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Experience as a Component of Personality Theory

Gayle Privette

Psychological Reports February 1, 1985 DOI: 10.2466/pr0.1985.56.1.263 (opens in new tab)

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed
Citations 15
Key points Proposes that experience should be treated as a basic data category of personality, alongside behavior. It operationally defines peak experience and peak performance as prototypes of feeling and performance, and suggests possible relations between these phenomena and selected behavioral and personality variables.

Abstract

Experience, an internal state or process, has salience, as does behavior, as a basic data category of personality. Two key experiential phenomena, which exemplify experience as a data category, were identified and operationally defined by a model. Peak experience and peak performance were taken to be prototypes of feeling and performance. Possible relations between these phenomena and ramifications for selected behavioral and personality variables were suggested.