Personality psychology and typology terminology and glossary, by Lily Yuan. Originally on personality-psychology.com.

1. Personality Psychology Glossary
Lily Yuan | personality-psychology.com

2. 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire
(16PFQ)
185 multiple-choice self-reporting test developed by Raymond Cattell et al. for
use primarily in psychotherapy, and sometimes in career planning.

3. Abnormal Psychology
Study of psychological conditions of varying degrees of deviation from the
norm.

4. Agreeableness (A)
Extent to which an individual exhibits traits of modesty, altruism, trust, and
compliance.

5. Anthropology
Study of culture and development of humans over time—through social,
environmental, or physical effects and correlations.

6. Applied Psychology
Branch of psychology that focuses upon using learned concepts to actively effect
change (e.g. social work, psychotherapy, social engineering) in the environment
and other individuals.

7. Archetypes
An idealistic and psychoanalytical representation or image of a persona
embedded in the collective unconscious, as proposed by Jung.

8. Behavioral Science
Study of human behavior through various experimental and observational
methods.

9. Behavioral Epigenetics
Study of how the environment (e.g. diet, toxin exposure) directly impacts the
expression of particular genes—whether or not they’re switched ‘on’ or stay
‘off’—and behaviors which are pronounced as a result.

10. Behavioral Data (B-Data)
Observation-based data obtained from experimental or natural settings.

11. Big Five Traits (Five Factor Model, OCEAN)
Personality psychology’s most scientifically-accepted model, stands for:
Openness (O), Conscientiousness (C), Extraversion (E), Agreeableness (A), and
Neuroticism (N).

12. B-Values (Metamotives, Growth Motivation)
Maslow’s interpretation of the positive driving forces behind human nature;
Aliveness, Beauty, Completion, Effortlessness, Goodness, Justice, Perfection,
Playfulness, Richness, Self-Sufficiency, Simplicity, Truth, Uniqueness,
Wholeness.

13. Clifton Strengths
34 colloquial ‘strengths’ originally proposed by Gallup to create functional and
effective teams in organizations.

14. Clubs (in Socionics)
Four (4) groups that account for the differences in the Intuition–Sensing and
Logic–Ethics Reinin dichotomies:
Socials (SF), Pragmatists (ST), Researchers (NT), and Humanitarians (NF).

15. Conscientiousness (C)
Extent to which an individual exhibits traits of orderliness, ambition, self-
discipline, and deliberation.

16. Construct
Hypothetical concept used to better elucidate or clarify how a concept (in any
discipline) is presented.

17. Creativity
Ability to merge and bring forth new ideas or rework old ones under a new light.

18. Cultural Validity
Validity of results which could be applied on a global (rather than local) scale.

19. Culture
Traditions, customs, and accepted norms of a particular social group in terms of
geography, ethnicity, nationality, or a combination of the three.

20. Dark Triad
Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and Psychopathy. Psychology’s malevolent trio
which snowballs into various personality disorders.

21. DISC
A communication-based model of personality in the workplace, stands for:
Dominant (D), Influencing (I), Steady (S), and Conscientious (C).

22. Disintegration (in the Enneagram)
Moving in the direction of stress; toward unhealthy levels of an Enneatype.

23. Ego
Reality-dealing part of personality; social ‘mask’ worn to protect one’s personal
interests while simultaneously attaining acceptance in dealing with the world.

24. Emotional Intelligence (EI)
Ability to intuit and correctly identify the emotions of others and create
interpersonal harmony in various situations.

25. Enneagram
A nine-pointed, interconnected model of personality types largely influenced by
George Gurdjieff, Oscar Ichazo, and his student Claudio Naranjo.
Emphasizes directions of integration (growth) and disintegration (stress), with
each Enneatype sporting different behaviors under healthy, normal, and
unhealthy levels.

26. Enneatype (in the Enneagram)
Technical term for each of the nine core Enneagram types.

27. Extraversion (E)
Tendency to seek out stimulation through interpersonal interaction and
physical activity to regulate energy levels.
(Note: Originally spelled with an ‘a’ instead of an ‘o’.)

28. Four Humors
Melancholic, Choleric, Phlegmatic, and Sanguine.
Dispositional attitudes developed by ancient Greeks and Romans to explain the
differences in behavior as a result of imbalances in bodily fluids (i.e. black bile,
yellow bile, phlegm, and blood).

29. HEXACO
Six-factor personality model developed by Michael Ashton and Kibeom Lee,
stands for:
Hostility-Humility (H), Emotionality (E), Extraversion (X), Agreeableness (A),
Conscientiousness (C), and Openness (O).

30. Highly Sensitive Person (HSP)
Individual who is easily overstimulated by sensory stimulus (e.g. loud noises
and smells), and requires large amounts of solitude to recoup.

31. High Sensation Seeker (HSS)
Individual who thrives on adrenaline-inducing activities to regulate dopamine
levels in their brain.

32. Holland Codes (RIASEC)
A careers-based interests inventory, standing for six (6) unique codes:
Realistic (R), Investigative (I), Artistic (A), Social (S), Enterprising
(E), and Conventional (C).

33. Humanist Theory
A lens in psychology, often referred to as the “third force” behind
psychoanalysis and behaviorism.
Stresses the importance of free will and personal responsibility (and shares
many—though not all—ideas with existentialism).

34. Id
Pleasure-seeking and instinctive component of the three-part Freudian
psychodynamic model. It is highly emotional and quick-acting.

35. Informants’ Data (I-Data)
Comments about an individual from their significant others and primary
group(s) (e.g. family members, close friends).

36. Idiographic
Applicable to highly individualized settings (e.g. the individuals themselves).

37. Instinctual Variants (in the Enneagram)
A triple-stack extension of one’s Enneatype, namely:
Self-Preserving (SP), Sexual (SX) and Social (SO). The third (and weakest)
variant is known as the blind spot.

38. Integration (in the Enneagram)
Moving in the direction of growth, toward healthy levels of an Enneatype.

39. Introversion
Tendency to ‘recharge’ by time alone; having a preference to conserve energy
instead of expending it.

40. Jungian Functions
Original four (4) Introverted (-i) / Extraverted (-e) cognitive functions pairs
proposed by Jung:
Thinking (Ti/Te), Feeling (Fi/Fe), Intuition (Ni/Ne), and Sensing (Si/Se).

41. Kiersey Temperament Sorter
Self-assessment questionnaire which breaks down personality types into four
(4) temperaments:
Artisans (ST), Guardians (SF), Idealists (NF), and Rationals (NT).

42. Life Data (L-Data)
Specific outcomes based on real-life records of an individual.

43. Lexical Hypothesis
Idea where the personality traits most relevant to a culture become ingrained in
their speech and communication.

44. Looking-Glass Self
Concept coined by sociologist Charles Cooley:
“I am who I think you think I am.”

45. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
(MMPI)
Widely-used and recognized self-test questionnaire developed by Starke
Hathaway and John McKinley with applications in psychopathology, forensics,
and industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology.

46. Model A (in Socionics)
Organizational eight-boxed grid to which the eight Jungian functions are
arranged for the sixteen (16) Sociotypes. Four blocks (and eight functions):
Ego (Leading, Creative), Super-Ego (Role, Vulnerable), Super-Id
(Suggestive, Mobilizing), Id (Ignoring, Demonstrative).

47. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®)
A well-known psychometrics instrument popularized by mother-daughter duo
Katherine C. Briggs and Isabel B. Myers. It uses four (4) scales:
Introversion–Extraversion, Sensing–Intuition, Thinking–Feeling, Judging–
Perceiving.

48. Neurolinguistics
Study of the intersection between neuroscience and linguistics; how the brain
processes words and their sounds in different contexts.

49. Neuroscience
Study of the brain’s internal biological components and mechanisms through
imaging technology and scans.

50. Neuroticism (N)
Extent to which an individual exhibits traits of impulsiveness, anxiousness, self-
consciousness, and vulnerability.

51. Nomothetic (N)
Applicable to broad and wide ranges of people, geographically and culturally.

52. Openness (O)
Extent to which an individual exhibits traits of fantasy, emotional variety,
values-orientation, and aesthetics-awareness.

53. Personality
Traits, behaviors, and preferences which are relatively consistent with an
individual’s actions over time.

54. Personality Psychology
Branch of psychology concerned with the uniqueness of each individual and
which traits stay put or change over the span of a lifetime.

55. Personality Testing
Methods used (most often self-reports) to gather information on an individual’s
relatively consistent traits and behavior.

56. Philosophy
Study of human knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.

57. Positive Psychology
Branch of psychology concerned with positive emotions and thoughts to help
create a better self-concept on a large scale through various methods and
ideologies.

58. Psychology
Study of the internal and external workings of the mind and behavior.

59. Psychometrics
Quantitative study of psychology using statistics, aptitude tests, and related
methods of measurement.

60. Quadras (in Socionics)
Four (4) Socionics groups which are grouped according to valued functions:
Alpha (Ti, Ne, Fe, Si), Beta (Ti, Se, Fe, Ni), Gamma (Fi, Se, Te, Ni),
and Delta (Fi, Ne, Te, Si)

61. Reinin Dichotomies (in Socionics)
11 scales that extend upon the Jungian functions used by the Socionics model,
namely:
Static–Dynamic, Positivist–Negativist, Asking–Declaring, Tactical–Strategic,
Constructivist–Emotivist, Result–Process, Yielding–Obstinate, Carefree–
Farsighted, Judicious–Decisive, Aristocracy–Democracy, Merry–Serious.

62. Reliability
How often results of a study can be repeated in very close (if not identical)
succession with each other.

63. Self-Report Data (S-Data)
Results individuals input themselves (often in the form of online surveys or
tests).

64. Shyness
Tendency to shirk from social interaction, paired with an air of quietness.
(Not to be confused with social anxiety, which is the fear of socialization itself.)

65. Social Learning Theory (SLT)
Social psychology concept popularized by Albert Bandura, which states that
upbringing, observation, and mental states play a large role in shaping an
individual’s behavior.

66. Social Psychology
Study of thought patterns, attitudes, and behaviors of individuals under the
context of being influenced by other individuals.

67. Sociology
Study of group interactions and the overarching processes that govern them.

68. Socionics
Extensive approach to the original eight Jungian functions, coined by Ausra
Augustina. Focuses heavily on type dynamics and information metabolism.

69. Superego
Morals- and values-based internal negotiator that weighs and wagers one’s
actions against an external framework for what’s considered ‘right’ and ‘wrong’.

70. Taxonomy
A hierarchy or order to classify a collection of closely related concepts.

71. Temperament (in Socionics)
Four (4) temperaments that result from the Extraversion–Introversion and
Irrational–Rational dichotomies:
EP (Flexible-Maneuvering), IP (Receptive-Adaptive), EJ (Linear-Assertive),
IJ (Balanced-Stable).

72. Trait Theory
Personality categorization system where individuals are given strengths of
specific traits on a scale. The Five Factor Model (or Big 5) is the most well-
recognized example of this.

73. Triads (in the Enneagram)
Three (3) primary ‘groups’ in which Enneatypes are placed together, namely:
Heart (2-3-4), Head (5-6-7), and Body (8-9-1) triads.

74. Tritype (in the Enneagram)
Bundle package of three Enneatypes, one from each of the primary triads
(Heart, Head, and Body—not necessarily in that order).

75. Type Theory
Personality categorization system where individuals can be placed into distinct
‘types’.

76. Validity
Extent to which a study or instrument correctly measures what it originally
intended to (i.e. the dependent variable).

77. Wings (in the Enneagram)
Adjacent Enneatype influences, denoted as:
[Core Enneatype] w [Wing] (e.g. ‘2w3’ reads as ‘Two Wing Three’).

78. Any more personality psychology terms to add?
personality-psychology.com | Lily Yuan