1. Consistency - All individuals tend to behave, think, and feel in certain ways that is fairly consistent across time and situation. While some things change, other things remain very stable.
2. Personality - Personality is generally defined as an individual's unique and relatively stable patterns of behavior, thoughts, and feelings.
3. Behavioral Position - A strict behaviorist would argue against the existence of personality. They argue that behavior is determined by the situation you are in and consistency in behavior can be explained by consistency of situation.
4. Personality and Situations - Most psychologists would argue that there is an interaction between personality traits and situations. Cheating for example. Would you cheat if you were in the right situation and you knew you wouldn't get caught?
II. FREUD'S THEORY OF PERSONALITY
1. Level's of Consciousness - Freud viewed what we were aware of at any time (conscious level) as only the tip of the iceberg. Beneath this level was the vast majority of our consciousness. The preconscious is just below the conscious level. This contains memories and stored knowledge which we are not immediately aware of but which we can retrieve at any time. Beneath the preconscious and forming the largest portion of the human mind is the unconscious. These are thoughts, desires, and impulses of which we are not aware. Even though we are not aware of these, Freud saw these as controlling our behavior and it is the goal of psychoanalysis to get at these unconscious factors.
2. Three Components of Personality
(a) Id: Present at birth. Operates on the pleasure principle. It is there to serve your instincts and it wants immediate gratification.
(b) Ego: Develops later when start learning and thinking logically. Realize that sometimes you may have to delay gratification or find other ways to get it. Works on reality principle, tries to find realistic ways of gratifying instinct.
(a) Oral Stage - (birth to 1 year) Erogenous zone is the mouth. Erotic pleasure comes from sucking, biting, spitting, etc.
(b) Anal Stage - (1-3 years) This is when child gets toilet trained, sphincter muscles begin to mature. Anus is erogenous zone and defecation becomes method of getting erotic pleasure.
(c) Phallic Stage - (3-6 years) Genital area becomes erogenous zone and child gets sexual pleasure from masturbation. Develop strong sexual desire for parent of the opposite sex.
Oedipus Complex: Boy develops a desire to sleep with their mothers and they develop jealous of father so they want to destroy them. When his
castration anxiety becomes intense enough he resolves the conflict by identifying with father, act like him, and that way he can vicariously experience mother. Girls experience
Electra Complex which is similar to boys except that the girl develops
penis envy and desires the father in the hope he shares his penis with her. Resolution is not as clear as for boys, it just fades away when she realizes she can't have father but this leads to less developed superego because its development is not based on as much fear (castration).
(d) Latency Period - (6-12 years) Sex instincts are relatively quiet. This continues up to puberty.
(e) Genital Stage - (12+) Now interested in sex with opposite sex. Underlying aim is reproduction.
III. OTHER PSYCHOANALYTIC VIEWS
1. Jung - Jung was a disciple of Freud but the two of them had a bitter falling out. Jung agreed with Freud on the importance of the unconscious but proposed another important part, the collective unconscious. This is the part of the unconscious that is shared by all human beings and it is passed along to new generations biologically. It contains archetypes which predispose us to view the world in certain ways. Two important archetypes are the anima and animus. The animus is the masculine side of females and the anima is the feminine side of males. When we look for a mate we look for someone who can project this hidden part of our personality. Jung also coined the terms introvert and extrovert to describe individuals who are shy and reclusive, or talkative and sociable.
2. Karen Horney - Freud's was a very sexist theory. Horney could be considered one of the first feminists as she criticized Freud for his ideas on female sexuality. Her focus was more on social factors in shaping the developing child rather than sexual factors.
IV. HUMANISTIC THEORIES
1. Overview - While specific theories have their differences, humanistic theories are all based on a much more optimistic view of human nature. They propose that all humans strive for personal growth and development.
2. Rogers' Self Theory - Carl Rogers proposed that all humans are striving to become fully functioning persons. These are psychologically healthy people who enjoy life to the fullest. Why aren't we all this way? Because a gap develops between of self-concept (the beliefs we have about ourselves) and reality. This creates anxiety and to reduce this anxiety we do things like distort our perceptions of reality or deny reality. This leads to maladjustment and personal unhappiness. This happens because we grow up in an atmosphere of conditional positive regard, our parents approve of us only when we behave in certain ways. To overcome this, you need an atmosphere of unconditional positive regard where you know you will be accepted no matter what you do or say.
3. Maslow - Maslow's need hierarchy was already discussed but this is also considered a humanistic theory. The key here is self-actualization, the top of the hierarchy. Maslow saw psychologically healthy people as ones who have attained self-actualization. They have reached their true potential, they recognize their shortcomings as well as their strengths, and they are interested in maintaining their own standards which may not necessarily be societies.
4. Self-Disclosure - This is simply the act of revealing intimate information about oneself to another person. this forms the basis of many therapeutic approaches, especially humanistic approaches. Does it work? It does seem to help both psychological and physical health although it may be best if it is reciprocal, that is, the person you are disclosing to discloses back.
V. TRAIT THEORIES
1. Overview - These are theories that focus on identifying key dimensions of personality on which people may differ. Ask class for examples of traits.
2. Allport's Trait Theory - Allport divided personality traits into several major categories.
(a)
Secondary Traits - These are least important and they exert a small and relatively specific influence on personality.
(b)
Central Traits - These are more important and are the five to ten traits that best describe the individual. This is the uniqueness of an individual's personality.
(c)
Cardinal Trait - This is a single, all-important trait that characterize a few people. Not everyone has this but someone like Michael Milken may have one (greed).
3. Key Dimensions of Personality - Research has identified five robust dimensions that characterize personality.
(a)
Extraversion - Social, talkative fun-loving to shy, silent, and cautious (introversion).
(b) Agreeableness - Good natured, gentle, cooperative, helpful to irritable, suspicious, and uncooperative.
(c) Conscientiousness - Careful, self-disciplined, and responsible to careless, weak-willed, and unscrupulous.
(d) Emotional Stability - Poised, calm, composed, and not hypochondriacal to nervous, anxious, excitable, and hypochondriacal.
(e) Openness to Experience - Imaginative, sensitive, intellectual to insensitive, narrow, and crude.
VI. MEASURING PERSONALITY
1. Objective Tests - These are generally self-report measures in which people are asked whether statements are true or false about themselves or whether they agree or disagree about something. just like on intelligence tests, performance is compared to some norm group. The MMPI is the most common. It contains over 500 true-false questions.
2. Projective Tests - These are tests where you are shown a relatively ambiguous stimuli and you respond to it by telling what you see or telling a story about it. The most common are the Rorschach which is an inkblot test and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) in which a picture is shown and you tell a story about it. The utility of these tests is not agreed upon. Many people believe they are worthless.
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Cards Return to Set Details
Term | Definition The unique and relatively stable ways in which people think,feel, and behave. this is not the same as character and temperament | |
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Term | Definition value judgements of a person's moral and ethical behavior | |
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Term | Definition the enduring characteristics which each person is born. | |
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Term Who is known for Psychoanalytic perspective? | | Definition |
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Term | Definition -from Victorian Austria- believed women, especially those of the upper classes, were not supposed to have sexual urges. - men were understood not to control sexual urges -men would have a wife and be a good victorian husband and would father several children, then turn to mistress for sexual comfort leaving his wife untouched. | |
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Term Who is known for the Humanistic perspective? | | Definition |
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Term | Definition level of the mind in which information is available but not currently conscious | |
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Term | Definition level of the mind that is aware of immediate surrounding and perceptions | |
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Term | Definition level of the mind in which thoughts,feelings,memories, and other information that are not easily or voluntarily brought into consciousness are kept. -can be revealed in dreams and Freudian slips of the tongue | |
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Term | Definition part of the personality present at birth and completely unconscious | |
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Term | Definition instinctual energy that may come into conflict with the demands of a society's standards for behavior. | |
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Term | Definition principle by which the ID functions; the immediate satisfaction of needs without regard for the consequences | |
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Term | Definition part of the personality that develops out of a need to deal with reality; mostly conscious,rational, and logical | |
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Term | Definition Principle by which the ego functions; the satisfaction of the demands of the ID only when negative consequences will not result. | |
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Term | Definition part of personality that acts as a moral center. | |
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Term | Definition part of the superego that contains the standards for moral behavior | |
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Term | Definition part of the superego that produces pride or guilt, depending on how well behavior matches or does not match the ego ideal. | |
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Term Psychological Defense Mechanisms | | Definition unconscious distortions of a person's perception of reality that reduces stress and anxiety. ex. denial, repression,rationalization,projection | |
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Term | Definition Psychological defense mechanism in which that person refuses to acknowledge or recognize a threatening situation | |
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Term | Definition Psychological Defense Mechanism in which the person refuses to consciously remember a threatening or unacceptable event, instead pushing those events into the unconscious mind | |
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Term | Definition Psychological defense mechanism in which a person invents acceptable excuses for unacceptable behavior | |
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Term | Definition Psychological defense mechanism in which unacceptable or threatening impulses or feelings are seen as originating with someone else, usually the target of the impulses or feelings | |
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Term | Definition Psychological defense mechanism in which a person forms an opposite emotional or behavioral reaction to the way he or she really feels in order to keep those true feelings hidden from self and others | |
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Term | Definition redirecting feelings from a threatening target to a less threatening one | |
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Term | Definition Psychological defense mechanism in which a person falls back on childlike patterns of responding in reaction to stressful situations | |
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Term | Definition Defense mechanism in which a person tries to become like someone else to deal with anxiety | |
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Term Compensation (Substitution) | | Definition Defense mechanism in which a person makes up for deficiencies in one area by becoming superior in another area | |
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Term | Definition Channeling socially unacceptable impulses and urges into socially acceptable behavior | |
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Term | Definition Disorder in which the person does not fully resolve the conflict in a particular psychosexual stage, resulting in personality traits and behavior associated with that earlier stage | |
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Term | Definition 5 stages of personality development proposed by Freud and tied to the sexual development of the child | |
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Term 5 Stages of Psychosexual development | | Definition oral-birth to 1 year - oral activities Anal- 1 to 3 years - bladder control and bowel mvmntsphallic- 3 to 6 years - genital focus Latency- 6 years to puberty -Social Skill development Genital- Puberty to death- sexual behavior | |
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Term | Definition -1st stage-occurs in first year of life-mouth is erogenous zone-weaning is a primary conflict -ID dominated | |
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Term | Definition -2nd stage-from about on to three years of age-anus is the erogenous zone-toilet training is a source of conflict -ego develops | |
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Term Anal Expulsive Personality | | Definition A person fixated in the anal stage who is messy, destructive, and hostile | |
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Term Anal Retentive Personality | | Definition A person fixated in the anal stage who is neat, fussy, stingy, and stubborn | |
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Term | Definition -3rd stage -from 3 to 6 years of age-child discovers sexual feelings -superego develops | |
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Term | Definition Situation occurring in the phallic stage in which a child develops a sexual attraction to the opposite-sex parent and jealousy of the same-sex parent | |
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Term | Definition Defense mechanism in which a person tries to become like someone else to deal with anxiety | |
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Term | Definition -4th stage -occurs during schooling years -sexual feelings are repressed while child develops in other ways, like developing social behaviors | |
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Term | Definition -5th stage -sexual feelings have reawakened with appropriate targets | |
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Term | Definition followers of Sigmund Freud who developed their own competing theories of psychoanalysis | |
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Term | Definition memories shared by all humans ex. universal fears | |
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Term | Definition Carl Jung's Name for the unconscious mind as described by Freud | |
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Term | Definition Feelings of inferiority as the driving force behind personality and developed birth order theory. | |
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Term | Definition failures/lacking in one area leads to striving for success in other areas | |
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Term Karen Horney (Neo-Freudian) | | Definition Developed a theory based on basic anxiety and rejected the concept of penis envy. | |
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Term | Definition Envy of women’s ability to bear children leads men to strive for success in other areas | |
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Term | Definition Anxiety created when a child is born into the bigger and more powerful world of older children and adults | |
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Term | Definition Maladaptive ways of dealing with relationships in Horney’s theory | |
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Term | Definition Developed a theory based on social rather than sexual relationships, covering the entire life span. | |
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Term Recent Advancements in Freudian Research | | Definition support- defense mechanisms and the concept of an unconscious mind that can influence conscious behavior -other freudian concepts cannot be scientifically researched | |
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Term Criticisms of Psychoanalytical Theory | | Definition -No experimental evidence (Used Case Studies)-Impossible to observe the unconscious mind-Open to interpretation-Ambiguous information -Sampling Bias -Wealthy Austrian Women Living During the Victorian Era
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Term Behavioral Theory of Personality | | Definition -Behaviorists define personality as a set of learned responses or habits.-include habits- Deemphasize biological or cognitive components - Personality is just behavior and all behavior is learned - Difficult to explain temperament | |
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Term | Definition in behaviorism, sets of well-learned responses that have become automatic | |
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Term | Definition Learning theory that includes cognitive processes such as anticipating, judging, memory, and imitation of models | |
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Term | Definition Bandura’s explanation of how the factors of environment, personal characteristics, and behavior can interact to determine future behavior | |
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Term | Definition An individual’s perception of how effective a behavior will be in any particular circumstance (not the same as self-esteem) | |
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Term Bandura's Model of Reciprocal Determinism | | Definition -Triangle Theory - Google an image of it. | |
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Term | Definition The “third force” in psychology that focuses on those aspects of personality that make people uniquely human, such as subjective feelings and freedom of choice -developed as a reaction against the negativity of psychoanalysis and the deterministic nature of behaviorism | |
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Term Self-Actualizing Tendency | | Definition The striving to fulfill one’s innate capacities and capabilities | |
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Term | Definition the image of oneself that develops from interactions with important, significant people in one’s life -self-archetype that works with the ego to manage other archetypes and balance the personality | |
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Term | Definition one’s perception of actual characteristics, traits, and abilities | |
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Term | Definition one’s perception of whom one should be or would like to be | |
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Term | Definition warmth, affection, love, and respect that come from significant others in one’s life | |
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Term Rogers theory of self concept | | Definition a match between ideal and real self means HARMONY a mismatch between them creates anxiety | |
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Term Unconditional Positive Regard | | Definition positive regard that is given without conditions or strings attached | |
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Term Conditional Positive Regard | | Definition positive regard that is given only when the person is doing what the providers of positive regard wish | |
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Term | Definition A person who is in touch with and trusting of the deepest, innermost urges and feelings | |
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Term Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs | | Definition |
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Term | Definition theories that endeavor to describe the characteristics that make up human personality in an effort to predict future behavior | |
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Term | Definition a list of about 200 traits and believed that these traits were part of the nervous system. | |
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Term | Definition the number of traits to between sixteen and twenty-three with a computer method called factor analysis. | |
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Term | Definition aspects of personality that can easily be seen by other people in the outward actions of a person | |
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Term | Definition the more basic traits that underlie the surface traits, forming the core of personality - example: introversion: dimension of personality in which people tend to withdraw from excessive stimulation | |
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Term 5 Factor model (BIG FIVE) | | Definition model of personality traits that describe 5 basic trait dimensions openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism (OCEAN) | |
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Term | Definition one of the five factors; willingness to try new things and be open to new experiences | |
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Term | Definition the care a person gives to organization and thoughtfulness of others; dependability | |
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Term | Definition dimension of personality referring to one’s need to be with other people | |
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Term | Definition the emotional style of a person that may range from easygoing, friendly, and likeable to grumpy, crabby, and unpleasant | |
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Term | Definition degree of emotional instability or stability | |
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Term Trait-Situation Interaction | | Definition the assumption that the particular circumstances of any given situation will influence the way in which a trait is expressed | |
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Term | Definition a field of study of the relationship between heredity and personality | |
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Term | Definition James Arthur Springer and James Edward Lewis, otherwise known as the “Jim” twins were separated shortly after birth and reunited at age thirty-nine; they exhibited many similarities in personality and personal habits | |
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Term Cultural Personality (4 basic Dimensions) | | Definition individualism/collectivismpower distancemasculinity/femininity uncertainty avoidance | |
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Term | Definition method of personality assessment in which the professional asks questions of the client and allows the client to answer, either in a structured or unstructured fashion | |
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Term | Definition tendency of an interviewer to allow positive characteristics of a client to influence the assessments of the client’s behavior and statements | |
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Term | Definition defense mechanism involving placing, or “projecting,” one’s own unacceptable thoughts onto others, as if the thoughts actually belonged to those others and not to oneself | |
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Term | Definition personality assessments that present ambiguous visual stimuli to the client and ask the client to respond with whatever comes to mind | |
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Term | Definition projective test that uses ten inkblots as the ambiguous stimuli | |
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Term Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) | | Definition projective test that uses twenty pictures of people in ambiguous situations as the visual stimuli | |
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Term | Definition concepts and impressions that are only valid within a particular person’s perception and may be influenced by biases, prejudice, and personal experiences; this is a problem with projective tests | |
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Term | Definition assessment in which the professional observes the client engaged in ordinary, day-to-day behavior in either a clinical or natural setting | |
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Term | Definition assessment in which a numerical value is assigned to specific behavior that is listed in the scale | |
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Term | Definition assessment in which the frequency of a particular behavior is counted | |
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Term | Definition paper and pencil or computerized test that consists of statements that require a specific, standardized response from the person taking the test | |
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