Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
Edition(^604) Back Matter Glossary © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2009
persons in order to gain strength. Takes the form of
masochism or sadism.
autistic language (Sullivan) Private or parataxic
language that makes little or no sense to other people.
B
basic anxiety (Fromm) The feeling of being alone
and isolated, separated from the natural world.
basic anxiety (Horney) Feelings of isolation and
helplessness in a potentially hostile world.
basic anxiety (Maslow) Anxiety arising from inability
to satisfy physiological and safety needs.
basic conflict (Horney) The incompatible tendency to
move toward, against, and away from people.
basic hostility (Horney) Repressed feelings of rage
that originate during childhood when children fear that
their parents will not satisfy their needs for safety and
satisfaction.
basic strength The ego quality that emerges from the
conflict between antithetical elements in Erikson’s stages
of development.
basic tendencies McCrae and Costa’s term for the
universal raw material of personality.
behavior potential (Rotter) The possibility of a
particular response occurring at a given time and place
as calculated in relation to the reinforcement of that
response.
behavioral analysis Skinner’s approach to studying
behavior that assumes that human conduct is shaped
primarily by the individual’s personal history of
reinforcement and secondarily by natural selection and
cultural practices.
behavioral signature of personality (Mischel) An
individual’s unique and stable pattern of behaving
differently in different situations.
behaviorism A “school” of psychology that limits
its subject matter to observable behavior. John B.
Watson is usually credited with being the founder
of behaviorism, with B. F. Skinner its most notable
proponent.
being-in-the-world (See Dasein)
biophilia Love of life.
bipolar traits Traits with two poles: that is, those
traits scaled from a minus point to a positive point, with
zero representing the midpoint.
B-love (Maslow) Love between self-actualizing
people and characterized by the love for the beingof
the other.
B-values (Maslow) The values of self-actualizing
people, including beauty, truth, goodness, justice,
wholeness, and the like.
C
cardinal disposition (Allport) Personal disposition so
dominating that it cannot be hidden. Most people do not
have a cardinal disposition.
care (Erikson) A commitment to take care of the
people and things that one has learned to care for.
castration anxiety (Freud) (See castration complex)
castration complex (Freud) Condition that
accompanies the Oedipus complex, but takes different
forms in the two sexes. In boys, it takes the form of
castration anxiety,or fear of having one’s penis removed,
and is responsible for shattering the Oedipus complex.
In girls, it takes the form of penis envy,or the desire to
have a penis, and it precedes and instigates the Oedipus
complex.
catharsis The process of removing or lessening
psychological disorders by talking about one’s problems.
causality An explanation of behavior in terms of past
experiences.
central dispositions (Allport) The 5 to 10 personal
traits around which a person’s life focuses.
chance encounter (Bandura) An unintended
meeting of persons unfamiliar to each other.
character (Fromm) Relatively permanent acquired
qualities through which people relate themselves to
others and to the world.
character orientation (Fromm) Productive or
nonproductive patterns of reacting to the world of things
and the world of people.
characteristic Unique qualities of an individual that
include such attributes as temperament, physique,
intelligence, and other aptitudes.
characteristic adaptations (McCrae and Costa)
Acquired personality structures that develop as people
adapt to their environment.
choice corollary Kelly’s assumption that people
choose the alternative in a dichotomized construct that
they perceive will extend their range of future choices.
classical conditioning Learning by which a neutral
stimulus becomes associated with a meaningful stimulus
and acquires the capacity to elicit a similar response.
client-centered therapy Approach to psychotherapy
originated by Rogers, which is based on respect for the
person’s capacity to grow within a nurturing climate.
cognitive-affective personality theory Mischel’s
theory that views people as active, goal-directed
individuals capable of exerting influence on both their
situation and themselves.
cognitive needs (Maslow) Needs for knowledge and
understanding; related to basic or conative needs, yet
operating on a different dimension.
G-2 Glossary