Theories of Personality 9th Edition

Glossary G-15

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.

external world (extraverted) or from the internal world
(introverted).
third force Somewhat vague term referring to those
approaches to psychology that have reacted against the
older psychodynamic and behavioristic theories. The
third force is usually thought to include humanistic,
existential, and phenomenological theories.
threat (Kelly) The anticipation of danger to the
stability of one’s personal constructs.
threat (Rogers) Feeling that results from the
perception of an experience that is inconsistent with
one’s organismic self.
trait A relatively permanent disposition of an
individual, which is inferred from behavior.
traits, bipolar (See bipolar traits)
traits, unipolar (See unipolar traits)
transcendence (Fromm) The need for humans to rise
above their passive animal existence through either
creating or destroying life.
transference Strong, undeserved feelings that the
patient develops toward the analyst during the course of
treatment. These feelings may be either sexual or hostile,
but they stem from the patient’s earlier experiences with
parents.
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