Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
Edition(^612) Back Matter Glossary © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2009
Oedipus complex Term used by Freud to indicate the
situation in which the child of either sex develops
feelings of love and/or hostility for the parent. In the
simple male Oedipus complex, the boy has incestuous
feelings of love for the mother and hostility toward the
father. The simple female Oedipus complex exists when
the girl feels hostility for the mother and sexual love for
the father.
old age (Erikson) The eighth and final stage of the
life cycle, marked by the psychosocial crisis of
integrity versus despair and the basic strength of
wisdom.
operant conditioning (Skinner) A type of learning in
which reinforcement, which is contingent upon the
occurrence of a particular response, increases the
probability that the same response will occur again.
operant discrimination Skinner’s observation that an
organism, as a consequence of its reinforcement history,
learns to respond to some elements in the environment
but not to others. Operant discrimination does not exist
within the organism but is a function of environmental
variables and the organism’s previous history of
reinforcement.
operant extinction (Skinner) The loss of an operantly
conditioned response due to the systematic withholding
of reinforcement.
operational definition A definition of a concept in
terms of observable events or behaviors that can be
measured.
oral phase (Freud) The earliest stage of the infantile
period characterized by attempts to gain pleasure
through the activity of the mouth, especially sucking,
eating, and biting; corresponds roughly to the first 12 to
18 months of life.
oral-sensory Erikson’s term for the infant’s first
psychosexual mode of adapting.
organ dialect (Adler) The expression of a person’s
underlying intentions or style of life through a diseased
or dysfunctional bodily organ.
organismic self (Rogers) A more general term than
self-concept; refers to the entire person, including those
aspects of existence beyond awareness.
organismic valuing process (OVP) Process by which
experiences are valued according to optimal
enhancement of organism and self.
organization corollary Kelly’s notion that people
arrange their personal constructs in a hierarchical
system.
orthogonal rotation A method of rotating the axes in
factor analysis that assumes the independence of
primary factors.
P
paranoia Mental disorder characterized by unrealistic
feelings of persecution, grandiosity, and a suspicious
attitude toward others.
paranoid-schizoid position (Klein) A tendency of the
infant to see the world as having the same destructive
and omnipotent qualities that it possesses.
parapraxes Freudian slips such as slips of the tongue
or pen, misreading, incorrect hearing, temporary
forgetting of names and intentions, and the misplacing
of objects, all of which are caused by unconscious
wishes.
parataxic (Sullivan) Mode of cognition characterized
by attribution of cause and effect when none is present;
private language not consensually validated (i.e., not
able to be accurately communicated to others).
parataxic distortion (Sullivan) The process of
seeing a cause-and-effect relationship between two
events in close proximity when there is no such
relationship.
parsimony Criterion of a useful theory that states that
when two theories are equal on other criteria, the simpler
one is preferred.
peak experience (Maslow) An intense mystical
experience, often characteristic of self-actualizing people
but not limited to them.
penis envy (Freud) (Seecastration complex)
perceptual conscious (Freud) The system that perceives
external stimuli through sight, sound, taste, and the like
and that communicates them to the conscious system.
permeability (Kelly) A quality of personal constructs
that allows new information to revise our way of
viewing things.
perseverative functional autonomy (Allport)
Functionally independent motives that are not part of the
proprium; includes addictions, the tendency to finish
uncompleted tasks, and other acquired motives.
person of tomorrow (Rogers) The psychologically
healthy individual in the process of evolving into all that
he or she can become.
persona Jungian archetype that represents the side of
personality that one shows to the rest of the world. Also,
the mask worn by ancient Roman actors in the Greek
theater and thus the root of the word “personality.”
personal constructs (Kelly) A person’s way of
interpreting, explaining, and predicting events.
personal disposition (Allport) A relatively permanent
neuropsychic structure peculiar to the individual, which
has the capacity to render different stimuli functionally
equivalent and to initiate and guide personalized forms
of behavior.
G-10 Glossary