Chapter 10: Personality

Question 1

personality

Answer 1

The pattern of enduring characteristics that produce

consistency and individuality in a given person.

Question 2

psychodynamic approaches to personality

Answer 2

Approaches that assume that personality is primarily unconscious and motivated by inner forces and conflicts about which people have little awareness.

Question 3

psychoanalytic theory

Answer 3

Freud’s theory that unconscious forces act as determinants of personality.

Question 4

unconscious

Answer 4

A part of the personality that contains the memories, knowledge, beliefs, feelings, urges, drives, and
instincts of which the individual is not aware

Question 5

id

Answer 5

The instinctual and unorganized part of personality whose sole purpose is to reduce tension created by primitive drives related to hunger, sex, aggression, and irrational impulses.

Question 6

ego

Answer 6

The part of personality that attempts to balance the desires of the id and the realities of the objective, outside world.

Question 7

superego

Answer 7

The part of personality that harshly judges the morality of our behavior

Question 8

psychosexual stages

Answer 8

Developmental periods that children pass through

during which they encounter conflicts between the demands of society and their own sexual urges.

Question 9

fixations

Answer 9

Conflicts or concerns that persist beyond the developmental period in which they first occur

Question 10

oral stage

Answer 10

According to Freud, a stage from birth to age 12 to 18 months, in which an infant’s center of pleasure is the mouth.

Question 11

anal stage

Answer 11

According to Freud, a stage from age 12 to 18 months to 3 years of age, in which a child’s pleasure is centered on the anus

Question 12

phallic stage

Answer 12

According to Freud, a period beginning around age 3 during which a child’s pleasure focuses on the genitals.

Question 13

Oedipal conflict

Answer 13

A child’s intense, sexual interest in his or her opposite-sex parent.

Question 14

identification

Answer 14

The process of wanting to be like another person as much as possible, imitating that person’s behavior and adopting similar beliefs and values.

Question 15

latency period

Answer 15

According to Freud, the period between the phallic stage and puberty during which children’s sexual concerns are temporarily put aside

Question 16

genital stage

Answer 16

According to Freud, the period from puberty until death,

marked by mature sexual behavior (that is, sexual intercourse)

Question 17

defense mechanisms

Answer 17

In Freudian theory, unconscious strategies that people

use to reduce anxiety by distorting reality and concealing the source of the anxiety from themselves.

Question 18

repression

Answer 18

The defense mechanism in which the ego pushes unacceptable or unpleasant thoughts and impulses out of consciousness but maintains them in the unconscious.

Question 19

neo-Freudian psychoanalysts

Answer 19

Psychoanalysts who were trained in traditional Freudian theory but who later rejected some of its major points.

Question 20

collective unconscious

Answer 20

According to Jung, an inherited set of ideas, feelings,

images, and symbols that are shared with all humans because of our common ancestral past.

Question 21

archetypes

Answer 21

According to Jung, universal symbolic representations of particular types of people, objects, ideas, or experiences.

Question 22

traits

Answer 22

Consistent, habitual personality characteristics and behaviors that are displayed across different situations.

Question 23

trait theory

Answer 23

A model of personality that seeks to identify the basic traits necessary to describe personality.

Question 24

social cognitive approaches to personality

Answer 24

Theories that emphasize the influence of a person’s cognitions— thoughts, feelings, expectations, and values— as well as observation of others’ behavior, in determining personality.

Question 25

self-efficacy

Answer 25

The belief that we can master a situation and produce positive outcomes.

Question 26

self-esteem

Answer 26

The component of personality that encompasses our positive and negative self-evaluations

Question 27

biological and evolutionary approaches to personality

Answer 27

Theories that suggest that important components of personality are inherited.

Question 28

temperament

Answer 28

An individual’s behavioral style and characteristic way of

responding that emerges early in life.

Question 29

humanistic approaches to personality

Answer 29

Theories that emphasize people’s innate goodness and desire to achieve higher levels of functioning.

Question 30

self-actualization

Answer 30

A state of self fulfillment in which people realize their highest potential in their own unique way.

Question 31

unconditional positive regard

Answer 31

An attitude of acceptance and respect on the part of an observer, no matter what a person says or does.

Question 32

psychological tests

Answer 32

Standard measures devised to assess behavior objectively; used by psychologists to help people
make decisions about their lives and understand more about themselves.

Question 33

self-report measures

Answer 33

A method of gathering data about people by asking

them questions about their own behavior and traits

Question 34

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF)

Answer 34

A widely used self-report test that identifies people with psychological difficulties and is employed to predict some everyday behaviors.

Question 35

test standardization

Answer 35

A technique used to validate questions in personality tests by studying the responses of people with known diagnoses

Question 36

projective personality test

Answer 36

A test in which a person is shown an ambiguous stimulus and asked to describe it or tell a story about it

Question 37

Rorschach test

Answer 37

A test that involves showing a series of symmetrical visual stimuli to people who then are asked what the figures represent to them.

Question 38

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Answer 38

A test consisting of a series of pictures about which a person is asked to write a story

Question 39

behavioral assessment

Answer 39

Direct measures of an individual’s behavior used to

describe personality characteristics.