heterozygous

adj. possessing different forms of a gene (i.e., different alleles) at a given genetic locus on each of a pair of homologous chromosomes. One allele is inherited from the mother and the other from the father. In such individuals, the dominant allele is expressed, and the recessive allele is not. Compare homozygous. —heterozygote n.

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Psychology term of the day

January 18th 2025

hierarchical model of personality

a model of either within-person dynamics or individual differences in personality in which some psychological constructs are viewed as high-level variables that organize or govern the functioning of other lower level variables. For example, a hierarchical model of personality traits might view the construct sociability as being at a lower level in a hierarchy than the construct extraversion: Sociability would be seen as a form or example of the higher level trait of extraversion.