Unit 1 Key Terms

Question 1

Adjectives that can be used to describe characteristics of people

Answer 1

Trait-descriptive adjectives

Question 2

the set of psychological traits and mechanisms within the individual that are organized and relatively enduring and that influence his or her interactions with, and adaptations to, the intrapsychic, physical, and social environments

Answer 2

Personality

Question 3

(personality definition) characteristics that describe ways in which people are different from each other

Answer 3

Psychological traits

Question 4

(personality definition) what traits describe in individuals

Answer 4

Average tendencies

Question 5

(personality definition) like traits, except it refers more to the processes of personality

Answer 5

Psychological mechanisms

Question 6

(personality definition) the idea that personality is something a person carries with him- or herself over time and from one situation to the next

Answer 6

Within the individual

Question 7

(personality definition) the idea that the psychological traits and mechanisms for a given person are not simply a random collection of elements

Answer 7

Organized

Question 8

(personality definition) are somewhat consistent over situations

Answer 8

Enduring

Question 9

(personality definition) the idea that personality traits and mechanisms can have an effect on people’s lives

Answer 9

Influential forces

Question 10

(personality definition) interactions with situations such as perceptions, selections, evocations, and manipulations

Answer 10

Person–environment interaction

Question 11

(personality definition) conveys the notion that a central feature of personality concerns functioning

Answer 11

Adaptation

Question 12

(personality definition) the situation

Answer 12

Environment

Question 13

the first level of personality analysis; the idea that traits and mechanisms of personality that are typical of one’s species and are possessed by everyone or nearly everyone

Answer 13

Human nature

Question 14

The second level of personality analysis; refer to are the ways in which each person is like some other people (e.g., extraverts, sensation seekers)

Answer 14

Individual differences

Question 15

The second level of personality analysis; refers to ways in which people in one group may have certain personality features in common, and these common features make that group of people different from other groups

Answer 15

Differences among groups

Question 16

part of individual uniqueness; typically applied to identify universal human characteristics and dimensions of individual or group differences; involves statistical comparisons of individuals or groups

Answer 16

Nomothetic

Question 17

part of individual uniqueness; often results in case studies or the psychological biography of a single person; typically focuses on a single person, trying to observe general principles that are manifest in a single life over time

Answer 17

Idiographic

Question 18

a specialty area of science and scholarship in which psychologists have focused on learning about some specific and limited aspects of human nature

Answer 18

Domain of knowledge

Question 19

type of domain; deals centrally with the ways in which individuals differ from one another

Answer 19

Dispositional domain

Question 20

type of domain; assumes that humans are, first and foremost, collections of biological systems, and these systems provide the building blocks for behavior, thought, and emotion

Answer 20

Biological domain

Question 21

type of domain; deals with mental mechanisms of personality, many of which operate outside of conscious awareness

Answer 21

Intrapsychic domain

Question 22

type of domain; focuses on thought processes and subjective experience, such as conscious ideas, feelings, beliefs, and desires about oneself and others

Answer 22

Cognitive-experiential domain

Question 23

type of domain; assumes that personality affects, and is affected by, the social and cultural context

Answer 23

Social and cultural domain

Question 24

type of domain; refers to the fact that personality plays a key role in how people cope, adapt, and adjust to the ebb and flow of events in their day-to-day lives

Answer 24

Adjustment domain

Question 25

a type of theory that 1) Provides a guide for researchers, 2) Organizes known findings, and 3) Makes predictions

Answer 25

Good theory

Question 26

Scientific standards for evaluating (5)

Answer 26

Comprehensiveness, Heuristic value, Testability, Parsimony, Compatibility and integration

Question 27

scientific standard of evaluating theories; does the theory do a good job of explaining all of the facts and observations within its domain?

Answer 27

Comprehensiveness

Question 28

scientific standard of evaluating theories; does the theory provide a guide to important new discoveries about personality that were not known before?

Answer 28

Heuristic value

Question 29

scientific standard of evaluating theories; does the theory provide precise predictions that can be tested empirically?

Answer 29

Testability

Question 30

scientific standard of evaluating theories; does the theory contain few premises and assumptions (parsimony) or many premises and assumptions (lack of parsimony)?

Answer 30

Parsimony

Question 31

scientific standard of evaluating theories; a personality theory in one domain that violated well-established principles in another domain would be judged highly problematic

Answer 31

Compatibility and integration across domains and levels