GLOSSARY Flashcards
Adlerian safeguarding tendency whereby
one protects magnified feelings of self-esteem by
blaming others for one’s own failures.
accusation
Technique used by Jung to uncover
collective unconscious material. Patients are asked to
concentrate on an image until a series of fantasies are
produced.
active imagination
Tendency within all
people to move toward completion or fulfillment of
potentials. (ROGERS)
actualizing tendency
An important psychosocial
stage when ego identity should be formed.
is characterized by puberty and the crisis of identity
versus identity confusion.
adolescence (ERIKSON)
The stage from about ages 31 to
60 that is characterized by the psychosexual mode of procreativity and the crisis of generativity versus
stagnation.
adulthood (ERIKSON)
Needs for art, music,
beauty, and the like (MASLOW)
aesthetic needs (MASLOW)
Safeguarding tendencies that may
include depreciation or accusation of others as well as
self-accusation, all designed to protect exaggerated
feelings of personal superiority by striking out against
other people.
aggression (Adler)
One of two primary instincts or drives that motivate people
is the outward
manifestation of the death instinct (FREUD)
aggression (FREUD)
Freudian term for a person who is
characterized by compulsive neatness, stubbornness, and
miserliness.
anal character
Sometimes called the anal-sadistic
phase, this second stage of the infantile period is characterized by a child’s attempts to gain pleasure from
the excretory function and by such related behaviors as
destroying or losing objects, stubbornness, neatness, and miserliness.
Corresponds roughly to the second year of
life. (FREUD)
anal phase
anal triad (FREUD)
The three traits of compulsive
neatness, stubbornness, and miserliness that characterize
the anal character.
Erikson’s term for the young child’s psychosexual mode of adapting.
anal-urethral-muscular
Theory of personality and approach to psychotherapy founded by Carl Jung
analytical psychology
Jungian archetype that represents the feminine component in the personality of males and originates
from men’s inherited experiences with women
anima
Jungian archetype that represents the masculine
component in the personality of females and originates
from women’s inherited experiences with men.
animus
A felt, affective, unpleasant state accompanied
by the physical sensation of uneasiness.
anxiety
The recognition that the events with
which one is confronted lie outside the range of
convenience of one’s construct system.
anxiety (Kelly)
The experience of the threat of
imminent nonbeing.
anxiety (MAY)
Feelings of uneasiness or tension with an unknown cause.
anxiety (ROGERS)
Any tension that interferes with
satisfaction of needs
anxiety (SULLIVAN)
Dynamism that reduces tensions of
needs through the adoption of an indifferent attitude.
apathy (SULLIVAN)
Jung’s concept that refers to the contents of the collective unconscious
also called
primordial images or collective symbols, represent psychic patterns of inherited behavior and are thus distinguished from instincts, which are physical impulses toward action
archetypes
A predisposition to act or react in a
characteristic manner, that is, in either an introverted or an extraverted direction.
attitude (Jung)
The tendency to give up one’s independence and to unite with another person or persons in order to gain strength.
Takes the form of masochism or sadism
authoritarianism (Fromm)
Feelings of isolation and helplessness in a potentially hostile world.
basic anxiety (Horney)
Private or parataxic
language that makes little or no sense to other people.
autistic language (SULLIVAN)
The feeling of being alone and isolated, separated from the natural world.
basic anxiety (Fromm)
Anxiety arising from inability to satisfy physiological and safety needs.
basic anxiety (Maslow)
The incompatible tendency to
move toward, against, and away from people.
basic conflict (Horney)
Repressed feelings of rage that originate during childhood when children fear that their parents will not satisfy their needs for safety and
satisfaction.
basic hostility (Horney)
The ego quality that emerges from the
conflict between antithetical elements in Erikson’s stages
of development.
basic strength
McCrae and Costa’s term for the
universal raw material of personality.
basic tendencies
The possibility of a
particular response occurring at a given time and place
as calculated in relation to the reinforcement of that response.
behavior potential (Rotter)
Skinner’s approach to studying behavior that assumes that human conduct is shaped
primarily by the individual’s personal history of reinforcement and secondarily by natural selection and
cultural practices.
behavioral analysis
An individual’s unique and stable pattern of behaving
differently in different situations.
behavioral signature of personality (Mischel)
A “school” of psychology that limits its subject matter to observable behavior
John B. Watson is usually credited with being the founder
with B. F. Skinner its most notable
proponent
behaviorism
Love of life.
biophilia
Traits with two poles: that is, those traits scaled from a minus point to a positive point, with zero representing the midpoint.
bipolar traits
Love between self-actualizing people and characterized by the love for the being of
the other
B-love (Maslow)
The values of self-actualizing people, including beauty, truth, goodness, justice, wholeness, and the like.
B-values (Maslow)
Learning by which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a meaningful stimulus and acquires the capacity to elicit a similar response.
classical conditioning
Personal disposition so
dominating that it cannot be hidden.
Most people do not
have this
cardinal disposition (Allport)
An explanation of behavior in terms of past experiences.
causality
A commitment to take care of the people and things that one has learned to care for.
care (Erikson)
Condition that
accompanies the Oedipus complex, but takes different forms in the two sexes
In boys, it takes the form of castration anxiety, or fear of having one’s penis removed and is responsible for shattering the Oedipus complex.
In girls, it takes the form of penis envy, or the desire to have a penis, and it precedes and instigates the Oedipus
complex
castration complex
The process of removing or lessening
psychological disorders by talking about one’s problems.
catharsis
Kelly’s assumption that people choose the alternative in a dichotomized construct that they perceive will extend their range of future choices.
choice corollary
The 5 to 10 personal
traits around which a person’s life focuses.
central dispositions (Allport)
Unique qualities of an individual that include such attributes as temperament, physique, intelligence, and other aptitudes.
characteristic
Productive or
nonproductive patterns of reacting to the world of things and the world of people.
character orientation (Fromm)
Acquired personality structures that develop as people adapt to their environment.
characteristic adaptations (McCrae and Costa)
An unintended
meeting of persons unfamiliar to each other.
chance encounter (Bandura)
Relatively permanent acquired qualities through which people relate themselves to
others and to the world.
character (Fromm)
Approach to psychotherapy
originated by Rogers, which is based on respect for the person’s capacity to grow within a nurturing climate
client-centered therapy
Needs for knowledge and understanding; related to basic or conative needs, yet
operating on a different dimension.
cognitive needs (Maslow)
Mischel’s theory that views people as active, goal-directed individuals capable of exerting influence on both their situation and themselves.
cognitive-affective personality theory
The confidence people
have that their combined efforts will produce social
change.
collective efficacy (Bandura)
Jung’s idea of an inherited unconscious, which is responsible for many of our behaviors, ideas, and dream images
lies beyond our personal experiences
and originates with repeated experiences of our ancestors.
collective unconscious
Kelly’s theory that personal constructs of people with similar experiences tend to be
similar.
commonality corollary
People’s cognitive and
behavioral construction of what they can and cannot do, based on their observations of the world, themselves,
and others
competencies (Mischel)
An emotionally toned conglomeration
of ideas that comprise the contents of the personal unconscious.
complex (Jung)
Needs that pertain to willful and purposive striving, for example Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs.
conative needs
Restrictions or
qualifications attached to one person’s regard for another.
conditions of worth (Rogers)
Environmental
event that is not by nature satisfying but becomes so because it is associated with unlearned or unconditioned
reinforcers such as food, sex, and the like
conditioned reinforcer (Skinner)
Means of escaping from
isolation and aloneness by giving up one’s self and becoming whatever others desire.
conformity (Fromm)
The part of the superego that results from experience with punishment and that, therefore, tells a person what is wrong or improper
conduct.
conscience (Freud)
The matching of organismic experiences with awareness and with the ability to express those experiences
One of three “necessary and sufficient” therapeutic conditions.
congruence (Rogers)
Those mental elements in awareness at any given time.
conscious (Freud)
Mischel’s term for the
observation that clinical intuition and the perceptions of laypeople suggest that behavior is consistent, whereas research finds that it is not.
consistency paradox
Safeguarding
tendency in which people create a barrier to their own success, thus allowing them to protect their self-esteem by either using the barrier as an excuse for failure or by
overcoming it.
constructing obstacles (Adler)
Mental images that are sensed by the ego and that play a relatively minor role in Jungian
theory.
conscious (Jung)
Kelly’s assumption that people anticipate events according to their interpretations of
recurrent themes.
construction corollary
Kelly’s view that events
can be looked at (construed) from a different (alternative) perspective
constructive alternativism
The reinforcement of
an organism for every correct trial; opposed to the intermittent schedule in which only certain selected
responses are reinforced.
continuous schedule (Skinner)
A psychosocial disorder at any of the eight stages of development that results from too little basic strength.
core pathology (Erikson)
People’s construction of who they really are; their sense of identity that provides a guide
for living.
core role (Kelly)
A mathematical index used to measure the direction and magnitude of the relationship
between two variables.
correlation coefficient
The realm of philosophy dealing with the
nature of causation.
cosmology
Strong, undeserved feelings that the therapist develops toward the patient during the course of treatment
These feelings can be either positive or negative and are considered by most writers to be a hindrance to successful psychotherapy
countertransference
Adler’s term for what he believed to be an inner freedom that empowers each of us to create our
own style of life.
creative power
An existential term meaning a sense of self as a free and responsible person whose existence is
embedded in the world of things, of people, and of self-awareness.
Dasein
Approach to factor analytical theories of personality that gathers data on the basis of previously determined hypotheses or theories, reasoning from the general to the particular
deductive method
Techniques such as
repression, reaction formation, sublimation, and the like, whereby the ego defends itself against the pain of
anxiety.
defense mechanisms (Freud)
Protection of the self-concept against anxiety and threat by denial and distortion of
experiences that are inconsistent with it.
defensiveness (Rogers)
Adlerian safeguarding tendency whereby
another’s achievements are undervalued and one’s own are overvalued.
depreciation
The blocking of an experience or
some aspect of an experience from awareness because it
is inconsistent with the self-concept.
denial (Rogers)
Feelings of anxiety over
losing a loved object coupled with a sense of guilt for wanting to destroy that object.
depressive position (Klein)
A reference to the observation that
some people some of the time will prefer more valued delayed rewards over lesser valued immediate ones
delay of gratification
The process of removing respect, joy, awe, and rapture from an experience, which
then purifies or objectifies that experience.
desacralization (Maslow)
Eysenck accepted this model of psychiatric illness, which suggests that some people are
vulnerable to illness because they have both genetic and an acquired weakness that predisposes them to an illness.
diathesis-stress model
Kelly’s assumption that people construe events in an either/or (dichotomous) manner.
dichotomy corollary
Method of escaping from freedom by eliminating people or objects, thus restoring
feelings of power.
destructiveness (Fromm)
The displacement or diffusion of responsibility for the
injurious effects of one’s actions.
disengagement of internal control (Bandura)
A Freudian defense mechanism in
which unwanted urges are redirected onto other objects or people in order to disguise the original impulse.
displacement
The least characteristic and reliable personal traits that still appear
with some regularity in an individual’s life.
secondary dispositions (Allport)
Deficiency love or affection (attachment) based on the lover’s specific deficiency and
the loved one’s ability to satisfy that deficit
D-love (Maslow)
Misinterpretation of an experience so that it is seen as fitting into some aspect of the self-concept.
distortion (Rogers)
The process of separating unwanted impulses, desires, and needs from the self-system.
dissociation (Sullivan)
The therapeutic procedure designed to uncover unconscious material by having a
patient free associate to dream images
dream analysis (Freud)
Relatively consistent patterns of action that characterize the person throughout a lifetime.
Similar to traits or habit patterns
dynamisms (Sullivan)
Erikson’s term for the negative element in
each pair of opposites that characterizes the eight stages of development
dystonic
The second stage of
psychosocial development, characterized by the
anal-urethral-muscular psychosexual mode and by the crisis of autonomy versus shame and doubt
early childhood (Erikson)
Technique proposed by Adler to understand the pattern or theme that runs throughout a
person’s style of life.
early recollections
Approach that allows selection of usable
elements from different theories or approaches and combines them in a consistent and unified manner.
eclectic
The province of the mind that refers to the
“I” or those experiences that are owned (not necessarily consciously) by the person
the only region of the
mind in contact with the real world
is said to
serve the reality principle
ego (Freud)
The part of the superego that results
from experiences with reward and that, therefore teaches a person what is right or proper conduct.
ego-ideal (Freud)
The center of consciousness
is of lesser importance than the more inclusive self and is limited to consciousness.
ego (Jung)
An existentialist term meaning the world of
one’s relationship to self
One of three simultaneous
modes of being-in-the-world.
Eigenwelt
Imaginary traits
attributed to real or imaginary people in order to protect
one’s self-esteem
eidetic personifications (Sullivan)
The accurate sensing of
the feelings of another and the communication of these perceptions
One of three “necessary and sufficient” therapeutic conditions
empathic listening (Rogers)
Making choices that will
increase a person’s range of future choices.
elaborative choice (Kelly)
An indefinite process through which anxiety is transferred from one person to another,
for example, from mother to infant.
empathy (Sullivan)
Based on experience, systematic observation, and experiment rather than on logical
reasoning or philosophical speculation.
empirical
The assumption that
behaviors that move people in the direction of their goals are more likely to be reinforced
empirical law of effect (Rotter)
People’s ways of
transforming stimulus inputs into information about themselves, other people, and the world
encoding strategies (Mischel)
Overt or covert
actions designed to satisfy needs or reduce anxiety.
energy transformations (Sullivan)
The need to develop, to
grow, and to achieve.
enhancement needs (Rogers)
Erikson’s term meaning that one component grows out of another in its proper time and
sequence.
epigenetic principle
The branch of philosophy that deals
with the nature of knowledge
epistemology
the desire for an enduring union with a loved one.
eros
Organs of the body that are especially sensitive to the reception of pleasure
In Freudian theory, the three principal _______ _____ are the mouth, anus, and genitals
erogenous zones
The freedom of being or the freedom of the conscious mind
cannot be limited by chains or bars.
essential freedom (May)
The fourth level on Maslow’s hierarchy
of needs; they include self-respect, competence, and the
perceived esteem of others
esteem needs
The scientific study of the characteristic
behavior patterns of animals.
ethology
A complete lack of tension.
euphoria (Sullivan)
The core pathology of young adulthood marked by a person’s exclusion of certain
people, activities, and ideas.
exclusivity (Erikson)
The freedom of doing one’s will
can be limited by chains or bars.
existential freedom (May)
Rogers’s term indicating a tendency to live in the moment.
existential living
Adlerian safeguarding tendencies whereby
the person, through the use of reasonable sounding justifications, becomes convinced of the reality of self-erected obstacles
excuses
Peculiarly human needs
aimed at moving people toward a reunification with the natural world
Fromm listed relatedness, transcendence,
rootedness, a sense of identity, and a frame of
orientation as ______?
existential needs (Fromm)
Kelly’s view that people
continually revise their personal constructs as the result of experience
experience corollary
People who take
from others, by either force or cunning.
exploitative characters (Fromm)
The subjective probability held by a
person that any specific reinforcement or set of
reinforcements will occur in a given situation.
expectancy
Knowledge, views, and evaluations of the self.
external influences (McCrae and Costa)
People’s perception of
other people’s view of them
external evaluations (Rogers)
The tendency of a previously acquired
response to become progressively weakened upon nonreinforcement
extinction
The positive or
negative value of any reinforcing event as seen from the view of societal or cultural values.
external reinforcement (Rotter)
One of three types of
superfactors identified by Eysenck and consisting of two opposite poles—extraversion and introversion.
Extraverts are characterized behaviorally by sociability and impulsiveness and physiologically by a low level of cortical arousal
Introverts, by contrast, are characterized
by unsociability and caution and by a high level of cortical arousal.
extraversion (E) (Eysenck)
An attitude or type marked by the
turning outward of psychic energy so that a person is oriented toward the objective world.
extraversion (Jung)
A mathematical procedure for reducing
a large number of variables to a few; used by Eysenck and others to identify personality traits and factors
factor analysis
A unit of personality derived through factor
analysis
However, the term is sometimes used more
generally to include any underlying aspect of
personality
factor
the amount of correlation that a score
contributes to a given factor
factor loadings
An attribute of a theory that allows research
to either support or fail to support that theory’s major tenets.
falsifiable
A specific threat to one’s personal constructs
fear (Kelly)
A rational function that tells us the value of something
can be either
extraverted (directed toward the objective world)
or
introverted (directed toward the subjective world).
feeling (Jung)
A belief or expectation of the future that serves to motivate present behavior
the truthfulness of this is immaterial, because the person acts as if the idea were true.
fiction (Adler)
a defense mechanism that arises when
psychic energy is blocked at one stage of development, thus making change or psychological growth difficult.
fixation
Reinforcement schedule in which the organism is reinforced intermittently
according to a specified number of responses it makes
fixed-ratio (Skinner)
the nonproductive form of rootedness marked by a reluctance to grow beyond the security provided by one’s mother
fixation (Fromm)
Intermittent reinforcement
schedule whereby the organism is reinforced for its first response following a designated period of time
fixed-interval (Skinner)
Tendency in all matter
to evolve from simpler to more complex forms.
formative tendency (Rogers)
Environmental events
that are unexpected and unintended.
fortuitous events (Bandura)
Kelly’s assumption that
behavior is sometimes inconsistent because one’s construct systems can admit incompatible elements
fragmentation corollary
The need for humans
to develop a unifying philosophy or consistent way of
looking at things.
frame of orientation (Fromm)
Technique used in Freudian psychotherapy in which the therapist instructs the patient
to verbalize every thought that comes to mind, no matter
how irrelevant or repugnant it may appear
free association
the mean expectancy
of being reinforced for performing all those behaviors that are directed toward the satisfaction of some general need.
freedom of movement (Rotter)
Slips of the tongue or pen, misreading,
incorrect hearing, temporary forgetting of names and intentions, and the misplacing of objects, all of which are
caused by unconscious wishes.
Also called parapraxes.
Freudian Slips
The tendency for
some motives to become independent from the original
motive responsible for the behavior
functional autonomy (Allport)
the transfer of the effects of one
learning situation to another
generalization
Expectation based
on similar past experiences that a given behavior will be
reinforced.
generalized expectancy (Rotter)
A conditioned
reinforcer that has been associated with several primary reinforcers.
Money is an example because it is associated with food, shelter, and
other primary reinforcers.
generalized reinforcer (Skinner)
Period of life beginning with puberty and continuing through adulthood and marked
by full sexual identity
genitality (Erikson)
Erikson’s term for the preschool child’s psychosexual mode of adapting.
genital-locomotor
Comparable to Freud’s phallic stage: that is, the time around ages 3 to 5 when the Oedipus complex reaches its culmination.
genital stage (Klein)
Period of life beginning with puberty and continuing through adulthood and marked
by full sexual identity.
genital stage (Freud)
An ontological characteristic of human
existence arising from our separation from the natural world (Umwelt), from other people (Mitwelt), or from
oneself (Eigenwelt).
guilt (May)
A Jungian archetype representing the myth of the godlike man who conquers or vanquishes evil, usually in the form of a monster, dragon, or serpent
hero
Jungian archetype of the opposing forces of fertility and destruction.
great mother
The sense of having lost one’s core role
structure
guilt (Kelly)
Safeguarding tendency
characterized by vacillation or procrastination designed to provide a person with the excuse “It’s too late now.”
hesitating (Adler)
Maslow’s concept that needs are ordered in such a manner that those on a lower level
must be satisfied before higher level needs become activated.
hierarchy of needs
Maslow’s theory of personality, which stresses both the unity of the organism and the motivational aspects of personality
holistic-dynamic
People who seek to
save and not let go of material possessions, feelings, or ideas.
hoarding characters (Fromm)
the ability of people to
use cognitive abilities to control their lives
human agency (Bandura)
Fromm’s personality
theory that combines the basics of both psychoanalysis
and humanistic psychology
humanistic psychoanalysis
the present condition of
humans who have the ability to reason but who lack powerful instincts needed to adapt to a changing
world.
human dilemma (Fromm)
Obsessive attention to one’s health; typically characterized by imaginary symptoms.
hypochondriasis
An assumption or educated guess that can
be scientifically tested.
hypothesis
A mental disorder marked by the conversion of repressed psychical elements into
somatic symptoms such as impotency, paralysis, or blindness, when no physiological bases for these symptoms exist.
hysteria (Freud)
the region of personality that is alien to the ego because it includes experiences that have never been
owned by the person
is the home base for all the instincts, and its sole function is to seek pleasure regardless of consequences.
id (FREUD)
One’s view of self as one would like to be.
ideal self (Rogers)
A reference to the ego- ideal, a subsystem of the superego that tells people what they should do.
idealistic principle (Freud)
An attempt to solve
basic conflicts by adopting a belief in one’s godlike
qualities.
idealized self-image (Horney)
Erickson’s term for a crucial period or
turning point in the life cycle that may result in either more or less ego strength
identity crisis
Approach to the study of personality
based on the single case.
idiographic
Extreme dependence
on a mother or mother substitute.
incestuous symbiosis (Fromm)
Kelly’s assumption that people have different experiences and therefore construe events in different ways.
individuality corollary
the perception of
discrepancies between organismic self, self-concept, and
ideal self
incongruence (Rogers)
Jung’s term for the process of becoming
a whole person, that is, an individual with a high level of psychic development
individuation
A form of reasoning based on observation and measurement without preconceived
hypotheses.
inductive method
Theory of personality and approach to psychotherapy founded by Alfred Adler.
individual psychology
The first stage of psychosocial
development—one marked by the oral-sensory mode and by the crisis of basic trust versus basic mistrust
infancy (Erikson)
First four or five years of life characterized by autoerotic or pleasure-seeking behavior
and consisting of the oral, anal, and phallic substages.
infantile stage (Freud)
Exaggerated or
abnormally strong feelings of inferiority, which usually interfere with socially useful solutions to life’s problems
inferiority complex (Adler)
From the German Trieb, meaning drive or impulse; refers to an internal stimulus that
impels action or thought
instinct (Freud)
An unconscious physical impulse toward
action.
are the physical counterpart of archetypes.
instinct (Jung)
One who believes that behavior results
from an interaction of environmental variables and person variables, including cognition
interactionist
Needs that are innately
determined but that can be modified through learning.
the frustration of these needs leads to various types of psychology
instinctoid needs (Maslow)
The reinforcement of
an organism on only certain selected occurrences of a
response; opposed to a continuous schedule in which the organism is reinforced for every correct trial
the most common are fixed-ratio, variable-ratio, fixed-interval, and variable-interval.
intermittent schedule (Skinner)
The underlying structure that
gives meaning to our experience.
intentionality (May)
the individual’s
perception of the positive or negative value of any
reinforcing event.
internal reinforcement (Rotter)
Sullivan’s personality theory that emphasizes the importance of interpersonal relationships
during each stage of development from infancy to adulthood.
interpersonal theory
A process in which the person takes in (introjects) aspects of the external world and then organizes those introjections in
a psychologically meaningful way
internalization (object relations theory)
A generalized
expectancy held by a person that other people can be relied on to keep their word
interpersonal trust (Rotter)
The ability to fuse one’s identity with that of another person without fear of losing it
the syntonic element of young adulthood.
intimacy (Erikson)
Conjunctive dynamism marked by a close personal relationship with another person who is more or less of equal status.
intimacy (Sullivan)
Fantasizing taking external objects, such as the mother’s breast, into one’s own body.
introjection (Klein)
A defense mechanism whereby people incorporate positive qualities of another person into their ego
introjection (Freud)
An attitude or type characterized by the turning inward of psychic energy with an
orientation toward the subjective
introversion (Jung)
An irrational function that involves perception of elementary data that are beyond our
awareness.
______ people “know” something without
understanding how they know.
intuition (Jung)
the fear of being or doing one’s best.
Jonah complex
The inability to share true intimacy or to take chances with one’s identity
The dystonic element of young adulthood.
isolation (Erikson)
The underlying, unconscious meaning of a dream.
more important than the surface or manifest content.
latent dream content (Freud)
The time between infancy and puberty when psychosexual growth is at a standstill.
latency stage (Freud)
The psychosexual mode of the school-age child
A period of little sexual development
latency (Erikson)
Psychic energy of the life instinct
libido (Freud)
Thorndike’s principle that responses to
stimuli followed immediately by a satisfier tend to
strengthen the connection between those responses and
stimuli; that is, they tend to be learned.
law of effect
One of two primary drives or impulses
is also called Eros or sex.
life instinct (Freud)
The belief people have that their attempts to reach a goal are within their control
(internal)
or are primarily due to
powerful events such as fate, chance, or other people
(external)
locus of control (Rotter)
The basic strength of young adulthood
that emerges from the crisis of intimacy versus isolation.
love (Erikson)
A union with another person in which a
person retains separateness and integrity of self
love (Fromm)
To delight in the presence of the other
person and to affirm that person’s value and development as much as one’s own.
love (May)
Sullivan’s term for those destructive behavior patterns dominated by the attitude that people are evil and harmful and that the world is a bad place to live.
malevolence
The third level on
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs; they include both the need to give love and the need to receive love.
love and belongingness needs
Isolating dynamism in which one person has an impersonal sexual interest in another.
lust (Sullivan)
Those basic needs that
protect the status quo
may be either physiological or interpersonal
maintenance needs (Rogers)
Symbol representing the striving for unity and completion.
often seen as a circle within a square or a square within a circle.
mandala (Jung)
The destruction of
life for reasons other than survival.
malignant aggression (Fromm)
The surface or
conscious level of a dream.
has no deep psychological significance
manifest dream content (Freud)
A condition characterized by the reception of sexual pleasure from suffering pain and humiliation
inflicted either by self or by others
masochism
Adler’s term for the neurotic and erroneous belief held by some men and women that men are superior to women.
masculine protest
People who see
themselves as commodities, with their personal value dependent on their ability to sell themselves
marketing characters (Fromm)
The motives of self-actualizing people, including especially the B-values.
metamotivation (Maslow)
Illness, characterized by
absence of values, lack of fulfillment, and loss of meaning, that results from deprivation of self-actualization needs.
metapathology (Maslow)
The final psychosexual stage following infancy, latency, and the genital period.
HYPOTHETICALLY, would be characterized by a strong ego in control of the id and the superego and by an ever-expanding realm of consciousness.
maturity (Freud)
Theory that states that
personal constructs are permeable (resilient), that they are subject to change through experience (KELLY)
modulation corollary (Kelly)
An existentialist term meaning the world
of one’s relationship to other people
One of three
simultaneous modes of being-in-the-world.
Mitwelt
One of two basic sources of learning; involves the observation of others and thus
learning from their actions.
entails the addition and subtraction of specific
acts and the observation of consequences of others’
behavior
modeling (Bandura)
Anxiety that results from the ego’s conflict with the superego.
moral anxiety (Freud)
Preoccupation with
guilt about things one has done wrong.
moral hypochondriasis (Fromm)
Reference to the
conscience, a subsystem of the superego that tells people what they should not do
moralistic principle (Freud)
One of Horney’s neurotic trends in which neurotics protect themselves against the
hostility of others by adopting an aggressive strategy
moving against people
One of Horney’s neurotic trends in which neurotics protect themselves against
feelings of isolation by adopting a detached attitude.
moving away from people
Allport’s concept of science, which deals with various methods of gathering data on
patterns of behavior within a single individual.
morphogenic science
Safeguarding inflated
feelings of superiority by reverting to a more secure period of life.
moving backward (Adler)
One of Horney’s neurotic trends in which neurotics develop a need for others as a
protection against feelings of helplessness
moving toward people
Love of death.
necrophilia
Belief system that provides explanations
for personal and social problems.
myth (May)
Love of self or the attainment of erotic
pleasure from viewing one’s own body.
narcissism
A reference to the possible occurrence of a set of functionally related behaviors
directed toward the satisfaction of the same goal or a similar set of goals.
need potential (Rotter)
The degree to which a person prefers one set of reinforcements to another.
need value (Rotter)
Any aversive stimulus that, when removed from a situation, increases the probability that
the immediately preceding behavior will occur.
negative reinforcer
Strong, hostile, and undeserved feelings that the patient develops toward the analyst during the course of treatment.
negative transference
An apprehension about an unknown danger facing the ego but originating from id
impulses.
neurotic anxiety (Freud)
Somewhat dated term signifying mild
personality disorders as opposed to the more severe psychotic reactions
neurosis
A reaction that is
disproportionate to the threat and that leads to repression and defensive behaviors
neurotic anxiety (May)
Nonproductive needs that are opposed to the basic needs and that block psychological health whether or not they are satisfied
neurotic needs (Maslow)
Unrealistic demands and expectations of neurotics to be entitled to special
privilege
neurotic claims (Horney)
Original 10 defenses against basic anxiety.
neurotic needs (Horney)
One of three types or
superfactors identified by Eysenck
is a bipolar factor consisting of neuroticism at one pole and stability at the other.
High scores on N may indicate anxiety, hysteria, obsessive-compulsive disorders, or criminality
neuroticism (N) (Eysenck)
A false pride based on one’s idealized image of self.
neurotic pride (Horney)
Horney’s term for the three basic attitudes toward self and others—moving toward people, moving against people, and moving away from people; a
revision of her original list of 10 neurotic needs.
neurotic trends
Horney’s concept for the comprehensive drive toward actualizing the ideal self.
neurotic search for glory
The awareness of the possibility of one’s not
being, through death or loss of awareness
nonbeing
An approach to the study of personality
that is based on general laws or principles.
nomothetic
The stage in an infant’s
development when all his or her needs are satisfied automatically, that is, without the infant having to deal
with the external world.
normal autism (Mahler)
The experience of threat that accompanies growth or change in one’s values.
normal anxiety (May)
The second developmental
stage marked by a dual unity of infant and mother.
normal symbiosis (Mahler)
Psychoanalytic term referring to the person or part of a person that can satisfy an instinct or drive.
object
A reference to the work of Melanie Klein and others who have extended Freudian
psychoanalysis with their emphasis on early relations to parents (objects) that influence later interpersonal
relationships
object relations theory
All experiences of a person across the lifespan.
objective biography (McCrae and Costa)
A method of rotating the axes in factor analysis that assumes some intercorrelation
among primary factors.
oblique method
A persistent or recurrent idea, usually
involving an urge toward some action.
obsession
The eighth and final stage of the life cycle, marked by the psychosocial crisis of
integrity versus despair and the basic strength of wisdom.
old age (Erikson)
A type of learning in
which reinforcement, which is contingent upon the occurrence of a particular response, increases the probability that the same response will occur again
operant conditioning (Skinner)
The loss of an operantly
conditioned response due to the systematic withholding of reinforcement.
operant extinction (Skinner)
A definition of a concept in terms of observable events or behaviors that can be measured.
operational definition
Skinner’s observation that an organism, as a consequence of its reinforcement history,
learns to respond to some elements in the environment but not to others
does not exist
within the organism but is a function of environmental
variables and the organism’s previous history of reinforcement
operant discrimination
The earliest stage of the infantile period characterized by attempts to gain pleasure through the activity of the mouth, especially sucking,
eating, and biting; corresponds roughly to the first 12 to 18 months of life
oral phase (Freud)
Erikson’s term for the infant’s first psychosexual mode of adapting.
oral-sensory
The expression of a person’s underlying intentions or style of life through a diseased or dysfunctional bodily organ.
organ dialect (Adler)
A more general term than self-concept; refers to the entire person, including those aspects of existence beyond awareness.
organismic self (Rogers)
Process by which
experiences are valued according to optimal
enhancement of organism and self.
organismic valuing process (OVP)
Kelly’s notion that people arrange their personal constructs in a hierarchical system.
organization corollary
Mental disorder characterized by unrealistic feelings of persecution, grandiosity, and a suspicious attitude toward others.
paranoia
A tendency of the
infant to see the world as having the same destructive and omnipotent qualities that it possesses
paranoid-schizoid position (Klein)
Mode of cognition characterized by attribution of cause and effect when none is present; private language not consensually validated (i.e., not able to be accurately communicated to others).
parataxic (Sullivan)
A method of rotating the axes in factor analysis that assumes the independence of
primary factors.
orthogonal rotation
The process of
seeing a cause-and-effect relationship between two events in close proximity when there is no such relationship
parataxic distortion (Sullivan)
Criterion of a useful theory that states that
when two theories are equal on other criteria, the simpler one is preferred.
parsimony
An intense mystical
experience, often characteristic of self-actualizing people
but not limited to them.
peak experience (Maslow)
The system that perceives external stimuli through sight, sound, taste, and the like and that communicates them to the conscious system.
perceptual conscious (Freud)
A quality of personal constructs that allows new information to revise our way of
viewing things.
permeability (Kelly)
Functionally independent motives that are not part of the
proprium; includes addictions, the tendency to finish
uncompleted tasks, and other acquired motives
perseverative functional autonomy (Allport)
the psychologically
healthy individual in the process of evolving into all that he or she can become.
person of tomorrow (Rogers)
A person’s way of
interpreting, explaining, and predicting events.
personal constructs (Kelly)
Jungian archetype that represents the side of
personality that one shows to the rest of the world
Also, the mask worn by ancient Roman actors in the Greek theater and thus the root of the word “personality.”
persona
Test designed
by E. L. Shostrom to measure Maslow’s concept of self- actualizing tendencies in people.
Personal Orientation Inventory (POI)
Jung’s term for those
repressed experiences that pertain exclusively to one particular individual; opposed to the collective unconscious, which pertains to unconscious experiences that originate with repeated experiences of our
ancestors.
personal unconscious
A relatively permanent
neuropsychic structure peculiar to the individual, which has the capacity to render different stimuli functionally equivalent and to initiate and guide personalized forms
of behavior.
personal disposition (Allport)
A global concept referring to a relatively
permanent pattern of traits, dispositions, or
characteristics that give some degree of consistency to a person’s behavior
personality
The theory of personality founded by
Carl Rogers as an outgrowth of his client-centered psychotherapy.
person-centered
Images a person has of
self or others, such as “good-mother,” “bad-mother,” “good-me,” and “bad-me.”
personifications (Sullivan)
The third and last stage of the infantile period
is characterized by the
Oedipus complex
phallic phase (Freud)
A philosophical position emphasizing that behavior is caused by one’s perceptions rather than by external reality.
phenomenology
The most basic level on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs; they include food, water, air, etc.
physiological needs
Brotherly or sisterly love; friendship.
philia
Unconscious inherited
images that have been passed down to us through many
generations of repetition
A concept used by both Freud and Klein.
phylogenetic endowment
Changes in behavior or functioning brought about by one’s beliefs or expectations.
placebo effect
The third stage of psychosocial development, encompassing the time from about ages 3
to 5 and characterized by the genital-locomotor psychosexual mode and the crisis of initiative versus guilt.
play age (Erikson)
A reference to the
motivation of the id to seek immediate reduction of tension through the gratification of instinctual
drives.
pleasure principle (Freud)
Ways in which an infant organizes its experience in order to deal with its basic conflict of love and hate
paranoid-schizoid ____
depressive _____
positions (Klein)
Spontaneous activity of
the whole, integrated personality; signals a reunification with others and with the world.
positive freedom (Fromm)
A relatively new field of
psychology that combines an emphasis on hope, optimism, and well-being with an emphasis on research
and assessment.
positive psychology
The need to be loved, liked, or accepted by another.
positive regard (Rogers)
Any stimulus that, when added to a situation, increases the probability that a given behavior
will occur
positive reinforcer
The experience of
valuing one’s self.
positive self-regard (Rogers)
Erikson’s theory of personality that extended Freud’s developmental stages into old age.
At each age, a specific psychosocial struggle contributes to the formation of personality
post-Freudian theory
A psychological
disorder resulting from extremely stressful experiences; it includes nightmares and flashbacks of the traumatic experience.
posttraumatic stress disorder
Mental elements that are currently not in awareness, but that can become conscious with varying degrees of difficulty
preconscious (Freud)
An infant’s investment of libido in its own ego; self-love or autoerotic behavior of the infant
primary narcissism (Freud)
A reference to the id, which houses the primary motivators of behavior, called instincts.
primary process (Freud)
Concept that presupposes that
people are capable of consciously acting upon their environment in new and innovative ways, which then
feed new elements into the system and stimulate psychological growth.
proactive (Allport)
The drive to have children and to care for them.
procreativity (Erikson)
The forward flow of psychic energy; involves the extraverted attitude and movement
toward adaptation to the external world.
progression (Jung)
A defense mechanism whereby the ego
reduces anxiety by attributing an unwanted impulse to another person.
projection
A psychic defense
mechanism in which infants split off unacceptable parts
of themselves, project them onto another object, and then introject them in a distorted form.
projective identification (Klein)
Allport’s concept of a master system of motivation that confers
unity on personality by relating self-sustaining motives to the proprium.
propriate functional autonomy (Allport)
Motivation toward goals
that are consistent with an established proprium and that are uniquely one’s own.
propriate strivings (Allport)
All those characteristics that people see as peculiarly their own and that are regarded
as warm, central, and important.
proprium (Allport)
Primitive, presymbolic,
undifferentiated mode of experience that cannot be communicated to others.
prototaxic (Sullivan)
One of three modes of human agency,
involves self-regulation through other people
proxy (Bandura)
The illusion held by a
particular society that it is somehow chosen to be more important than other societies
pseudospecies (Erikson)
Theory of personality, approach to psychotherapy, and method of investigation founded by Freud.
psychoanalysis
Horney’s theory of
personality that emphasizes cultural influence in shaping
both normal and neurotic development.
psychoanalytic social theory
Loosely defined term usually referring to those psychological theories that heavily
emphasize unconscious motivation
theories of Freud, Jung, Adler, Sullivan, Horney, Klein, Erikson, and
perhaps Fromm
psychodynamic
A field of study that combines psychoanalytic concepts with historical methods
psychohistory
That part of the
external and internal world to which an individual is responding.
psychological situation (Rotter)
A subdiscipline of psychology that studies both science and the behavior of scientists.
psychology of science
Severe personality disorders, as opposed to the more mild neurotic reactions
interfere seriously with the usual functions of life and include both organic brain disorders and functional (learned)
conditions.
psychoses
One of three superfactor or types identified by Eysenck
is a bipolar factor consisting of psychoticism at one pole and superego function at the other.
psychoticism (P) (Eysenck)
The presentation of an aversive stimulus or the removal of a positive one
sometimes, but not always, weakens a response.
punishment
Inventory technique originated by William
Stephenson in which the subject is asked to sort a series of self-referent statements into several piles, the size of which approximates a normal curve.
Q sort
Skinner’s view that psychology as a science can advance only when psychologists stop
attributing behavior to hypothetical constructs and begin writing and talking strictly in terms of observable
behavior
radical behaviorism
Kelly’s assumption that personal constructs are limited to a finite range of convenience
range corollary
A defense mechanism in which a person represses one impulse and adopts the exact
opposite form of behavior, which ordinarily is exaggerated and ostentatious
reaction formation
Term for those theories that view people as being motivated by tension reduction and by the desire to return to a state of equilibrium.
reactive (Allport)
An unpleasant, nonspecific feeling resulting from the ego’s relationship with the
external world.
realistic anxiety (Freud)
A reference to the ego,
which must realistically arbitrate the conflicting
demands of the id, the superego, and the external world.
reality principle (Freud)
People who relate to
the world through receiving love, knowledge, and
material possessions.
receptive characters (Fromm)
Scheme that includes environment, behavior, and person as mutually interacting to determine personal conduct
reciprocal causation (Bandura)
A defense mechanism whereby a person returns to an earlier stage in order to protect the ego against anxiety
regression (Freud)
The backward flow of psychic energy;
involves the introverted attitude and movement toward adaptation to the internal world.
regression (Jung)
Any condition within the
environment that strengthens a behavior
reinforcement (Skinner)
Rotter’s term indicating that the value of an event is a function of one’s expectation that a reinforcement will lead to future reinforcements.
reinforcement-reinforcement sequences
The preference a person attaches to any reinforcement when the probabilities are equal for the occurrence of a number of different
reinforcements.
reinforcement value (Rotter)
The need for union with another person or persons
expressed through submission, power, and love
relatedness (Fromm)
The extent to which a test or other measuring instrument yields consistent results
reliability
The tendency of an
instinct, especially the death instinct, to repeat or recreate an earlier condition, particularly one that was frightening or anxiety arousing.
repetition compulsion (Freud)
The forcing of unwanted, anxiety-laden experiences into the unconscious as a defense against the pain of that anxiety.
repression (Freud)
The process of returning respect, joy, awe, and rapture to an experience in order to
make that experience more subjective and personal.
resacralization (Maslow)
A variety of unconscious responses by patients, designed to block therapeutic progress.
resistance
A pattern of behavior that results from
people’s understanding of the constructs of others with whom they are engaged in some task.
role (Kelly)
The inability to synthesize different self-images and values into a workable identity
role repudiation (ERIKSON)
The human need to establish roots, that is, to find a home again in the world.
rootedness (Fromm)
A condition in which a person receives sexual
pleasure by inflicting pain or humiliation on another person
sadism
Protective mechanisms such as aggression, withdrawal, and the like that maintain exaggerated feelings of superiority
safeguarding tendencies (Adler)
The second level on Maslow’s hierarchy
of needs; they include physical security, protection, and
freedom from danger.
safety needs
The fourth stage of psychosocial
development; covers the period from about ages 6 to 12 or 13 and is characterized by psychosexual latency and the psychosocial crisis of industry versus inferiority.
school age (Erikson)
A branch of study concerned with observation and classification of data and with the verification of general laws through the testing of hypotheses
science
Self-love or autoerotic
behavior in an adolescent
secondary narcissism (Freud)
A reference to the ego,
which chronologically is the second region of the mind
this type of thinking is in contact with reality.
secondary process (Freud)
The least characteristic and reliable personal dispositions that appear with some regularity in a person’s life.
secondary dispositions (Allport)
Behaviors aimed at
reducing interpersonal tension
security operations (Sullivan)
Bandura’s belief that self-regulatory influences are not automatic but rather
operate only if they are activated
selective activation
The control of focal
awareness, which involves a refusal to see those things that one does not wish to see.
selective inattention (Sullivan)
The most comprehensive of all archetypes, the self includes the whole of personality, although it is mostly unconscious
is often symbolized by the mandala motif
self (Jung)
Adlerian safeguarding tendency whereby a person aggresses indirectly against others
through self-torture and guilt.
self-accusation
The highest level
of human motivation; they include the need to fully develop all of one’s psychological capacities
self-actualization needs (Maslow)
A subsystem of the
actualizing tendency; the tendency to actualize the self
as perceived.
self-actualization (Rogers)
The knowledge, views, and evaluations of the self.
self-concept (McCrae and Costa)
Aspects of one’s being and experiences that an individual is consciously aware of.
self-concept (Rogers)
People’s expectation that they are capable of performing those behaviors that will produce desired outcomes in any particular situation.
self-efficacy (Bandura)
The powerful tendency for neurotics to despise their real self.
self-hatred (Horney)
Parents or other significant adults
in a child’s life who eventually become incorporated into the child’s sense of self.
selfobjects (Kohut)
The highest possible level of psychic maturation; necessitates a balance between conscious and unconscious, ego and self, masculine and
feminine, and introversion and extraversion
All four functions (thinking, feeling, sensing, and intuiting)
would be fully developed by self-realized people.
self-realization (Jung)
Techniques used
to control one’s own behavior through self-imposed goals and self-produced consequences.
self-regulatory strategies (Mischel)
Complex of dynamisms that protect a person from anxiety and maintain interpersonal
security
self-system (Sullivan)
An irrational function that receives physical stimuli and transmits them to perceptual
consciousness.
People may rely on either extraverted
sensing (outside perceptions) or on introverted sensing
(internal perceptions).
sensation (Jung)
The distinctively human
need to develop a feeling of “I.
sense of identity (Fromm)
Reactions of infants upon losing sight of their primary caregiver; at first infants protest, then despair, and finally become emotionally detached.
separation anxiety
The third major
stage of development, marked by the child’s becoming an individual, separate from its mother; spans the period from ages 4 or 5 months to about 30 to 36 months.
separation-individuation (Mahler)
Jungian archetype representing the inferior or dark side of personality.
shadow
Conditioning a response by first rewarding
gross approximations of the behavior, then closer approximations, and finally the desired behavior itself
shaping
Bandura’s assumption that personality is molded by an interaction of behavior,
personal factors, and one’s environment.
social cognitive theory
Translation of the German Gemeinschaftsgefühl, meaning a community feeling or a sense of feeling at one with all human beings.
social interest (Adler)
Kelly’s notion that people can communicate with others because they are able to construe others’ constructions.
sociality corollary
Dynamism that
protects a person from increasingly strong and painful effects of severe anxiety.
somnolent detachment (Sullivan)
A psychic defense
mechanism in which the child subjectively separates incompatible aspects of an object.
splitting (object relations theory)
Safeguarding tendency
characterized by lack of action as a means of avoiding failure.
standing still (Adler)
A person’s individuality that expresses itself in any circumstance or environment;
the “flavor” of a person’s life
style of life (Adler)
A defense mechanism that involves the
repression of the genital aim of Eros and its substitution by a cultural or social aim.
sublimation
Procedure used to shape an organism’s actions by rewarding behaviors as they
become closer and closer to the target behavior.
successive approximations
The moral or ethical processes of personality
has two subsystems—the conscience and the ego ideal
superego (FREUD)
The blocking or inhibiting of an activity
either by a conscious act of the will or by an outside agent such as parents or other authority figures. It differs from repression, which is the unconscious blocking of anxiety-producing experiences.
suppression
Consensually validated
experiences that represent the highest level of cognition
and that can be accurately communicated to others, usually through language.
syntaxic (Sullivan)
Erikson’s term for the positive element in
each pair of opposites that characterize his eight stages of development.
syntonic
Noninterfering, passive,
receptive attitude that includes awe and wonder toward that which is observed.
Taoistic attitude (Maslow)
A system of classification of data according to their natural relationships.
taxonomy
An explanation of behavior in terms of
future goals or purposes
teleology
Tension within the mothering one that is aroused by the manifest needs of the infant.
The child feels tenderness as the need to receive care
tenderness (Sullivan)
The potentiality for action, which
may or may not be experienced in awareness
tension (Sullivan)
A set of related assumptions that permit scientists to use logical deductive reasoning to formulate
testable hypotheses
theory
A rational function that tells us the meaning of an image that originates either from the external world (extraverted) or from the internal world
(introverted).
thinking (Jung)
Somewhat vague term referring to those approaches to psychology that have reacted against the older psychodynamic and behavioristic
theories
is usually thought to include humanistic, existential, and phenomenological
theories.
third force
The anticipation of danger to the
stability of one’s personal constructs.
threat (Kelly)
Feeling that results from the perception of an experience that is inconsistent with
one’s organismic self.
threat (Rogers)
A relatively permanent disposition of an
individual, which is inferred from behavior.
trait
The need for humans to rise above their passive animal existence through either
creating or destroying life.
transcendence (Fromm)
Strong, undeserved feelings that the patient develops toward the analyst during the course of treatment.
These feelings may be either sexual or hostile,
but they stem from the patient’s earlier experiences with
parents.
transference
Psychotherapeutic approach used by
Jung in which the therapist is transformed into a healthy individual who can aid the patient in establishing a
philosophy of life.
transformation
A cluster of primary traits.
Eysenck recognized three general types—extraversion
(E), neuroticism (N), and psychoticism (P).
McCrae and Costa = 5 (OCEAN)
Cattell = 16
types (factor theorists)
Classification of people based on the two-dimensional scheme of attitudes and functions
The two attitudes of extraversion and introversion and the
four functions of thinking, feeling, sensing, and intuiting
combine to produce eight possible ____?
types (Jung)
A key element in the
neurotic search for glory; includes an unconscious and
unrelenting drive for perfection.
tyranny of the should (Horney)
An existentialist term meaning the world of
things or objects. One of three simultaneous modes of being-in-the-world
Umwelt
The need to be accepted and prized by another without any
restrictions or qualification
one of three “necessary
and sufficient” therapeutic conditions.
unconditional positive regard (Rogers)
All those mental elements of which a person is unaware
the two levels of this are the unconscious proper and the preconscious
unconscious (Freud)
Traits with only one pole: that is, those
traits scaled from zero to some large amount, as opposed to bipolar traits that are scaled from a minus point,
through zero, to a positive point.
unipolar traits
Intermittent reinforcement schedule in which the organism is
reinforced after a lapse of random and varied periods of time
variable-interval (Skinner)
Intermittent reinforcement
schedule in which the organism is reinforced for every nth response on the average
variable-ratio (Skinner)
Learning by observing the consequences of others’ behavior.
vicarious experience
A condition that exists when people are unaware of the discrepancy between their organismic self and their significant experiences.
_______ people often behave in ways
incomprehensible to themselves and to others
vulnerable (Rogers)
A conscious commitment to action
will (May)
Jungian archetype of wisdom and
meaning
wise old man
Safeguarding one’s exaggerated sense of superiority by establishing a distance between oneself and one’s problems.
withdrawal (Adler)
The extent to which a test or other measuring
instrument measures what it is supposed to measure; accuracy
validity
The stage from about
ages 18 to 30 during which a person gains mature genitality and experiences the crisis of intimacy versus
isolation.
young adulthood (Erikson)
