Chapter 14 Flashcards
Psychodynamic Theories
theories that view personality with a focus on the unconscious and the importance of childhood experiences. The unconscious and conscious minds interact.
Psychoanalytic Theory
Freud’s theory of personality attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts; the techniques used in treating psychological disorders seek to expose and interpret unconscious tensions.
Unconscious
according to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. According to contemporary psychologists, information processing of which we are unaware.
Free Association
in psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing.
Id
a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives. The id operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification. (ex. baby crying whenever and wherever)
Ego
the partly conscious, “executive” part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, the superego, and reality. The ego operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id’s desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain.
Identification
the process by which, according to Freud, children incorporate their parents’ values into their developing superegos.
Freud thought identification with same-sex parents determined gender identity.
Superego
the partly conscious part of the personality that, according to Freud, represents the internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations. Focuses on how we ought to behave.
Psychosexual Stages
the childhood stages of development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) during which, according to Freud, the id’s pleasure-seeking energies focus on the distinct erogenous zones.
- Oral (0-18 months)- pleasure centers on the mouth
- Anal (18-36 months)- focuses on bowel and bladder elimination.
- Phallic (3-6 years)- pleasure zone in the genitals
- Latency (6 years-puberty)- dormant sexual feelings
- Genital (puberty onward)- maturation of sexual interests
Oedipus Complex
Oedipus Complex: according to Freud, a boy’s sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father.
Fixation
in psychoanalytic theory, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved. (ex. biting one’s nails means problems in the oral stage)
Defense Mechanisms
in psychoanalytic theory, the ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality.
Repression
in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness.
Freud believed that this enabled all other defense mechanisms: Regression, Reaction Formation, Projection, Rationalization, Displacement, Denial
Neo-Freudians
Neo-Freudians believed in his major concepts but differed in two ways: they placed more emphasis on the conscious mind’s role in interpreting experience/coping with the environment and they doubted that sex and aggression were all-consuming motivations.
Collective Unconscious
Carl Jung’s concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species’ history. This is discounted by modern psychologists.
False Freud Theories
- Dreams and Freudian Slips do not tell us about our unconscious mind.
- Gender Identity does not spring from a same-sex parent.
- Sexuality does not cause mental disorders.
- Repression is rare.
Terror-Management Theory
a theory of death-related anxiety; that explores people’s emotional and behavioral responses to reminders of their impending death.
Projective Test
a personality test, such as the TAT or Rorschach, that provides ambiguous images designed to trigger the projection of people’s inner dynamics.
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
a projective test in which people express their feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes. This test is not great, but it is better than the inkblot test.
Rorschach Inkblot Test
a projective test designed by Hermann Rorschach that seeks to identify people’s feelings by analyzing how they interpret 10 inkblots. This tells us nothing about personality.
Humanistic Theories
theories that view personality with a focus on the potential for healthy personal growth.
Emphasized the ways people strive for self-determination and self-actualization.
Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s pyramid of human needs, begins at the base with physiological needs that must first be satisfied before people can fulfill their higher-level safety needs and then psychological needs.
Self-Actualization
according to Maslow, one of the ultimate psychological needs that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved; is the motivation to fulfill one’s potential.
Self-Transcendence
according to Maslow, the striving for identity, meaning, and purpose beyond the self.
Unconditional Positive Regard
a caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed would help people develop self-awareness and self-acceptance.
Along with this, acceptance, genuineness, and empathy are core pieces to the humanistic approach.
Self-Concept
all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, “Who am I?’
A large part of personality in the humanistic approach.
Humanistic Assesment
They would either assess personality by giving a test or by observing how a person acts.
Humanistic Criticism
Critics say the concepts are vague and subjective, could lead to selfishness, and do not consider humanity’s capacity for evil.
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.
Trait Theory
we have certain stable and enduring characteristics influenced by genetic predispositions.
MBTI was a popular personality test, but every type is affirmed, and it is not good to use for research or testing purposes.
Factor Analysis
a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of test items that tap basic components of a trait. (Introverted vs. Extroverted, Unstable vs. Stable)
Personality Inventory
a questionnaire (often with true-false or agree-disagree items) on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors; used to assess selected personality traits.
Minnesota Multiphase Personality Inventory (MMPI)
the most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests. Originally developed to identify emotional disorders (still considered its most appropriate use), the test is now used for many other screening purposes.
Empirically Derived Test
a test (such as the MMPI) created by selecting from a pool of items that discriminate between groups. (had a large group take the test, and choose questions that specific groups answer differently)
Big Five Factors
Researchers identified five factors—openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism—that describe personality. (also called the 5-factor model)
Social-Cognitive Perspective
a view of behavior as influenced by the interaction between people’s traits (including their thinking) and their social context.
Reciprocal Determinism
the interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment.
Ex. Past dating history (behavior) influences romantic attitudes (internal cognition) which influences current romantic responses (environmental).
Self
in contemporary psychology, assumed to be the center of personality, the organizer of our thoughts, feelings, and actions.
Possible selves include our dream self and our undesired self.
Spotlight Effect
overestimating others’ noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunders (as if we presume a spotlight shines on us).
Self-Esteem
our feelings of high or low self-worth.
Self-esteem seems to grow as we get older. Self-esteem does not predict future success, which self-efficacy can.
Self-Efficacy
our sense of competence and effectiveness. We can have low self-esteem but high self-efficacy.
Dunning-Kruger Effect
The Dunning-Kruger Effect is described as the ignorance of one’s incompetence.
Self-Serving Bias
a readiness to perceive ourselves favorably.
Can cause group-serving bias.
Narcissism
excessive self-love and self-absorption.
People may disparage themselves to get a reassuring response, to prepare for possible failure, to learn from mistakes, to humbly brag, or to pertain to one’s “old self”.
