Final vocab test Flashcards
Unconscious
A reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories.
Information processing of which we are unaware
Psychoanalysis
personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts
Psychosexual stages
The childhood stages of development
(oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) during which, the id’s pleasure - seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones.
Oedipus [Ed-uh-puss] complex
A boy’s sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father.
Fixation
a lingering focus of pleasure - seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved
Defense Mechanisms
In psychoanalytic theory, the ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality
Drive - reduction theory
the idea that a physiological need creates an aroused tension state that motivates an organism to satisfy the need
Repression
the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety - arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness
Projective test
a personality test that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics
Rorschach Inkblot test
a set of 10 ink blots, designed to identify peoples inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots
self-actualization
the motivation to fulfill one’s potential
unconditional positive regard
attitude of total acceptance toward another person
self-concept
thoughts and feelings about ourselves
personality inventory
questionnaire used to assess selected personality traits
Empirically derived test
A test developed by testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminate between groups.
social-cognitive perspective
views behavior as influenced by interaction between peoples traits
reciprocal determination
interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition and environment.
learned helplessness
hopeless resignation learned when unable to avoid repeated adverse events
positive psychology
study of optimal human functioning
self
the center of personality, organizer of our thought and feelings
spotlight effect
overestimating others noticing and evaluating us.
self-serving bias
readiness to perceive oneself favorably
general adaption syndrome
adaptive response to stress in three phases
alarm, resistance, exhaustion
coronary heart disease
clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle
Type A
term for competitive hard-driving, impatient, anger-prone people
Type B
term for easygoing relaxed people
social psychology
study of how we think about, are influenced by and relate to one another.
Attribution theory
the theory that we explain someone’s behavior by crediting either situation or persons disposition.
fundamental attribution error
the tendency for observers to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition
attitude
feelings that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events
central route persuasion
attitude - change path in which interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts
Peripheral route persuasion
attitude - change path in which people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speakers attractiveness
foot in the door phenomenon
the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request
role
a set of expectations about a social, defining how those in the position ought to behave
cognitive dissonance theory
the theory that we act to reduce the discomfort, we feel when two of our thoughts are inconsistent
