Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionBack Matter Glossary © The McGraw−Hill^605
Companies, 2009collective efficacy (Bandura) The confidence people
have that their combined efforts will produce social
change.
collective unconscious Jung’s idea of an inherited
unconscious, which is responsible for many of our
behaviors, ideas, and dream images. The collective
unconscious lies beyond our personal experiences
and originates with repeated experiences of our
ancestors.
common traits (Allport) (Seetrait, common)
commonality corollary Kelly’s theory that personal
constructs of people with similar experiences tend to be
similar.
competencies (Mischel) People’s cognitive and
behavioral construction of what they can and cannot do,
based on their observations of the world, themselves,
and others.
complex (Jung) An emotionally toned conglomeration
of ideas that comprise the contents of the personal
unconscious. Jung originally used the word association
test to uncover complexes.
conative needs Needs that pertain to willful and
purposive striving, for example Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs.
conditioned reinforcer (Skinner) Environmental
event that is not by nature satisfying but becomes so
because it is associated with unlearned or unconditioned
reinforcers such as food, sex, and the like.
conditions of worth (Rogers) Restrictions or
qualifications attached to one person’s regard for
another.
conformity (Fromm) Means of escaping from
isolation and aloneness by giving up one’s self and
becoming whatever others desire.
congruence (Rogers) The matching of organismic
experiences with awareness and with the ability to
express those experiences. One of three “necessary and
sufficient” therapeutic conditions.
conscience (Freud) The part of the superego that
results from experience with punishment and that,
therefore, tells a person what is wrong or improper
conduct.
conscious (Freud) Those mental elements in
awareness at any given time.
conscious (Jung) Mental images that are sensed by the
ego and that play a relatively minor role in Jungian
theory.
consistency paradox Mischel’s term for the
observation that clinical intuition and the perceptions of
laypeople suggest that behavior is consistent, whereas
research finds that it is not.
constructing obstacles (Adler) Safeguarding
tendency in which people create a barrier to their own
success, thus allowing them to protect their self-esteem
by either using the barrier as an excuse for failure or by
overcoming it.
construction corollary Kelly’s assumption that people
anticipate events according to their interpretations of
recurrent themes.
constructive alternativism Kelly’s view that events
can be looked at (construed) from a different
(alternative) perspective.
continuous schedule (Skinner) The reinforcement of
an organism for every correct trial; opposed to the
intermittent schedule in which only certain selected
responses are reinforced.
core pathology (Erikson) A psychosocial disorder at
any of the eight stages of development that results from
too little basic strength.
core role (Kelly) People’s construction of who they
really are; their sense of identity that provides a guide
for living.
correlation coefficient A mathematical index used to
measure the direction and magnitude of the relationship
between two variables.
cosmology The realm of philosophy dealing with the
nature of causation.
countertransference Strong, undeserved feelings that
the therapist develops toward the patient during the
course of treatment. These feelings can be either positive
or negative and are considered by most writers to be a
hindrance to successful psychotherapy.
creative power Adler’s term for what he believed to be
an inner freedom that empowers each of us to create our
own style of life.D
Dasein An existential term meaning a sense of self as
a free and responsible person whose existence is
embedded in the world of things, of people, and of self-
awareness.
deductive method Approach to factor analytical
theories of personality that gathers data on the basis of
previously determined hypotheses or theories, reasoning
from the general to the particular.
defense mechanisms (Freud) Techniques such as
repression, reaction formation, sublimation, and the like,
whereby the ego defends itself against the pain of
anxiety.
defensiveness (Rogers) Protection of the self-concept
against anxiety and threat by denial and distortion of
experiences that are inconsistent with it.Glossary G-3