Personality Flashcards
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.
self-esteem
one’s feelings of high or low self-worth.
self-serving bias
a readiness to perceive oneself favorably.
collective unconscious
Carl Jung’s concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species’ history.
reciprocal determinism
the interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment.
unconditional positive regard
a caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed would help clients to develop self-awareness and self-acceptance.
trait
a characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act, as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports.
self
in contemporary psychology, assumed to be the center of personality, the organizer of our thoughts, feelings, and actions.
self-control
the ability to control impulses and delay short-term gratification for greater long-term rewards.
superego
the part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations.
narcissism
excessive self-love and self-absorption.
Oedipus complex
according to Freud, a boy’s sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father.
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.
terror-management theory
a theory of death-related anxiety; explores people’s emotional and behavioral responses to reminders of their impending death.
fixation
according to Freud, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved.
social-cognitive perspective
views behavior as influenced by the interaction between people’s traits (including their thinking) and their social context.
self-concept
all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, “Who am I?”
humanistic theories
view personality with a focus on the potential for healthy personal growth.
spotlight effect
overestimating others’ noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunders (as if we presume a spotlight shines on us).
repression
in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness.
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.
defense mechanisms
in psychoanalytic theory, the ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality.
id
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.
