Validity
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UV |
Unlikely Virtues (14 items) |
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TRIN |
True Response Inconsistency (28 items) |
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VRIN |
Variable Response Inconsistency (39 items) |
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Broad Traits
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PEM |
Positive Emotional Temperament |
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High Positive Emotional Temperament = behavior and temperamental characteristics conducive to joy, and to active and rewarding engagement with social and work environments.
Low Positive Emotional Temperament = tendencies to experience joylessness, loss of interest, and fatigue, reflecting non-pleasurable and possibly depressive disengagement.
Associated with Wellbeing, Social Potency, Achievement, and Social Closeness.
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NEM |
Negative Emotional Temperament |
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High Negative Emotional Temperament = proneness to experience anxiety, anger, and related emotional and behavioral negative engagement.
Low Negative Emotional Temperament = a somewhat phlegmatic temperament, disposing to calm, relaxation, and other non-pleasurable states of disengagement.
Most distinctively related to Stress Reaction, Alienation, and Aggression.
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CON |
Constraint |
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High Constraint = tendencies to inhibit and restrain impulse expression, unconventional behavior, and risk-taking.
Low Constraint = inclined to act on impulse, take risks, and ignore conventional restrictions.
Cluster of traits primarily linked to Control, Harmavoidance, and Traditionalism.
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ABS |
Absorption |
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Represents an openness to a wide array of absorbing and self-involving sensory and imaginative experiences. These experiences may have either an integrative ("peak experience") or a dissociative effect, depending on the presence of other personality characteristics measured by the MPQ.
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Primary Trait Scales
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WB |
Wellbeing (23 items) |
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High scorers on this scale describe themselves as: Having a cheerful happy disposition; feeling good about themselves; seeing a bright future ahead; being optimists; living interesting, exciting lives; enjoying the things they are doing. |
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SP |
Social Potency (25 items) |
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High scorers on this scale describe themselves as: Being forceful and decisive; persuasive and liking to influence others; enjoying or would enjoy leadership roles; enjoying being noticed, being the center of attention. |
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AC |
Achievement (20 items) |
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High scorers on this scale describe themselves as: Working hard, driving themselves; enjoying working hard; welcoming difficult and demanding tasks; persisting where others give up; ambitious; putting work and accomplishment before many other things; seting high standards; being perfectionistic. |
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SC |
Social Closeness (21 items) |
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High scorers on this scale describe themselves as: Sociable, liking to be with people; taking pleasure in and valuing close personal ties; warm and affectionate; turning to others for comfort and help. |
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SR |
Stress Reaction (23 items) |
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High scorers on this scale describe themselves as: Tense and nervous; sensitive and vulnerable; prone to worry and feeling anxious; irritable and easily upset; having changing moods; feeling miserable without reason; being troubled by feelings of guilt and unworthiness. |
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AG |
Aggression (19 items) |
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High scorers on this scale describe themselves as: Physically aggressive; enjoying upsetting and frightening others; enjoying scenes of violence (fights, violent movies); victimizing others for own advantage. |
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AL |
Alienation (20 items) |
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High scorers on this scale describe themselves as: Believing that others wish them harm; being victims of false and nasty rumors; having been betrayed and deceived; feeling used by "friends"; feeingl pushed around; having had a lot of bad luck. |
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CO |
Control (24 items) |
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High scorers on this scale describe themselves as: Reflective; cautious, careful, plodding; rational, sensible, level-headed; liking to plan activities in detail. |
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HA |
Harmavoidance (26 items) |
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High scorers on this scale describe themselves as: Not enjoying or would not enjoy participating in dangerous adventures or activities (e.g., skydiving), being in a natural disaster (e.g., a forest fire), being caught in a sudden and dangerous emergency (e.g., a hold-up); deliberately risking serious bodily injury (e.g., riding a runaway horse). Instead, prefer safer activities and experiences, even if they are tedious or aggravating. |
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TR |
Traditionalism (27 items) |
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High scorers on this scale describe themselves as: Endorsing high moral standards, religious values, and institutions; expressing positive regard for parents; endorsing strict child-rearing practices; valuing conventional propriety and a good reputation; opposing rebelliousness and unrestricted freedom of expression; condemning selfish disregard of others. |
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AB |
Absorption (34 items) |
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High scorers on this scale describe themselves as: Responsive to evocative sights and sounds (e.g., a sunset); readily captured by entrancing stimuli (e.g., overpowering music); tending to think in images; have "crossmodal" experiences, including synesthesia (e.g., sounds evoke color experiences); capable of vivid and compelling imaginings; able to vividly re-experience the past; becoming deeply immersed in own thoughts and imaginings; experiencing episodes of expanded (e.g., ESP-like) awareness; experiencing states of altered awareness (e.g., of "stepping outside oneself"). |
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Subscales: |
1. Sentient |
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2. Prone to imaginitive and altered states |