A Glossary of Descriptive Psychology Concepts

What's this all about?

Capacity

1. The capacity for acquiring a given person characteristic is the potential for acquiring that person characteristic.
2. Whatever it takes to participate.
3. One of the Derivatives.

PC Formula: Capacity + Relevant History → PC

Just as an Ability is always the ability to accomplish something, a Capacity is always the capacity to acquire some PC. Capacities are individuated by reference to

1. the PC that would be the actualization of that potential and
2. the relevant history by means of which the potential could be actualized.

Thus, a child who has the capacity to acquire the ability to do arithmetic as a result of individual tutoring over a two-year period might not have the capacity to acquire that ability as a result of a single semester in a class in an urban public school. And a child who has the capacity to become a punctual person because her father always required it might well not have the capacity to become a punctual person on the basis of the example provided by her mother (but she might also have the capacity to acquire that trait as a result of both parents not being punctual, etc).