Glossary
This glossary defines the terms used in the RDP (Relational Dynamics Profile), the psychometric assessment for relational clarity published by MKN Coaching. Each entry is written to be understood independently of the others.
The RDP's 9 scored dimensions
- Emotional Regulation
- In the RDP, the dimension that measures how a person manages internal states in a relational context — their ability to move through tension without being overwhelmed by it or suppressing it. It is one of the RDP's 9 dimensions scored in the global score.
- Engagement Capacity
- In the RDP, the dimension that measures a person's investment in the long term of a relationship, beyond the intensity of the present moment. It is one of the RDP's 9 dimensions scored in the global score.
- Affective Openness
- In the RDP, the dimension that measures a person's ability to receive and give emotional intimacy within a relationship. It is one of the RDP's 9 dimensions scored in the global score.
- Attachment Security
- In the RDP, the dimension that measures a person's attachment profile (secure, anxious, avoidant, or fearful-avoidant), calculated on two axes drawn from the ECR model: relational anxiety and avoidance of closeness. It is one of the RDP's 9 dimensions scored in the global score.
- Emotional Intelligence
- In the RDP, the dimension that measures a person's ability to read and manage the emotions of others within a relationship. It is one of the RDP's 9 dimensions scored in the global score.
- Risk Patterns
- In the RDP, the dimension that measures relational risk behaviors self-reported by the person. It is one of the RDP's 9 dimensions scored in the global score.
- Value Clarity
- In the RDP, the dimension that measures a person's alignment on structuring fundamentals: family, geographic mobility, the type of relationship structure envisioned. It is one of the RDP's 9 dimensions scored in the global score.
- Conflict Management
- In the RDP, the dimension that measures how a person moves through disagreement, using an approach informed by John Gottman's research on conflict dynamics in couples. It is one of the RDP's 9 dimensions scored in the global score.
- Intimacy Expression
- In the RDP, the dimension that measures the desires and needs a person expresses regarding intimacy. It is one of the RDP's 9 dimensions scored in the global score.
Cognitive style
- Cognitive style (COM)
- In the RDP, a categorical measure of how a person perceives a situation, decides, and acts. Cognitive style describes a preference, never a score: it never enters the calculation of the RDP's global score across the 9 scored dimensions.
The attachment styles
The RDP calculates an attachment style from two axes of the ECR model (Experiences in Close Relationships): relational anxiety and avoidance of closeness. These four styles describe a relational tendency — never a disorder, nor a diagnosis.
- Relational anxiety and avoidance of closeness (the two axes of attachment)
- In the RDP, the two axes along which the adult attachment profile is read, in line with the research-based ECR model: relational anxiety describes the intensity of worry in the face of distance, silence or the possibility of being left; avoidance of closeness describes the discomfort felt when emotional intimacy or dependence on the other increases. The combination of the two axes places the person in one of four styles (secure, anxious, avoidant, fearful-avoidant). See the methodology.
- What it does not mean: these axes are neither fixed traits nor labels — they describe a position at the time of measurement, which evolves with relational experience and personal work.
- Pursue–withdraw pattern
- In the RDP, a frequent relational loop in which one partner seeks closeness, reassurance or discussion while the other takes distance to regain calm — each move amplifying the other's. The RDP makes it readable by crossing, for each person, the attachment profile and the way of going through a conflict. See the methodology.
- What it does not mean: neither role is "the problem" — the loop is, and it shifts as soon as one of the two moves changes.
- Secure attachment style
- In the RDP, an attachment style associated with low relational anxiety and low avoidance of closeness. It describes relative ease with both emotional closeness and autonomy within a relationship — a style, never a disorder or a diagnosis.
- Anxious (preoccupied) attachment style
- In the RDP, an attachment style associated with high relational anxiety and low avoidance of closeness. It describes a marked need for reassurance and heightened attention to signals within a relationship — a style, never a disorder or a diagnosis.
- Avoidant attachment style
- In the RDP, an attachment style associated with low relational anxiety and high avoidance of closeness. It describes a marked preference for autonomy and reserve toward emotional closeness — a style, never a disorder or a diagnosis.
- Fearful-avoidant attachment style
- In the RDP, an attachment style associated with high relational anxiety and high avoidance of closeness. It describes a pull between the desire for closeness and apprehension of that same closeness — a style, never a disorder or a diagnosis.
Report measurement concepts
- Perception gap
- In the RDP, the gap between how a person describes themselves in their narrative answers and what the psychometric measure from their quantitative answers shows. It is the report's validity gate: it never establishes a judgment on the person, only an area to clarify in the profile.
- Reliability index
- In the RDP, a measure of the confidence one can place in the measurement itself, derived from the perception gap. It is driven by the sharpest gap found across the profile's dimensions — never by an average, which would dilute a gap concentrated on a single dimension.
- Three-gap doctrine
- In the RDP, the framework that organizes the report into three distinct layers: current maturity (the raw score across the 9 scored dimensions), the reliability index (confidence in the measurement, derived from the perception gap), and the roadmap (priorities for clarification and complementarity). The report never delivers a single verdict.
- Commitment doubt
- In the RDP, the hesitation felt before or during a step of commitment (moving in, marriage, planning a child), which the report helps to locate: is it about the size of the commitment itself, about a gap between what the person perceives and what the measurement shows, or about a disagreement on fundamentals between two life plans? The report locates the layer concerned; the decision remains entirely the person's. See the methodology.
- What it does not mean: a commitment doubt is neither a signal to separate nor proof of compatibility — the instrument's doctrine is explicit: "do what YOU judge healthiest for you, those around you, and your future."
- Relational compatibility (in the RDP sense)
- In the RDP, a reading of how two profiles adjust to each other: complementarity of dynamics, long-term tenability of what each offers and expects, alignment on non-negotiable fundamentals. It is only produced under explicit double consent, and presented as areas of support and areas of vigilance — never as a verdict. See the methodology.
- What it does not mean: compatibility is not a percentage nor a prediction of duration — two very different profiles can form a solid relationship if their differences do not touch the fundamentals, and the reverse is true.