| intermediate trait | A measurable trait in which there is some evidence of the operation of a simple major cause, but in which the variation within the putative categories is such as to cause overlap and hence ambiguity in classification of any particular reading. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| threshold trait | A trait that falls into natural groups that originate not in categorically distinct causes but in whether or not the outcome attains critical values; e.g., gallstones may result from a categorical cause or from unusual levels of causal factors that themselves show no evidence of grouping. Synonym: liminal trait. (05 Mar 2000) |
| trait | A qualitative characteristic; a discrete attribute as contrasted with metrical character. A trait is amenable to segregation rather than quantitative analysis; it is an attribute of phenotype, not of genotype. Origin: Fr. From L. Tractus, a drawing out, extension (05 Mar 2000) |
| liminal trait | A trait that falls into natural groups that originate not in categorically distinct causes but in whether or not the outcome attains critical values; e.g., gallstones may result from a categorical cause or from unusual levels of causal factors that themselves show no evidence of grouping. Synonym: liminal trait. (05 Mar 2000) |
| affective personality disorder | A disturbance of feelings or mood expressed as a milder form of depression and related emotional features that colour the whole psychic life and for which psychosocial stressors are believed to play the major role. (05 Mar 2000) |
| allotropic personality | See: allotropic. (05 Mar 2000) |
| anancastic personality | An obsolete term for obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. (05 Mar 2000) |
| antisocial personality | A personality disorder characterised by a continuous and persistent pattern of aggressive behaviour in which the rights of others are violated. See: psychopath, sociopath. Synonym: psychopathic personality. (05 Mar 2000) |
| antisocial personality disorder | <psychiatry> An individual who engages in deviant behaviour with lack of remorse. (13 Jan 1998) |
| asthenic personality | A personality type characterised by low energy level, easy fatigability, incapacity for enjoyment, lack of enthusiasm, and oversensitivity to physical and emotional stress. When appearing in marked form it becomes a psychological disorder (asthenic personality disorder), also called dependent personality. Synonym: asthenic personality disorder, dependent personality disorder. (05 Mar 2000) |
| asthenic personality disorder | A personality type characterised by low energy level, easy fatigability, incapacity for enjoyment, lack of enthusiasm, and oversensitivity to physical and emotional stress. When appearing in marked form it becomes a psychological disorder (asthenic personality disorder), also called dependent personality. Synonym: asthenic personality disorder, dependent personality disorder. (05 Mar 2000) |
| authoritarian personality | A cluster of personality traits reflecting a desire for security and order, e.g., rigidity, highly conventional outlook, unquestioning obedience, scapegoating, desire for structured lines of authority. (05 Mar 2000) |
| avoidant personality | A personality characterised by a hypersensitivity to potential rejection, humiliation, or shame, an unwillingness to enter into relationships without unusually strong guarantees of uncritical acceptance, social withdrawal in spite of a desire for affection and acceptance, and low self-esteem. (05 Mar 2000) |
| basic personality | See: basic personality type. (05 Mar 2000) |
| basic personality type | An individual's unique, covert, or underlying personality propensities, whether or not they are behaviourally manifest or overt, personality characteristics of an individual which are also shared by a majority of the members of a social group. (05 Mar 2000) |