Chapter 10: Personality and the Self [Exam 3] Flashcards
Personality
Characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving.
Psychodynamic
Theory by Sigmund Freud where psychic energy moves among the compartments of personality; id, ego, superego.
Extension of Thermodynamics - energy cannot be created or destroyed.
Id
Contains primitive drives present at birth.
Serve as a source of energy for the personality.
Hunger, thirst, and sex.
Pleasure principle.
Pleasure Principle
Seeks the immediate gratification and relief.
Ego
Readily seen by others.
Acts as the person’s real “self.”
Coordinates the needs of the id with reality.
Reality principle.
Superego
Develops when a child begins to internalize his or her society’s rules for right and wrong.
Forms the “conscience.”
Freudian Slips
Repressed ideas that leak into consciousness in the form of anxiety symptoms, dreams, and verbal errors.
Defense Mechanisms
Protective behavior that reduces anxiety.
Repression
Defense mechanism.
Anxiety-producing information is returned to the unconscious mind.
Sublimination
Defense mechanism.
Unacceptable urges are redirected into more prosocial channels.
Rationalization
Defense mechanism.
Excuses are made for anxiety-producing behavior.
Displacement
Defense mechanism.
Negative emotions are redirected from the real source to another target.
Reaction Formation
Defense mechanism.
Behavior is opposite to your true feelings.
Projection
Defense mechanism.
Anxiety-producing characteristics or behaviors of the self are attributed to others.
Denail
Defense mechansim.
Failure to process anxiety-producing behavior.
Regression
Defense mechanism.
reverting to immature behavior to relieve anxiety.
Identification
Resolving anxiety by taking on the characteristics of others.
Oral Stage
Psychosexual development.
Birth - 1 y/o.
Pleasure obtained by sucking.
Anal Stage
Psychosexual development
1 y/o - 3 y/o.
Conflict between child’s ability to eliminate wastes at will vs. societal expectations of toilet training.
Phallic Stage
Psychosexual development.
3 y/o - 6 y/o.
Oedipus and electra complexes lead to identification with same-sex parent.
Latency Stage
Psychosexual development.
6 y/o - 12 y/o.
Focus on internalization of society’s rules.
Genital Stage
Psychosexual development.
12 y/o - beyond.
Focus on adult sexual interests and behaviors.
Fixations
Failure to resolve a conflict during the stages of psychosexual development.
Neo-Freudian
A theorist who attempted to update and modify Freud’s original theory of personality.
Alfred Alder
Neo-Freudian.
Contributed to the notion of an inferiority complex to psychodynamic thought.
First psychologist to suggest that siblings and parents can influence development.
Inferiority Complex
Overwhelming feelings of inferiority.
Inferiority complex > overcompensation (superiority over substance).
Carl Jung
Neo-Freudian.
Divided the unconscious mind into two components: personal unconscious and collective unconscious.
Argues that generations of experience with concepts such as darkness, power, death, and parents would lead to characteristic ways of unconsciously thinking about such topics.
Provided more specific information about differences in individual personality.
Collective Unconscious
Comprised of our common psychological predispositions as human beings passed from generation to generation.
Karen Horney
Neo-Freudian.
One of the first female psychiatrists.
Rejected many of Freud’s idea to concentrate on aspects of the culture that contributed to women’s feeling of inferiority.
Was convinced that men envied women’s ability to become pregnant.
Abraham Maslow
Humanist.
Hierarchy of needs.
Studied exceptional people and why they were exceptional.
Found that exceptional people had few friends, well-developed senses of humor, and periodic mystic or peak experiences.
Carl Rogers
Humanist.
Put forth a theory of personality.
Said that human strive toward self-actualization and that humans will experience congruence (similarity) between their real selves and their idea selves.
Trait
A stable personality characteristic.
Openness
The Big Five Theory.
Fantasy, aesthetics, feelings, actions, ideas, and values.
Conscientiousness
The Big Five Theory.
Competence, order, dutifulness achievement-seeking, self-discipline, and deliberation.
Extroversion
The Big Five Theory.
Warmth, gregariousness, assertiveness, activity, excitement-seeking, and positive emotion.
Agreeableness
The Big Five Theory.
Trust, straightforwardness, altruism, compliance, modesty, and tender-mindedness.
Neuroticism
The Big Five Theory.
Anxiety, angry hostility, depression, self-consciousness, impulsiveness, and vulnerability.
Personality Inventory
An objective test, often using numbered scales or multiple choice, used to assess personality.
MMPI.
Reliable and valid.
Likert scales are used.
Projective Tests
A test of personality based on Freudian theory that provides an ambiguous stimulus onto which the test-taker projects their personality.
Rorschach Inkblot Tests.
Not as reliable or valid as MMPI.
