Personality Flashcards
personality
an individual’s
characteristic pattern of
thinking, feeling, and acting.
free association
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.
psychoanalysis
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.
unconscious
according to Freud, a
reservoir of mostly unacceptable
thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. According to contemporary psychologists, information processing of
which we are unaware.
id
Ego
Superego
id: contains 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.
Ego:the largely conscious, “executive”
part of personality that, according to
Freud, mediates among the demands of
the id, 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.
Superego:the part of personality that,
according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for
judgment (the conscience) and for
future aspirations.
psychosexual stages
the childhood
stages of development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) during which,
according to Freud, the id’s pleasureseeking energies focus on distinct
erogenous zones
Oedipus complex
according to Freud, a boy’s sexual
desires toward his mother and feelings
of jealousy and hatred for the rival father
identification
the process by which,
according to Freud, children incorporate
their parents’ values into their developing
superegos.
fixation
according to Freud, 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.
repression:
regression:
repression:
in psychoanalytic theory,
the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness
regression: psychoanalytic defense
mechanism in which an individual faced
with anxiety retreats to a more infantile
psychosexual stage, where some psychic
energy remains fixated.
reaction formation
psychoanalytic
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.
projection
psychoanalytic defense
mechanism by which people disguise
their own threatening impulses by
attributing them to others.
rationalization
defense mechanism
that offers self-justifying explanations in
place of the real, more threatening,
unconscious reasons for one’s actions.
displacement
psychoanalytic 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.
denial
defense mechanism by which
people refuse to believe or even to perceive painful realities.
collective unconscious
Carl Jung’s
concept of a shared, inherited reservoir
of memory traces from our species’
history
projective test
a personality test,
such as the Rorschach or TAT, that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to
trigger projection of one’s inner
dynamics.
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
a projective test in which people express
their inner feelings and interests through
the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes.
Rorschach inkblot test
the most
widely used projective test, a set of 10
inkblots, designed by Hermann
Rorschach; seeks to identify people’s
inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots.
terror–management theory
a theory of death-related anxiety; explores
people’s emotional and behavioral
responses to reminders of their
impending death.
self-actualization
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.
unconditional positive regard
according to Rogers, an attitude of total
acceptance toward another person.
self-concept
all our thoughts and
feelings about ourselves, in answer to
the question, “Who am I?”
trait
a characteristic pattern of
behavior or a disposition to feel and act,
as assessed by self-report inventories
and peer reports.
personality inventory
a questionnaire (often with true-false or agreedisagree items) on which people
respond to items designed to gauge a
wide range of feelings and behaviors;
used to assess selected personality
traits
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality
Inventory (MMPI)
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
empirically derived test
a test (such
as the MMPI) developed by testing a
pool of items and then selecting those
that discriminate between groups.
social-cognitive perspective
views
behavior as influenced by the interaction
between people’s traits (including their
thinking) and their social context.
reciprocal determinism
the interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment
personal control
the extent to which
people perceive control over their environment rather than feeling helpless.
external locus of control
the perception that chance or outside forces
beyond your personal control determine
your fate.
internal locus of control
the perception that you control your own fate.
learned helplessness
the hopelessness and passive resignation an animal
or human learns when unable to avoid
repeated aversive events.
positive psychology
the scientific
study of optimal human functioning;
aims to discover and promote strengths
and virtues that enable individuals and
communities to thrive.
self
in contemporary psychology,
assumed to be the center of personality,
the organizer of our thoughts, feelings,
and actions
spotlight effect
overestimating others’ noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunders (as if
we presume a spotlight shines on us).
self-esteem
one’s feelings of high or
low self-worth.
self-serving bias
a readiness to perceive oneself favorably
