Chapter 10: Personality Flashcards
personality
The pattern of enduring characteristics that produce
consistency and individuality in a given person.
psychodynamic approaches to personality
Approaches that assume that personality is primarily unconscious and motivated by inner forces and conflicts about which people have little awareness.
psychoanalytic theory
Freud’s theory that unconscious forces act as determinants of personality.
unconscious
A part of the personality that contains the memories, knowledge, beliefs, feelings, urges, drives, and
instincts of which the individual is not aware
id
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.
ego
The part of personality that attempts to balance the desires of the id and the realities of the objective, outside world.
superego
The part of personality that harshly judges the morality of our behavior
psychosexual stages
Developmental periods that children pass through
during which they encounter conflicts between the demands of society and their own sexual urges.
fixations
Conflicts or concerns that persist beyond the developmental period in which they first occur
oral stage
According to Freud, a stage from birth to age 12 to 18 months, in which an infant’s center of pleasure is the mouth.
anal stage
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
phallic stage
According to Freud, a period beginning around age 3 during which a child’s pleasure focuses on the genitals.
Oedipal conflict
A child’s intense, sexual interest in his or her opposite-sex parent.
identification
The process of wanting to be like another person as much as possible, imitating that person’s behavior and adopting similar beliefs and values.
latency period
According to Freud, the period between the phallic stage and puberty during which children’s sexual concerns are temporarily put aside
genital stage
According to Freud, the period from puberty until death,
marked by mature sexual behavior (that is, sexual intercourse)
defense mechanisms
In Freudian theory, unconscious strategies that people
use to reduce anxiety by distorting reality and concealing the source of the anxiety from themselves.
repression
The defense mechanism in which the ego pushes unacceptable or unpleasant thoughts and impulses out of consciousness but maintains them in the unconscious.
neo-Freudian psychoanalysts
Psychoanalysts who were trained in traditional Freudian theory but who later rejected some of its major points.
collective unconscious
According to Jung, an inherited set of ideas, feelings,
images, and symbols that are shared with all humans because of our common ancestral past.
archetypes
According to Jung, universal symbolic representations of particular types of people, objects, ideas, or experiences.
traits
Consistent, habitual personality characteristics and behaviors that are displayed across different situations.
trait theory
A model of personality that seeks to identify the basic traits necessary to describe personality.
social cognitive approaches to personality
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.
self-efficacy
The belief that we can master a situation and produce positive outcomes.
self-esteem
The component of personality that encompasses our positive and negative self-evaluations
biological and evolutionary approaches to personality
Theories that suggest that important components of personality are inherited.
temperament
An individual’s behavioral style and characteristic way of
responding that emerges early in life.
humanistic approaches to personality
Theories that emphasize people’s innate goodness and desire to achieve higher levels of functioning.
self-actualization
A state of self fulfillment in which people realize their highest potential in their own unique way.
unconditional positive regard
An attitude of acceptance and respect on the part of an observer, no matter what a person says or does.
psychological tests
Standard measures devised to assess behavior objectively; used by psychologists to help people
make decisions about their lives and understand more about themselves.
self-report measures
A method of gathering data about people by asking
them questions about their own behavior and traits
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF)
A widely used self-report test that identifies people with psychological difficulties and is employed to predict some everyday behaviors.
test standardization
A technique used to validate questions in personality tests by studying the responses of people with known diagnoses
projective personality test
A test in which a person is shown an ambiguous stimulus and asked to describe it or tell a story about it
Rorschach test
A test that involves showing a series of symmetrical visual stimuli to people who then are asked what the figures represent to them.
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
A test consisting of a series of pictures about which a person is asked to write a story
behavioral assessment
Direct measures of an individual’s behavior used to
describe personality characteristics.
