psychoticism

Meaning: Hans Eysenck described personality with a few broad dimensions, each a continuum. Psychoticism (sometimes called tough-mindedness) runs from empathic, cooperative, and conventional at the low end to aggressive, cold, impulsive, egocentric, and antisocial at the high end. Eysenck argued that these dimensions have a biological basis and are heavily influenced by heredity, so they reflect temperament differences in the nervous system.

On the MCAT: Expect a question that names Eysenck's three dimensions (psychoticism, extraversion, neuroticism, the PEN model) and asks which one fits a described person, for example someone who is hostile, reckless, and disregards social rules. Another common setup compares Eysenck's three-factor model with the Big Five (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism), or asks how twin and adoption studies support a biological view of traits. Trait theories describe stable patterns across situations. They do not explain behavior by themselves.

Common confusion: Psychoticism is not psychosis. Psychosis means a loss of contact with reality, such as hallucinations or delusions in schizophrenia. A high psychoticism score is a normal-range personality dimension and does not mean a person has a psychotic disorder. Do not mix it up with neuroticism either. Neuroticism is emotional instability and anxiety, while psychoticism is coldness and aggression.