Chapter 14 Flashcards
personality
an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting
psychodynamic theories
theories that view personality with a focus on the unconcious and the importance of childhood experiences
psychoanalysis
frued’s theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconcious motives and conflicts. the teqnique used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconcious tensions
unconcious
according to freud: a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories.
according to psychologists now: it is information processing of which we are unaware
free association
in psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconcious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, nomatter how trivial or embarassing
id
a resovoir of unconcious psychic energy that (according to freud) strives to satisfy basic sexual and agressive drives. the id opperates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gradification
ego
the partly concious “executive” part of personality that (according to freud) mediates among the demands of the id, the superego, and reality. the ego opperates on the reality principle, satisfying the ids desires in ways that will realitically bring pleasure rather than pain
superego
the partly concious part of personality that (according to freud) represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgement (the concious) and for future asperations
psychosexual stages
the childhood stages of developement (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) during which (according to freud) the ids pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct eroginous zones
oedipus complex
according to freud, a boy’s sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealous and hatred for the rival father (opposit for girls is electra effect)
identificaiton (frued)
the process by which, according to freud, children incomperate their parents’ values into their developing superegos
defense mechanisms
in psychoanalytic theory, the ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconciously distorting reality
repression
in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from conviousness anxiety arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories
collective unconcious
carl jung’s concept of a shared inherited resovoir of memory traces from our species’ history
terror-management theory
a theory of death-related anxiety. explores people’s emotional and behavioral responses to reminders of their impending death
falso consensis effect
tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beleifs and behaviors
thematic apperception test (TAT)
a projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests though the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes
projective test
a personality test (such as TAT or roschach) that provides ambiguous images designed to trigger projection of peoples inner dynamics
humanistic theories
theories that view personality with a focus on the potential for healthy personal growth
self–actualization
the motivation to fufill ones potential.
according to maslow (hierarchy of needs), one of the ultimate psychological needs that arise after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is acheived.
self-trancendance
according to maslow, the striving for identity, meaning, and purpose beyond the self
trait
a characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act in certain ways as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports
unconditional positive reguard
a caring, accepting, non-judgemental attitude which carl rodgers believed would help people develop self-awareness and self-acceptance
personality inventory
a questioneer (often true/false, agree/disagree) on which people respond to items desihned to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors, used to asses selected personality traits
MMPI
minnesota multiphasic personality inventory.
the most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests. originally developed to identify emotional disorders (still what its best at). this test is now used for many other screening purposes
empirically derived test
a test (ex. MMPI) created by selecting from a pool of items those that descriminate between groups
big five factors that describe personality (aka the five-factor model)
openness, concienciousness, extroversion, neuroticism, agreeableness
social-cognition perspective
a view of behavior as influenced by the interaction between people’s traits (including thinking) and their social context
reciprical determinism
the interacting influences of behavior internal, cognition, and environment
3 ways in which individuals and environment react
- different people choose different environments
- our personalities shape how we interpret and react to events
- our personalities help create situations to which we react
self
the organized of our thoughts, feelings, and actions.
in modern psych, assumed to be the center of personality.
spotlight effect
overestimating other’s noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunders
self-esteem
our feelings of high or low self worth
self-efficacy
our sense of competence and effectiveness
self-serving bias
a readiness to perceive ourselves favorably
narcism
exssesive self-love and self-absorption
5 reasons people disparage themselves
- self-directed put downs and sometimes be subtly strategic
- self disparaging comments can help you prepare for possible failure
- can help us learn from our mistakes
- sometimes false humility is actually a humble brag
- self disparaging frequently pertains to one’s old self
deffensive self-esteem
fragile, focus on sustaining itself (failure + critizism feel threatening)
secure self-esteem
less fragile, less focus on external factors/evaluations
