Theories_of_Personality 7th Ed Feist

Feist−Feist: Theories of

Personality, Seventh

Edition

Back Matter Glossary © The McGraw−Hill^617

Companies, 2009

transformation Psychotherapeutic approach used by
Jung in which the therapist is transformed into a healthy
individual who can aid the patient in establishing a
philosophy of life.
types (factor theorists) A cluster of primary traits.
Eysenck recognized three general types—extraversion
(E), neuroticism (N), and psychoticism (P).
types (Jung) Classification of people based on the
two-dimensional scheme of attitudes and functions. The
two attitudes of extraversion and introversion and the
four functions of thinking, feeling, sensing, and intuiting
combine to produce eight possible types.
tyranny of the should (Horney) A key element in the
neurotic search for glory; includes an unconscious and
unrelenting drive for perfection.

U
Umwelt An existentialist term meaning the world of
things or objects. One of three simultaneous modes of
being-in-the-world.
unconditional positive regard (Rogers) The need
to be accepted and prized by another without any
restrictions or qualifications; one of three “necessary
and sufficient” therapeutic conditions.
unconscious (Freud) All those mental elements of
which a person is unaware. Two levels of the unconscious
are the unconscious proper and the preconscious.
Unconscious ideas can become conscious only through
great resistance and difficulty.
unipolar traits Traits with only one pole: that is, those
traits scaled from zero to some large amount, as opposed
to bipolar traits that are scaled from a minus point,
through zero, to a positive point.

V
validity The extent to which a test or other measuring
instrument measures what it is supposed to measure;
accuracy.

variable-interval (Skinner) Intermittent

reinforcement schedule in which the organism is

reinforced after a lapse of random and varied periods

of time (e.g., VI 10 means that the animal is reinforced

for its first response following random-length intervals

that average 10 minutes).

variable-ratio (Skinner) Intermittent reinforcement

schedule in which the organism is reinforced for every

nth response on the average (e.g., VR 50 means that the

animal is reinforced on the average of one time for every

50 responses.

vicarious experience Learning by observing the

consequences of others’ behavior.

vulnerable (Rogers) A condition that exists when

people are unaware of the discrepancy between their

organismic self and their significant experiences.

Vulnerable people often behave in ways

incomprehensible to themselves and to others.

W

will (May) A conscious commitment to action.

wise old man Jungian archetype of wisdom and

meaning.

withdrawal (Adler) Safeguarding one’s exaggerated

sense of superiority by establishing a distance between

oneself and one’s problems.

Y

young adulthood (Erikson) The stage from about

ages 18 to 30 during which a person gains mature

genitality and experiences the crisis of intimacy versus

isolation.

Glossary G-15