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Definition
| o Attitudes, like habits, are more specific than traits. One can, for example, have a favorable attitude toward boxing, but this may be only a single manifestation of the more general trait of aggressiveness. |
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Definition
| o According to Allport, personality is never static; rather, it is always becoming something else. |
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Definition
| o Attribute that emerges during the first stage of the development of the proprium. At this stage, infants learn that their bodies exist because of their sensory experience. |
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| capacity for self-extension |
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Definition
| o Participation in a wide range of events that characterizes the healthy, mature adult. |
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Term
| capacity for warm, human interactions |
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Definition
| o Ability to have intimate relationships with others without being possessive or jealous. Such an ability characterizes the healthy, mature adult. |
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Term
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Definition
| o “Ruling passion” that influences almost everything a person does. Only a few individuals possess a cardinal disposition. |
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Definition
| o Those qualities about a person that you would mention in a letter of recommendation. The 5-10 characteristics that summarize a particular person’s personality. |
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Definition
| o Description of a person that includes a value judgment. A person’s character can be “good” or “bad” whereas personality cannot be. |
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Definition
| o Traits used to describe a group of individuals. |
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Term
| emotional security and self-acceptance |
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Definition
| o Two of the characteristics of a healthy, mature adult. |
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Term
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Definition
| o Superficial religion that is participated in for entirely selfish, pragmatic reasons. Allport considered such religion to be unhealthy. |
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Definition
| o Motive that existed once for some practical reason later exists for its own sake. In other words, a motive that was once a means to an end becomes an end in itself. Allport’s most famous and controversial concept. |
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Definition
| o Specific mode of responding—for examples, putting on clean clothing in the morning—that develops because a more general trait exists, for example, the trait of cleanliness. |
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Term
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Definition
| o Research method that studies a single case in great detail and depth. |
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Term
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Definition
| o Either the unique patterns of traits possessed by an individual or the unique way that a particular trait manifests itself in the personality of a particular person. For example, a particular person’s way of displaying aggressiveness. Later in the development of his theory, Allport changed the term individual trait to personal disposition. |
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Term
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Definition
| o Religion that seeks a higher meaning and purpose in life and provides possible answers to the many mysteries that characterize human existence. Allport considered such religion to be healthy. |
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Term
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Definition
| o Moral guide used by children whereby their moral judgments are determined by the internalized values of authority figures such as the parents. The must conscience is similar to the superego postulated by Freud. |
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Term
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Definition
| o Creation of needs rather than their reduction. Allport believed the healthy human lives in accordance with long-term goals that create more problems than they solve. Thus, his theory is said to emphasize need induction rather than need reduction. |
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Term
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Definition
| o Satisfaction of a basic need. To many theorists, the elimination or reduction of needs is the primary goal in life. Allport did not agree. |
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Term
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Definition
| o Research method that studies groups of individuals and therefore concentrates on average performance, rather than on the performance of a single individual. |
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Definition
| o Moral guide use by normal, healthy adults whereby their moral judgments are governed by their own personal values and propriate strivings. |
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Term
| perseverative functional autonomy |
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Definition
| o Low-level habits retained even though they are no longer functional. |
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Term
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Definition
| o Identical to individual trait. The term individual trait was changed to personal disposition to avoid confusion with the term common trait. |
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Term
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Definition
| o To Allport, one of the best ways to study an individual’s personality was to examine personal documents such as diaries, autobiographies, and letters. |
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Term
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Definition
| o According to Allport, personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine characteristic behavior and thought. |
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Term
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Definition
| o Tendency to prejudge persons or objects in terms of how they are categorized as members of groups, rather than in terns of actual experiences with them. |
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Term
| principle of mastery and competence |
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Definition
| o Principle stating that an innate need exists for humans to aspire to greater mastery and competence. |
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Term
| principle of organizing energy level |
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Definition
| o Principle stating that energy that was once used for survival can be changed into concern for the future when survival is no longer an issue. |
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Term
| principle of propriate patterning |
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Definition
| o Principle stating that he proprium is the frame of reference that is used by a person in determining what is worth pursuing and what is not. |
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Term
| propriate functional autonomy |
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Definition
| o Important motives around which one organizes one’s life. Such motives are independent of the conditions that originally produced them. |
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Term
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Definition
| o Attribute that emerges during the seventh stage in the development of the proprium. At this stage, the adolescent becomes almost completely future oriented. |
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Term
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Definition
| o All the facts about a person that make him or her unique. |
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Term
| raw materials of personality |
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Definition
| o Temperament, intelligence, and physique. |
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Term
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Definition
| o Those accurate perceptions that characterize the healthy, mature adult. |
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Term
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Definition
| o More specific than cardinal or central dispositions but still more general than habits and attitudes. A secondary disposition may be a person’s preference for flamboyant clothing or for sweet food. |
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Term
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Definition
| o Attribute that emerges during the eighth and final stage in the development of the proprium. At this stage, the proprium is aware of, unifies, and transcends the preceding seven aspects of the proprium. |
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Term
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Definition
| o Attribute that emerges during the sixth stage in the development of the proprium. At this stage, the child begins to use complex mental operations (thinking) to solve problems. |
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Definition
| o Attribute that emerges during the third stage in the development of the proprium. At this stage, the child develops a feeling of pride by doing things on his or her own. |
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Term
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Definition
| o Attribute that emerges during the fourth stage in the development of the proprium. At this stage, the child’s self-identity generalizes to external objects. |
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Term
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Definition
| o Attribute that emerges during the second stage of the development of the proprium. At this stage, the child develops a self-identity; for example, realizing that he or she is the same person although conditions change. |
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Term
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Definition
| o Attribute that emerges during the fifth stage in the development of the proprium. At this stage, the child develops a conscience and begins to formulate future goals. |
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Term
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Definition
| o Honest appraisal of one’s assets and liabilities that characterizes the healthy, mature adult. A person with self-objectification typically has a good sense of humor. |
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Term
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Definition
| o One of the raw materials from which personality is shaped. Temperament is the emotional component of the personality. |
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Term
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Definition
| o Mental structure that initiates and guides reactions and thus accounts for the consistency in one’s behavior. |
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Term
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Definition
| o Category into which one person can be placed by another person. To label a person as an “aggressive type” is to place him or her in a descriptive category based on behavior. |
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Term
| unifying philosophy of life |
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Definition
| o Unifying theme that holds together the life of a healthy, mature adult and gives it meaning. Such a theme is often religious in nature but, according to Allport, it does not need to be. |
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