Unit 10

Question 1

Personality

Answer 1

An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.

Question 2

Psychodynamic theories

Answer 2

Theories that view personality wiht a focus on the unconscious and the importance of childhood experiences.

Question 3

Psychoanalysis

Answer 3

Freud’s theory of personality that attributes thoughts and action to unconscious motives and conflicts; the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions.

Question 4

Unconscious

Answer 4

According to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. According to contemporary psychologists, information processing of which we are unaware.

Question 5

Free association

Answer 5

In psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing.

Question 6

Id

Answer 6

A reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives. The id operate on the pleasure principle, demaning immediate gratification.

Question 7

Ego

Answer 7

The largely conscious “executive” part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the supergo, the id, and reality. The ego operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id’s desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain.

Question 8

Superego

Answer 8

The part of the personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations.

Question 9

Psychosexual stages

Answer 9

The childhood stages of development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) during which, according to Freud, the id’s pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones.

Question 10

Oedipus (ED-uh-puss) complex

Answer 10

According to Freud, a boy’s sexual desire toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father.

Question 11

Identification

Answer 11

The process by which, according to Freud, children incorporate their parents’ values into their developing superegos.

Question 12

Fixation

Answer 12

In psychoanalytic theory, according to Freud, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved.

Question 13

Defense mechanisms

Answer 13

In psychoanalytic theory, the ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality.

Question 14

Repression

Answer 14

In psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories.

Question 15

Collective unconscious

Answer 15

Carl Jung’s concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species’ history.

Question 16

Projective test

Answer 16

A personality test, such as the Rorschach, that provides ambiguous images designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics.

Question 17

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Answer 17

A projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes.

Question 18

Rorschach inkblot test

Answer 18

The most widely used projective test; a set of 10 inkblots, designed by Hermann Rorschach; seeks to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots.

Question 19

Terror-management theory

Answer 19

A theory of death-related anxiety; explores people’s emotional and behavioral responses to reminders of their impending death.

Question 20

Humanistic theories

Answer 20

Theories that view personality with a focus on the potential for healthy personal growth.

Question 21

Hierarchy of needs

Answer 21

Maslow’s pyramid of human needs, beginning at the base with the physiological needs that must first be satisfied before higher-level safety needs and then psychological needs become active.

Question 22

Self-actualization

Answer 22

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.

Question 23

Self-transcendence

Answer 23

According to Maslow, the striving for identity, meaning, and purpose beyond the self.

Question 24

Unconditional positive regard

Answer 24

A caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed would help people develop self-awareness and self-acceptance.

Question 25

Self-concept

Answer 25

All our thoughts and feelings about ourselves in answer to the question, “Who am I?”

Question 26

Trait

Answer 26

A characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act in certain ways, as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports.

Question 27

Personality inventory

Answer 27

A questionnaire (often with true-false or agree-disagree items) on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors; used to assess selected personality traits.

Question 28

MMPI

Answer 28

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. The most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests. Originally developed to identify emotional disorders (still considered its most appropriate use), this test is now used for many other screening purposes.

Question 29

Empirically derived test

Answer 29

A test (such as the MMPI) created by selecting from a pool of items those that discriminate between groups.

Question 30

Social-cognitive perspective

Answer 30

Views behavior as influenced by the interaction between people’s traits (including their thinking) and their social context.

Question 31

Behavioral approach

Answer 31

Focuses on the effects of learning on our personality development.

Question 32

Reciprocal determinism

Answer 32

The interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment.

Question 33

Self

Answer 33

In contemporary psychology, assumed to be the center of personality, the organizer of our thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Question 34

Spotlight effect

Answer 34

Overestimating others’ noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunders (as if we presume a spotlight shines on us).

Question 35

Self-esteem

Answer 35

One’s feelings of high or low self-worth

Question 36

Self-efficacy

Answer 36

One’s sense of competence and effectiveness.

Question 37

Self-serving bias

Answer 37

A readiness to perceive oneself favorably.

Question 38

Narcissism

Answer 38

Excessive self-love and self-absorption.

Question 39

Individualism

Answer 39

Giving priority to one’s own goals over group goals and defining one’s identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications.

Question 40

Collectivism

Answer 40

Giving priority to the goals of one’s group (often, one’s extended family or work group) and defining one’s identity accordingly.