Chapter 15 - Personality

Question 1

personality

Answer 1

An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting

Question 2

free association

Answer 2

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

Question 3

psychoanalysis

Answer 3

Freud’s theory of personality that attributes our thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts; the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions

Question 4

unconscious

Answer 4

According to Feud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. According to contemporary psychologists, information processing o which we are unaware

Question 5

id

Answer 5

Contains 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

Question 6

ego

Answer 6

The largely conscious, “executive” part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, 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

Question 7

superego

Answer 7

The part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgement (the conscience) and for future aspirations

Question 8

psychosexual stages

Answer 8

The childhood stages of development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) during which, according to Freud, the id’s pleasure seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones

Question 9

Oedipus Complex

Answer 9

According to Freud, a boy’s sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father
The female parallel would be the Electra complex; the girl’s sexual desires towards her father and rivalry to the mother

Question 10

indentification

Answer 10

The process by which, according to Freud, children incorporate their parents’ values into their developing superegos

Question 11

fixation

Answer 11

According to Freud, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, where conflicts were unresolved

Question 12

defense mechanisms

Answer 12

In psychoanalytic theory, the ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality

Question 13

repression

Answer 13

In psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness

Question 14

regression

Answer 14

Defense mechanism in which an individual faced with anxiety retreats to a more infantile psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated

Question 15

reaction formation

Answer 15

Psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites. Thus, people may express feelings that are the opposite of their anxiety-arousing unconscious feelings

Question 16

projection

Answer 16

Psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others

Question 17

rationalization

Answer 17

Defense mechanism that offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening unconscious reasons for one’s actions

Question 18

displacement

Answer 18

Psychoanalytic defense mechanism that shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person, as when redirecting anger toward a safer outlet

Question 19

projective test

Answer 19

A personality test, such as the Rorschach or TAT, that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics

Question 20

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Answer 20

A projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes

Question 21

Rorschach inkblot test

Answer 21

The most widely used projective test, a set of 10 inkblots, designed by Hermann Rorschach; seeks to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing their interpretation of the blots

Question 22

collective unconscious

Answer 22

Carl Jung’s concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species’ history

Question 23

self-actualization

Answer 23

According to Maslow, the ultimate psychological need that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved; the motivation to fulfill one’s potential

Question 24

unconditional positive regard

Answer 24

According to Rogers, an attitude of total acceptance toward another person

Question 25

self-concept

Answer 25

All our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, “Who am I?”

Question 26

trait

Answer 26

A characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act, as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports

Question 27

personality inventory

Answer 27

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

Question 28

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

Answer 28

The most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests
Originally developed to identify emotional disorders (still considered its most appropriate use), this test is now used for many other screening purposes

Question 29

empirically derived test

Answer 29

A test (such as the MMPI) developed by testing a spool of items and then selecting those that discriminate between groups

Question 30

social cognitive perspective

Answer 30

Views behavior as influenced by the interaction between persons (and their thinking) and the social context

Question 31

reciprocal determinism

Answer 31

The interacting influences between personality and environmental factors

Question 32

personal control

Answer 32

Our sense of controlling our environment rather than feeling helpless

Question 33

external locus of control

Answer 33

The perception that chance or outside forces beyond one’s personal control determine one’s fate

Question 34

internal locus of control

Answer 34

The perception that one controls one’s own fate

Question 35

learned helplessness

Answer 35

The hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events

Question 36

positive psychology

Answer 36

The scientific study of optimal human functioning; aims to discover and promote strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive

Question 37

spotlight effect

Answer 37

Overestimating others’ noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunders (as if we presume a spotlight shines on us)

Question 38

self-esteem

Answer 38

One’s feelings of high or low self-worth

Question 39

self-serving bias

Answer 39

A readiness to perceive oneself favorably

Question 40

individualism

Answer 40

Giving priority to one’s own goals over group goals, and defining one’s identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications

Question 41

collectivism

Answer 41

Giving priority to the goals of one’s group (often one’s extended family or work group) and defining one’s identity accordingly

Question 42

terror-management

Answer 42

Proposes that faith in one’s worldview and the pursuit of self-esteem provide protection against a deeply rooted fear of death