U11: Personality Flashcards
personality
a person’s enduring general style of dealing with others and with the world around them
psychodynamic
a psychological approach based on a marriage of Freudian concepts and modern ideas
free association
a therapist actively listens, while the patient relaxes and reports anything that comes to mind (psychoanalytic approach)
id
the source of mental energy and drive, encompasses all basic human needs and desires, operates on the pleasure principle
superego
the internal representation of all of society’s rules, morals, and obligations
ego
the part of the mind that allows a person to function and be logical, operates on the reality principle, an intermediary between id and superego
repression
memories or desires that provoke too much anxiety to deal with are pushed into the unconscious
displacement
directing anger away from the source of the anger to a less threatening person or object
reaction formation
the ego reverses the direction of a disturbing desire to make that desire safer or more socially acceptable
compensation
making up for failures in one area by success in others
rationalization
creating logical excuses for emotional or irrational behavior
regression
reverting to childish behaviors
denial
the refusal to acknowledge or accept unwanted beliefs or actions
sublimation
the channeling or redirecting of sexual or aggressive feelings into a more socially acceptable outlet
Karen Horney’s of basic anxiety
basic anxiety, the feeling of being alone in an unfamiliar or hostile world, is a central theme in childhood
the interactions between the child and the parent, as the child deals with this anxiety, form the basis for adult personality
Carl Jung
believed the mind comprises pairs of opposing forces
- persona vs shadow
- anima vs animus
- self
- personal unconsciousness and collective unconscious
persona vs shadow
persona: the mask a person presents to the outside world
shadow: the deep, passionate, inner person
anima and animus
we each have a female and male side to our personality
Jung’s “self”
self is the balancing force between the opposing forces of the mind
personal unconsiousness
comprise of repressed memories and clusters of thought
collective unconscious
behavior and memory common to all humans and passed down from our ancient and common ancestors
archetypes
the behaviors and memories in the collective unconscious
Alfred Adler
believed that all children develop feelings of inferiority because of their size and level of competence
failure to overcome this leads to an inferiority complex
humanistic theories of personality
emphasize the uniqueness and richness of being human
self-actualization
becoming, in a creative way, the person you are capable of being; the ultimate goal
self-concept
our mental representation of who we feel we are
incongruence
discrepancies between our self-concept and our actual thoughts and behavior (distort self-concept)
conditions of worth
other people’s evaluations of our worth (distort self-concept)
unconditional positive regard
(rogers) people should be loved despite failures
social-cognitive theories
based on the assumption that cognitive constructs are the basis for personality
Albert Bandura
self-efficacy and explanatory styles
self-efficacy
a person’s belief about his or her own abilities in a given situation; the belief that you can do a task greatly increases the chances that you actually can do it
explanatory styles
ways in which people explain themselves or react in different situations, can be positive or negative
Julian Rotter’s locus of control theory
the extent to which people believe that their successes or failures are due to their own efforts plays a major role in personality
internal locus of control
belief that success and failures are a direct results of their efforts
external locus of control
attribute success or failure due to luck and chance
trait theories
believe that traits are largely inherited and are mostly stable throughout our lives
big five personality traits
introversion - extroversion neuroticism - stability agreeableness - antagonism conscientiousness - undirectedness openness - nonopenness
nomothetic traits
(i.e. big five) thought to be universal
idiographic traits
thought to be unique to the individual
Gordon Alport
three types of traits:
cardinal traits: override a person’s whole being
central traits: the primary characteristics of the person
secondary traits: constitute interests
Raymond Cattell
believed that 16 source traits were the basis of personality
source traits
a person’s underlying characteristics
surface traits
those readily seen in an individual
self-esteem
how much we value ourselves
self-understanding
has two parts: I and me
the “me”
the physical self: our body, our name, etc.
the active self: how we behave
the social self: how we interact with others
the psychological self: our feelings and personalities
the “I”
responsible for the coordination and interpretation of the four parts of “me”, how we perceive ourselves and allows us to reflect
halo effect
the error by which we generalize a high self-evaluation from one domain to another
social comparison theory
people can inflate their self-esteem by basing in reflective glory, which is when someone takes pride in the accomplishments of an individual or group that the person strongly affiliates within his or her life
temperament
the early appearing set of individual differences in reaction and regulation that form the “nucleus” of personality
