Chapter 11

Question 1

Personality

Answer 1

the organized combination of tributes, motives, values, and behaviors that is unique to each individual

Question 2

Dispositional traits:

Answer 2

Relatively enduring dimensions or qualities along which people differ

Question 3

Characteristic adaptions:

Answer 3

ways in which people adapt to their roles and environments, including motives, goals, plans, etc.

Question 4

Narrative identities :

Answer 4

unique “life stories” that we construct about our pasts and futures to give ourselves an identity and our lives meaning; aspect of personality

Question 5

Self concept

Answer 5

people’s perceptions of their unique attributes or traits

Question 6

Self esteem

Answer 6

People’s overall evaluation of their worth as based on an assessment of the qualities that make up the self -concept

Question 7

Identity

Answer 7

a self-definition or sense of who one is, where one is going, and how one fits into society

Question 8

Big Five:

Answer 8

the five major dimensions used to characterize people’s personalities: neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness (trait theory)

Question 9

Self recognition

Answer 9

the ability to recognize oneself in a mirror or photograph, which occurs in most infants by 18 to 24 months of age

Question 10

Categorical self:

Answer 10

a person’s classification of the self along socially significant dimensions such as age and sex

Question 11

Temperament

Answer 11

a genetically based pattern of tendencies to respond in predictable ways; building blocks of personality such as activity level, sociability, and emotionality

Question 12

Easy temperament:

Answer 12

characteristic mode of response in which the individual is even tempered, content, and open and adaptable to new experiences

Question 13

Difficult temperament:

Answer 13

characteristic mode of response in which the individual is irregular in habits and adapts slowly, often with vigorous protest, to changes in routine or new experiences

Question 14

Slow-to-warm up temperament:

Answer 14

a mode of response in which the individual is relatively inactive and moody and displays mild resistance to new routines and experiences but gradually adapts

Question 15

Behavioral inhibition:

Answer 15

a temperamental characteristic reflecting a person’s tendency to withdraw from unfamiliar people and situations

Question 16

Surgency/extraversion:

Answer 16

dimension of temperamental that involves the tendency to actively and energetically approach new experiences in an emotionally positive way

Question 17

Negative affectivity:

Answer 17

tendency to be sad, fearful

Question 18

Effortful control:

Answer 18

being able to sustain attention, control one’s behavior, and regulate one’s emotions

Question 19

Goodness of fit:

Answer 19

the extent to which the child’s temperament and the demands of the child’s social environment are compatible or mesh according to Thomas and Chess; good match between person and environment

Question 20

Social comparison:

Answer 20

the process of defining and evaluating the self through comparison with other people

Question 21

Ideal self:

Answer 21

idealized expectations of what one’s attributes and personality should be like

Question 22

Big fish- little pond effect:

Answer 22

the phenomenon in which a student’s academic self-concept and performance are likely to be more positive in an academically unselective school than in a highly selective one with many high-achieving students

Question 23

Identity versus role confusion:

Answer 23

the psychosocial conflict in which adolescents must form a coherent self-definition or remain confused about their life directions; fifth of Erikson’s stages

Question 24

Moratorium period:

Answer 24

a period of time in which high school or college when young adults are relatively free of responsibilities and can experiment with different roles to find their identities

Question 25

Diffusion status:

Answer 25

identity status characterizing individuals who have not questioned who they are and have not committed themselves to an identity

Question 26

Foreclosure status:

Answer 26

individual who appear to have committed themselves to a life direction but who have adopted an identity prematurely, without much thought

Question 27

Moratorium status:

Answer 27

individuals who are experiencing an identity crisis or actively exploring identity issues but who have not yet achieved an identity

Question 28

Identity achievement status:

Answer 28

individuals who have carefully thought through identity issues and made commitments or resolved their identity issues

Question 29

Ethnic identity:

Answer 29

a sense of personal identification with the individual’s ethnic group and its values and cultural traditions

Question 30

Individualistic culture:

Answer 30

a culture in which individuals define themselves as individuals and put their own goals ahead of their group’s goals, and one in which children are socialized to be independent and self-reliant

Question 31

Collectivist culture:

Answer 31

people define themselves in terms of group memberships, give group goals higher priority than personal goals, and socialize children to seek group harmony

Question 32

Trust versus mistrust:

Answer 32

the psychosocial conflict of infancy in which infants must learn to trust others to meet their needs in order to trust themselves; 1st stage of Erikson’s theory

Question 33

Autonomy versus shame and doubt:

Answer 33

the psychosocial conflict in which toddlers attempt to demonstrate their independence from and control over other people; second stage of Erikson’s theory

Question 34

Initiative versus guilt:

Answer 34

preschool children must learn to initiate new activities and pursue bold plans or become self-critical: E’s 3rd stage

Question 35

Industry versus inferiority:

Answer 35

school aged children must master important cognitive and social skills or feel incompetent ; E’s 4th stage

Question 36

Identity versus role confusion:

Answer 36

12-20 years of age, Who am I? Forming Fidelity

Question 37

Intimacy versus isolation:

Answer 37

young adults must commit themselves to a shared identity with another person or remain aloof and unconnected to others; E’s 6th stage

Question 38

Generativity versus stagnation:

Answer 38

middle aged adults must gain the sense that they have produced something that will outlive them and genuinely care for younger generations to avoid self-preoccupation; 7th stage

Question 39

Integrity versus despair:

Answer 39

elderly adults attempt to find a sense of meaning in their lives and to accept death; 8th stage

Question 40

Life review:

Answer 40

process in which elderly adults reflect on unresolved conflicts of the past and evaluate their lives; it may contribute to a sense of integrity and readiness of death

Question 41

Midlife crisis:

Answer 41

period of major questioning, inner struggle, and re-evaluation hypothesized to occur in an adult’s early 40’s

Question 42

Selective optimization with compensation (SOC):

Answer 42

the concept that older people cope with aging through a strategy that involves focusing on the skills most needed, practicing those skills, and developing ways to avoid the need of other skills

Question 43

Activity theory:

Answer 43

a perspective holding that aging adults will find satisfaction to the extent that they maintain an active lifestyle

Question 44

Disengagement theory:

Answer 44

a perspective that holds that successful aging involves a mutually satisfying withdrawal of the aging individual and society from each other