Chapter 13 Personality

Question 1

Behavioral approach system (BAS)

Answer 1

The brain system involved in the pursuit of incentives or rewards. (See page 595)

Question 2

Behavioral inhibition system (BIS)

Answer 2

The brain system that is sensitive to punishment and therefore inhibits behavior that might lead to danger or pain. (See page 595)

Question 3

Defense mechanisms

Answer 3

Unconscious mental strategies that the mind uses to protect itself from distress. (See page 571)

Question 4

Ego

Answer 4

In psychodynamic theory, the component of personality that tries to satisfy the wishes of the id while being responsive to the dictates of the superego. (See page 571)

Question 5

Five-factor theory

Answer 5

The idea that personality can be described using five factors: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. (See page 576)

Question 6

Humanistic approaches

Answer 6

Approaches to studying personality that emphasize how people seek to fulfill their potential through greater self-understanding. (See page 573)

Question 7

Id

Answer 7

In psychodynamic theory, the component of personality that is completely submerged in the unconscious and operates according to the pleasure principle. (See page 570)

Question 8

Idiographic approaches

Answer 8

Person-centered approaches to studying personality; they focus on individual lives and how various characteristics are integrated into unique persons. (See page 579)

Question 9

Interactionists

Answer 9

Theorists who believe that behavior is determined jointly by situations and underlying dispositions. (See page 585)

Question 10

Nomothetic approaches

Answer 10

Approaches to studying personality that focus on how common characteristics vary from person to person. (See page 579)

Question 11

Objective measures

Answer 11

Relatively direct assessments of personality, usually based on information gathered through self-report questionnaires or observer ratings. (See page 581)

Question 12

Personality

Answer 12

The characteristic thoughts, emotional responses, and behaviors that are relatively stable in an individual over time and across circumstances. (See page 569)

Question 13

Personality trait

Answer 13

A characteristic; a dispositional tendency to act in a certain way over time and across circumstances. (See page 569)

Question 14

Personality types

Answer 14

Discrete categories of people based on personality characteristics. (See page 575)

Question 15

Projective measures

Answer 15

Personality tests that examine unconscious processes by having people interpret ambiguous stimuli. (See page 580)

Question 16

Psychodynamic theory

Answer 16

Freudian theory that unconscious forces determine behavior. (See page 570)

Question 17

Psychosexual stages

Answer 17

According to Freud, developmental stages that correspond to distinct libidinal urges; progression through these stages profoundly affects personality. (See page 572)

Question 18

Self-serving bias

Answer 18

The tendency for people to take personal credit for success but blame failure on external factors. (See page 609)

Question 19

Situationism

Answer 19

The theory that behavior is determined more by situations than by personality traits. (See page 584)

Question 20

Sociometer

Answer 20

An internal monitor of social acceptance or rejection. (See page 604)

Question 21

Superego

Answer 21

In psychodynamic theory, the internalization of societal and parental standards of conduct. (See page 571)

Question 22

Temperaments

Answer 22

Biologically based tendencies to feel or act in certain ways. (See page 592)

Question 23

Trait approach

Answer 23

An approach to studying personality that focuses on how individuals differ in personality dispositions. (See page 576)