basic personality

a distinctive pattern of thought, feeling, and behavior supposedly found in people raised in the same culture, largely as a result of their subjection to the same child-rearing practices. The basic personality is in turn held to be responsible for many of a culture’s distinctive institutions, such as its religion and folklore. Also called basic personality structure; basic personality type. See also cultural determinism; national character. [proposed by U.S. psychoanalyst and psychocultural theorist Abram Kardiner (1891–1981)]

Browse dictionary by letter

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Psychology term of the day

February 17th 2025

transdermal patch

an adhesive application that is designed to release a drug at a steady rate via absorption through the skin into the bloodstream. Transdermal patches are used, for example, to administer nicotine in progressively smaller doses to people who are trying to give up smoking.