Personality

Question 1

An individuals characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting

Answer 1

Personality

Question 2

Theories that view personality with a focus on the unconscious and the importance of childhood experiences

Answer 2

Psychodynamic theories

Question 3

Freud’s theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts; the techniques 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

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 5

Free association

Question 6

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.

Answer 6

Id

Question 7

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

Answer 7

Ego

Question 8

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

Answer 8

Superego

Question 9

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 9

Psychosexual stages

Question 10

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

Answer 10

Oedipus Complex

Question 11

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

Answer 11

Identification

Question 12

In psychoanalytic theory, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved.

Answer 12

Fixation

Question 13

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

Answer 13

Defense Mechanisms

Question 14

In psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories.
Collective unconscious: Carl Jung’s concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species’ history.

Answer 14

Repression

Question 15

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

Answer 15

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Question 16

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

Answer 16

Projective Test

Question 17

A projective test designed by Hermann Rorschach; seeks to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing how they interpret 10 inkblots.

Answer 17

Rorschach Inkblot Test

Question 18

Theories that view personality with a focus on the potential for healthy personal growth.

Answer 18

Humanistic Theories

Question 19

Maslow’s pyramid of human needs, beginning at the base with physiological needs that must first be satisfied before people can fulfill their higher-level safety needs and then psychological needs.

Answer 19

Hierarchy of Needs

Question 20

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

Answer 20

Self-actualization

Question 21

A caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed would help people develop self-awareness and self-acceptance.

Answer 21

Unconditional Positive Regard

Question 22

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

Answer 22

Self-concept

Question 23

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

Answer 23

Trait

Question 24

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.

Answer 24

Personality Inventory

Question 25

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.

Answer 25

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

Question 26

A test (such as the MMPI) created by selecting from a pool of items those that discriminate between groups.

Answer 26

Empirically Derived Test

Question 27

Researchers identified five factors—openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism—that describe personality. (Also called the five-factor model.)

Answer 27

Big Five Factors

Question 28

A view of behavior as influenced by the interaction between people’s traits (including their thinking) and their social context.

Answer 28

Self-cognitive Perspective

Question 29

The interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment.

Answer 29

Reciprocal Determinism

Question 30

In contemporary psychology, assumed to be the center of personality, the organizer of our thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Answer 30

Self

Question 31

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

Answer 31

Spotlight Effect

Question 32

Our feelings of high or low self-worth

Answer 32

Self esteem

Question 33

Our sense of competence and effectiveness

Answer 33

Self-efficacy

Question 34

A readiness to perceive ourselves favorably

Answer 34

Self-serving bias

Question 35

Excessive self-love and self-absorption

Answer 35

Narcissism