Behavior and Adaptive Functioning

To function adaptively means to behave in such a way that one’s attitudes and actions are well matched to the demands and constraints of the external environment and that one’s sense of internal discomfort or distress is minimized. Therefore, by definition, the ability to adapt depends both on the individual’s behavioral repertoire and on the external environment. This chapter will review the ways that personality as described by several different models of personality interact with social, occupational, and interpersonal domains of functioning to produce adaptive or maladaptive behaviors. Ways of assessing appearance, attitude, cooperation, and motor behaviors as well as an examination of problematic patterns of behavior including impulsive, compulsive, and avoidant patterns will be described and reviewed.