study of the brain's internal biological components and mechanisms through imaging technology and scans.

Neuroticism (N): Extent to which an individual exhibits traits of impulsiveness, anxiousness, self-consciousness, and vulnerability.

Nomothetic: Applicable to broad and wide ranges and groups of people, geographically and culturally.

O Openness (O): Extent to which an individual exhibits traits of fantasy, emotional variety, values-orientation, and aesthetics-awareness.

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Personality Psychology Glossary P Personality: Traits, behaviors, and preferences which are relatively consistent with an individual's actions over time.

Personality Psychology: Branch of psychology concerned with the uniqueness of each individual and which traits stay put or change over the span of a lifetime.

Personality Testing: Methods used (most often self-reports) to gather information on an individual's relatively consistent traits and behavior.

Philosophy: Study of human knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.

Positive Psychology: Branch of psychology concerned with positive emotions and thoughts to help create a better self-concept on a large scale through various methods and ideologies.

Psychology: Study of the internal and external workings of the mind and behavior.

Psychometrics: Quantitative study of psychology using statistics, aptitude tests, and related methods of measurement.

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Personality Psychology Glossary Q Quadras (in Socionics): Four Socionics groups grouped according to valued functions: Alpha (Ti, Ne, Fe, Si), Beta (Ti, Se, Fe, Ni), Gamma (Fi, Se, Te, Ni), Delta (Fi, Ne, Te, Si).

R Reinin Dichotomies (in Socionics): 11 scales that extend upon the Jungian functions used by the Socionics model, namely: Static–Dynamic Positivist–Negativist Asking–Declaring Tactical–Strategic Constructivist–Emotivist Result–Process Yielding–Obstinate Carefree–Farsighted Judicious–Decisive Aristocracy–Democracy Merry–Serious Reliability: How often results of a study can be repeated in very close (if not identical) succession with each other.

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Personality Psychology Glossary S Self-Report Data (S-Data): Results individuals input themselves (often in the form of online surveys or tests).

Shyness: Tendency to shirk from social interaction, paired with an air of quietness. (Not to be confused with social anxiety, which is the fear of socialization itself.)

Social Learning Theory (SLT): Social psychology concept popularized by Albert Bandura, which states that upbringing, observation, and mental states play a large role in shaping an individual's behavior.

Social Psychology: Study of thought patterns, attitudes, and behaviors of individuals under the context of being influenced by other individuals.

Sociology: Study of group interactions and overarching processes that govern them.

Socionics: Extensive approach to the original eight Jungian functions, coined by Aušra Augustina. Focuses heavily on type dynamics and information metabolism.

Superego: Morals- and values-based internal negotiator that weighs and wagers one's actions against an external framework for what's considered 'right' and 'wrong'.

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Personality Psychology Glossary T Taxonomy: A hierarchy or order to classify a collection of closely related concepts.

Temperament (in Socionics): Four temperaments that result from the Extraversion–Introversion and Irrational–Rational dichotomies: EP (Flexible-Maneuvering), IP (Receptive-Adaptive), EJ (Linear-Assertive), IJ (Balanced-Stable).

Trait Theory: Personality categorization system where individuals are given strengths of specific traits on a scale. The Five-Factor Model (or Big 5) is the most well-recognized example of this.

Triads (in the Enneagram): Three primary 'groups' in which Enneatypes are placed together, namely: the Heart (2-3-4), Head (5-6-7), and Body (89-1) triads.

Tritype (in the Enneagram): Bundle package of three Enneatypes, one from each of the primary triads (Heart, Head, and Body—not necessarily in that order).

Type Theory: Personality categorization system where individuals can be placed into distinct 'types'.

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Personality Psychology Glossary V Validity:Â Extent to which a study or instrument correctly measures what it originally intended to (i.e. the dependent variable).

W Wings (in the Enneagram):Â Adjacent Enneatype influences, denoted as [Core Enneatype]w[Wing] (e.g. '2w3' reads as 'Two Wing Three').

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