FlashcardsChapter13

Question 1

Term

Answer 1

Description

Question 2

Behavioral approach system (BAS)

Answer 2

The brain system involved in the pursuit of incentives or rewards. (page 531)

Question 3

Behavioral inhibition system (BIS)

Answer 3

The brain system that is sensitive to punishment and therefore inhibits behavior that might lead to danger or pain. (page 531)

Question 4

Defense mechanisms

Answer 4

Unconscious mental strategies that the mind uses to protect itself from anxiety. (page 523)

Question 5

Ego

Answer 5

In psychodynamic theory, the component of personality that tries to satisfy the wishes of the id while being responsive to the dictates of the superego. (page 523)

Question 6

Five-factor theory

Answer 6

The idea that personality can be described using five factors: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. (page 528)

Question 7

Humanistic approaches

Answer 7

Approaches to studying personality that emphasize how people seek to fulfill their potential through greater self-understanding. (page 526)

Question 8

Id

Answer 8

In psychodynamic theory, the component of personality that is completely submerged in the unconscious and operates according to the pleasure principle. (page 522)

Question 9

Idiographic approaches

Answer 9

Person-centered approaches to assessing personality; they focus on individual lives and how various characteristics are integrated into unique persons. (page 541)

Question 10

Interactionism

Answer 10

The theory that behavior is determined jointly by situations and underlying dispositions. (page 533)

Question 11

Locus of control

Answer 11

Personal beliefs about how much control people have over outcomes in their lives. (page 525)

Question 12

Nomothetic approaches

Answer 12

Approaches to assessing personality that focus on how common characteristics vary from person to person. (page 541)

Question 13

Personality

Answer 13

A person’s characteristic thoughts, emotional responses, and behaviors. (page 516)

Question 14

Personality trait

Answer 14

A pattern of thought, emotion, and behavior that is relatively consistent over time and across situations. (page 516)

Question 15

Projectivee measures

Answer 15

Personality tests that examine unconscious processes by having people interpret ambiguous stimuli. (page 541)

Question 16

Psychodynamic theory

Answer 16

The Freudian theory that unconscious forces determine behavior. (page 522)

Question 17

Psychosexual stages

Answer 17

According to Freud, developmental stages that correspond to distinct libidinal urges; progression through these stages profoundly affects personality. (page 524)

Question 18

Reciprocal determinism

Answer 18

The theory that how personality is expressed can be explained by the interaction of environment, person factors, and behavior itself. (page 526)

Question 19

Self-esteem

Answer 19

The evaluative aspect of the self-concept in which people feel worthy or unworthy. (page 549)

Question 20

Self-serving bias

Answer 20

The tendency for people to take personal credit for success but blame failure on external factors. (page 553)

Question 21

Situationism

Answer 21

The theory that behavior is determined more by situations than by personality traits. (page 532)

Question 22

Social comparison

Answer 22

The tendency for people to evaluate their own actions, abilities, and beliefs by contrasting them with other people’s. (page 553)

Question 23

Sociometer

Answer 23

An internal monitor of social acceptance or rejection. (page 550)

Question 24

Superego

Answer 24

In psychodynamic theory, the internalization of societal and parental standards of conduct. (page 523)

Question 25

Temperaments

Answer 25

Biologically based tendencies to feel or act in certain ways. (page 519)

Question 26

Trait approach

Answer 26

An approach to studying personality that focuses on how individuals differ in personality dispositions. (page 528)