Personality Theory Exam 1

Question 1

instincts

Answer 1

In Freud’s system, mental representations of internal stimuli, such as hunger, that drive a person to take certain actions.

Question 2

libido

Answer 2

To Freud, the form of psychic energy,
manifested by the life instincts, that drives a
person toward pleasurable behaviors and
thoughts.

Question 3

cathexis

Answer 3

attachment to an object or

person.

Question 4

death instincts

Answer 4

The unconscious drive toward decay,
destruction, and aggression.
We think someone is going to harm us

Question 5

aggressive drive

Answer 5

The compulsion to destroy, conquer, and kill.

Question 6

The conscious

Answer 6

-includes all the sensations and experiences
of which we are aware at any given moment.
-limited aspect of personality

Question 7

Preconscious

Answer 7

• storehouse of memories & thoughts

- can call into consciousness

Question 8

Unconscious

Answer 8

Home of the instincts

Major driving power behind all behaviors

Question 9

id

Answer 9

To Freud, the aspect of personality allied with the instincts; the source of psychic energy, the id operates according to the pleasure principle.

Question 10

pleasure principle

Answer 10

The principle by which the id functions to avoid pain and maximize pleasure.
-tension reduction

Question 11

primary-process

thought

Answer 11

Childlike thinking by which the id attempts to satisfy the instinctual drives.

Question 12

secondary-process

thought

Answer 12

Mature thought processes needed to deal

rationally with the external world.

Question 13

ego

Answer 13

To Freud, the rational aspect of the personality,
responsible for directing and controlling the
instincts according to the reality principle.

Question 14

reality principle

Answer 14

Stands in opposition to the pleasure principle, by which the id operates. The ego exerts control over the id impulses.

Question 15

superego

Answer 15

-To Freud, the moral aspect of personality; the
internalization of parental and societal values and
standards.
2-parts of the superego are conscience & ego-ideal

Question 16

conscience

Answer 16

A component of the superego that contains

behaviors for which the child has been punished.

Question 17

ego-ideal

Answer 17

A component of the superego that contains the moral or ideal behaviors for which a person should strive.

Question 18

reality or objective anxiety

Answer 18

involves a fear of tangible dangers in the real

world. Guides our behavior to escape or protect ourselves from actual dangers.

Question 19

Neurotic anxiety

Answer 19

Id vs. Ego Fear of punishment
-conflict between instinctual gratification and
reality.

Question 20

Moral anxiety

Answer 20

Id vs. Superego Fear of ones conscious

Impulse contrary to your moral code

Question 21

Anxiety

Answer 21

-Conflicts threaten the ego:
-a feeling of fear and dread without an obvious cause: reality or objective anxiety is a fear
of tangible dangers;

Question 22

defense mechanisms

Answer 22

Strategies the ego uses to defend itself against
the anxiety provoked by conflicts of everyday life.
Defense mechanisms involve denials or distortions of reality.

Question 23

repression

Answer 23

A defense mechanism that involves unconscious
denial of the existence of something that causes
anxiety.

Question 24

denial

Answer 24

is related to repression and involves denying

the existence of some external threat or traumatic event that has occurred.

Question 25

reaction formation

Answer 25

A person who is strongly driven by threatening sexual impulses may repress those impulses and replace them with more socially acceptable behaviors.

Question 26

projection

Answer 26

Lustful, aggressive, and other unacceptable impulses are seen as being possessed by other people, not by oneself.

Question 27

regression

Answer 27

A defense mechanism that involves retreating to
an earlier, less frustrating period of life and displaying the usually childish behaviors characteristic of that more secure time.

Question 28

rationalization

Answer 28

A defense mechanism that involves reinterpreting our behavior to make it more acceptable and less
threatening to us.

Question 29

displacement

Answer 29

A defense mechanism that involves shifting id
impulses from a threatening object or from one that is unavailable to an object that is available; for example, replacing hostility toward one’s boss with hostility toward one’s child.

Question 30

sublimation

Answer 30

A defense mechanism that involves altering or
displacing id impulses by diverting instinctual
energy into socially acceptable behaviors.
e.g. Sexual energy, for example, can be diverted or sublimated into artistically creative