Psychology Unit 4 Vocabulary Flashcards
Collectivism
Giving priority to the goals of our group (often our extended family or work group) and defining our identity accordingly.
Defense Mechanisms
The ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality.
Drive-Reduction Theory
The idea that a physiological need creates an aroused state (a drive) that motivates us to satisfy the need.
Ego
The largely conscious, “executive” part of personality that, balances 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.
Emotion
A response of the whole organism, involving (1) bodily arousal, (2) expressive behaviors, and (3) conscious experience.
Facial Feedback Effect
The tendency of facial muscle states to trigger corresponding feelings such as fear, anger or happiness.
Fixation
A lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved.
Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s pyramid of human needs; at the base are physiological need. These basic needs must be satisfied before higher-level safety needs, and then psychological needs become active.
Homeostasis
A tendency to maintain a balanced or constant internal state; the regulation of any aspect of body chemistry, such as blood glucose, around a particular level.
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.
Identification
The process by which children incorporate their parents’ values into their developing superegos.
Incentive
A positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior.
Individualism
Giving priority to our own goals over group goals and defining our identity in terms of personal traits rather than group membership.
James-Lange Theory
The theory that our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological response to emotion-arousing stimuli.
Motivation
A need or desire that energizes and directs behavior.
Personality
An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.
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.
Reciprocal Determinism
The interacting influences of behavior, internal personal factors, and environment.
Repression
The basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness the thoughts, feelings and memories that arouse anxiety.
Self-Actualization
The psychological need that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved; the motivation to fulfill our potential.
Self-Concept
All our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, “Who am I?”
Self-Efficacy
Our sense of competence and effectiveness.
Self-Esteem
Our feelings of high or low self-worth.
Self-Serving Bias
Our readiness to perceive ourselves favorably.
Self-Transcendence
The striving for identity, meaning and purpose beyond the self.
Social-Cognitive Perspective
Views behavior as influenced by the interaction between persons (and their thinking) and their social context.
Superego
The part of personality that represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future goals.
Two-Factor Theory
Schachter & Singer’s theory that to experience emotion we must (1) physically aroused and (2) cognitively label the arousal.
Unconditional Positive Regard
An attitude of total acceptance toward another person.
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.
