Final answer:
The correct answer is option c) Consistent, inflexible, and maladaptive patterns of behavior.
Step-by-step explanation:
The key features characteristic of personality disorders are consistent, inflexible, and maladaptive patterns of behavior. These disorders are not transient and reversible but are enduring, often pervasive aspects of an individual's personality. Unlike adaptive responses to stress, these patterns lead to significant distress or impairment in various areas of life and are long-term, stable, and not easily changed.
Personality disorders are characterized by the presence of longstanding traits and patterns that cause individuals to consistently think, feel, and behave in specific ways that deviate from societal expectations and can result in problems in social and work settings.
The widely accepted Five Factor Model identifies key dimensions of personality including openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism, that describe our stable characteristics and ways of behaving. Additionally, temperament plays a role in shaping our personality, defined as inborn, genetically based personality differences that are important parts of our adult personality.