Psychology Of Personality

Question 1

Psychoanalysis

Answer 1

is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques that deal with the unconscious mind, and which together form a method of treatment for mental disorders.

Question 2

Inferiority

Answer 2

is when a person has feelings of inadequacy or inferiority, whether real or imagined. These feelings may result from physical defects or surface in situations where we feel less intelligent than our peers. Other times, feelings of inferiority may be concocted from purely imagined shortcomings.

Question 3

Compensation

Answer 3

is a strategy whereby one covers up, consciously weaknesses, frustrations, desires, or feelings of inadequacy or incompetence in one life area through the gratification or (drive towards) excellence in another area. Compensation can cover up either real or imagined deficiencies and personal or physical inferiority.

Question 4

Aggression

Answer 4

refers to a range of behaviors that can result in both physical and psychological harm to yourself, others, and objects in the environment. Aggression centers on hurting another person either physically or mentally.

Question 5

Life goal

Answer 5

an individual’s focus on achievement. Formation begins in childhood as compensation for inferiority feelings and continues as a defense against feelings of impotence.

Question 6

Social Interests

Answer 6

a term in introduced in the early 1900s by Alfred Adler, relates to a person’s kinship with other living beings and a sense of belonging in the human community.

Social interests mean much feeling within the whole, sub-specie aeternitatis, under the aspect of eternity. It means striving for a form of community that must be thought of as everlasting, as it could be thought of if mankind had reached the goal of perfection. It is never a present-day community or society, nor a political or religious form. Rather the goal that is best suited for perfection would have to be a goal that signifies the ideal community of all mankind, the ultimate fulfillment of evolution.

Question 7

Cooperation

Answer 7

is working with each other towards a particular goal. It is often described as assistance with someone having the same goal as yours. Cooperation is crucial for our society to develop and grow.

Question 8

Birth Order

Answer 8

a major factor is how an individual creates his or her unique style of life. Certain psychological and behavioral characteristics vary according to both the actual position and the psychological situation into which the child is born. Adler outlined five basic positions; the only child, the firstborn, the second born, the middle child, and the youngest child.

Question 9

Cultural Factors

Answer 9

Horney moved steadily away from Freud’s belief that “anatomy is destiny” and toward a greater emphasis on cultural factors as a source of women’s problems and of gender identity. She acknowledged that little girls envy the male plumbing but regarded this as psychologically insignificant. What women chiefly envy is male privilege, and what they need is a greater opportunity to develop their human capacities. The patriarchal ideal of women does not necessarily correspond to her inherent character, but the cultural power of that ideal often makes women behave in accordance with it.

Question 10

Womb envy

Answer 10

the male envy of pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood, which results in the unconscious depreciation of women. Men’s impulse toward creative work may be an overcompensation for their small role in procreation.

Question 11

Penis envy

Answer 11

feelings of inferiority, competitiveness toward men, and vindictiveness, are said to arise in women when their lack of a penis is realized, in classical psychoanalytic theory.

Question 12

Interpersonal Strategies of Defense

Answer 12

according to Horney, people try to cope with their basic anxiety by adopting a compliant or self-effacing solution and moving toward people, by adopting an aggressive or expansive solution and moving away from people. Healthy people move appropriately and flexibly in all three directions, but in neurotic development, these moves become compulsive and indiscriminate.

Question 13

The Compliant Solution

Answer 13

interpersonal strategy of coping with basic anxiety by controlling others through their dependency and by gaining affection and approval. The bargain made by users of this solution is that they will be well treated by fate and other people if they do not seek their own gain or glory and are good, humble, and loving.

Question 14

Narcissistic Solution

Answer 14

one of the expansive interpersonal solutions to basic anxiety. Narcissists seek to master life by the exercise of charm and self-admiration. Their bargain is that life is bound to give them what they want if they hold on to their dreams and their exaggerated claims for themselves.

Question 15

Perfectionist Solution

Answer 15

one of the expansive interpersonal solutions to basic anxiety. The high intellectual and moral standards of perfectionists provide the vantage point from which they look down on others. Being just, fair, and dutiful, according to their bargains, entitles them to fair treatment in life in general and specifically by other people.

Question 16

Arrogant-vindictive solution

Answer 16

one of the expansive interpersonal solutions to basic anxiety. People using this strategy are motivated by a need for vindictive triumphs. Their bargain is essentially with themselves. These individuals regard life as a tough battle with goals to be won if they do not allow themselves to be distracted by their softer feelings or traditional morality.

Question 17

Detachment

Answer 17

interpersonal strategy of coping with basic anxiety by moving away from people. The bargain made by individuals who employ this solution is threefold: others will not bother them if they ask for nothing, and they will not be disappointed if they expect little of life.

Question 18

Idealized Image

Answer 18

a self-conception based on our predominant interpersonal defense and the attributes it exalts. Imaginatively created to compensate for feelings of inadequacy, worthlessness, and weakness, it is endowed with expansive powers and exaggerated faculties. Its creation produces the search for glory, neurotic claims, neurotic pride, tyranny of shoulds, and self-hate.

Question 19

Search for Glory

Answer 19

a pursuit whose object is the actualization of our idealized self. It follows the formation of the idealized image. Our particular neurosis will determine the rules of this private religion. Every culture has its own featured glory systems.

Question 20

The Pride System

Answer 20

is a product consisting of neurotic pride, tyranny of the should, and self-hate of our idealized image. It affects how we work with others, poisons all relationships, and makes it highly unlikely for them to be a source of growth or healing. It is generated by the idealized self-image, is a logical outgrowth of early development, and has its only dynamic largely independent of external events.

Question 21

Neurotic Pride

Answer 21

pride is the attribute of the idealized self, which replaces realistic self-confidence and self-esteem.

Question 22

Tyranny of the Shoulds

Answer 22

our compulsions to live up to our grandiose conception of ourselves. Self-destructive by their very nature, they aim at the complete eradication of individuality. They are determined largely by the values and character traits associated with our predominant solution.

Question 23

Bargain with Fate

Answer 23

the belief, formed from the shoulds, that our claims will be honored, regardless of our type of solution, if we live up to our should. By obeying our inner dictates, we seek magically to control external reality.

Question 24

Self-hate

Answer 24

the rage that the idealized self feels toward the actual self for not being what it “should” be. As a despised image develops and becomes the focus for self-contempt when we inevitably fall short of being our idealized image, additional inner conflict arises, and self-hate increases.