Unit 10: Personality

Question 1

Personality

Answer 1

an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling and acting

Question 2

Free association

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Psychoanalysis

Answer 3

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

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

ID

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Ego

Answer 6

The largely conscious “executive” part of the personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality. The ego operates on the reality principle satisfying the id’s need for pleasure rather than pain.

Question 7

Superego

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Oral

Answer 8

(0-18 months) pleasure centers on the mouth-sucking, biting, chewing

Question 9

Anal

Answer 9

(18-36 months) pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder elimination; coping with demands for control.

Question 10

Phallic

Answer 10

(3-6 years) pleasure zone is the genitals; coping with incestuous sexual feelings

Question 11

Latency

Answer 11

(6 to puberty) dormant sexual feelings

Question 12

Genital

Answer 12

(puberty on) maturation of sexual interests

Question 13

Psychosexual stages

Answer 13

the childhood stages of development during which, according to Freud, the id’s pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones

Question 14

Oedipus complex

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Identification

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Fixation

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Defense mechanisms

Answer 17

the ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality.

Question 18

Repression

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Regression

Answer 19

psychoanalytic defense mechanism in which an individual faced with anxiety retreats to a more infantile psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated

Question 20

Reaction formation

Answer 20

psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites. Thus, people may express feelings that are the opposite of their anxiety-arousing feelings,

Question 21

Displacement

Answer 21

psychoanalytic defense mechanism that shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person, as when redirecting anger toward a safer outlet

Question 22

Rationalization

Answer 22

psychoanalytic defense mechanism that offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one’s actions

Question 23

Sublimation

Answer 23

psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which people re-channel their unacceptable impulses into socially approved activities

Question 24

Denial

Answer 24

psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which people refuse to believe or even to perceive painful realities

Question 25

Projection

Answer 25

psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others

Question 26

Carl Jung collective unconsciousness

Answer 26

a concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species’ history

Question 27

Projective test

Answer 27

a personality test, such as the Rorschach or TAT that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics

Question 28

Thematic apperception test (TAT)

Answer 28

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

Question 29

Rorschach inkblot test

Answer 29

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 30

Terror management theory

Answer 30

a theory of death-related anxiety; explores people’s emotional and behavioural responses to reminders of their impending death

Question 31

Abraham Maslow

Answer 31

studied healthy people

Question 32

Self-actualization

Answer 32

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 33

Carl Rogers

Answer 33

believed people are basically good and are endowed with self-actualizing tendencies

Question 34

Unconditional positive regard

Answer 34

according to Rogers, an attitude of total acceptance toward another person

Question 35

Self-concept

Answer 35

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

Question 36

Humanistic psychologists

Answer 36

assess personality through questionnaires on which people report their self-concept and in therapy by seeking to understand their clients subjective personal experiences

Question 37

Trait

Answer 37

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

Question 38

Myers-Briggs test

Answer 38

a personality inventory to describe personality differences

Question 39

Factor analysis

Answer 39

a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of correlated test items that tap basic components of intelligence (such as spatial ability or verbal skill)

Question 40

Personality inventory

Answer 40

a questionnaire (often T/F or agree/disagree) on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors used to assess selected personality traits.

Question 41

Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory (MMPI)

Answer 41

the most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests, Originally developed to identify emotional disorders, this test is now used for many other screening purposes

Question 42

Empirically derived test

Answer 42

a test (such as the MMPI) developed by testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminate between groups

Question 43

Social-cognitive perspective

Answer 43

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

Question 44

Reciprocal determinism

Answer 44

the interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment

Question 45

Personal control

Answer 45

the extent to which people perceive control over their environment rather than feeling helpless

Question 46

External locus of control

Answer 46

the perception that chance or outside forces beyond your personal control determine your fate

Question 47

Internal locus of control

Answer 47

the perception that you control your own fate

Question 48

Self

Answer 48

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

Question 49

Spot light effect

Answer 49

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

Question 50

Self-esteem

Answer 50

one’s feeling of high or low self-worth

Question 51

Self-serving bias

Answer 51

a readiness to perceive oneself favorably

Question 52

Individualism

Answer 52

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 53

Collectivism

Answer 53

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