Chapter Fifteen : Personality

Question 1

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

Answer 1

personality

Question 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

Answer 2

free association

Question 3

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

Answer 3

psychoanalysis

Question 4

according to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories; according to contemporary psychologists, information processing of which we are unaware

Answer 4

unconscious

Question 5

contains a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives; it operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification

Answer 5

id

Question 6

the largely conscious, “executive” part of the personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality; it operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id’s desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain

Answer 6

ego

Question 7

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

Answer 7

superego

Question 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

Answer 8

psychosexual stages

Question 9

according to Freud, a boy’s sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father

Answer 9

Oedipus complex

Question 10

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

Answer 10

identification

Question 11

according to Freud, a lingering focus of pleasure seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved

Answer 11

fixation

Question 12

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

Answer 12

defense mechanisms

Question 13

the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness

Answer 13

repression

Question 14

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

Answer 14

regression

Question 15

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

Answer 15

reaction formation

Question 16

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

Answer 16

projeciton

Question 17

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

Answer 17

rationalization

Question 18

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

Answer 18

displacement

Question 19

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

Answer 19

collective unconscious

Question 20

a personality test that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics

Answer 20

projective test

Question 21

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

Answer 21

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Question 22

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

Answer 22

Rorschach inkblot test

Question 23

introduced his psychoanalytic theory that propsed that childhood sexuality and unconscious motivations influence personality; the humanistic approach focused on our inner capacities for growth and self fulfilment

Answer 23

Sigmund Freud

Question 24

introduced the inferiority complex: a pattern of avoiding feelings of inadequacy rather than trying to overcome their source

Answer 24

Alfred Adler

Question 25

she agreed that childhood is important, but that social, not sexual tensions are crucial for personality formation; childhood anxiety triggers our desire for love and security

Answer 25

Karen Horney

Question 26

introduced collective unconscious and archetypes: an inherited idea based on the experiences of one’s ancestors, which shapes one’s perceptions of the world

Answer 26

Carl Jung