Unit 4-6

Question 1

psychological construct

Answer 1

a mental concept that influences behaviour via the mind-body interaction, even though it is not directly observable.

Question 2

Gordon Alport definition of personality 1961

Answer 2

a dynamic organisation, inside the person, of pschophysical systems that create the person’s characteristic patterns of behaviour, thoughts and feelings

Question 3

idiographic (approach to personality study)

Answer 3

the idiographic approach focuses on the individual and describes the personality variables within that individual. The term comes from the ancient Greek idios, meaning ‘private’ or ‘personal’. Focuses on studying individuals one at a time, and seeing each person as having a unique personality structure. viewing differences as greater than similarities with infinite possible differences. Usually uses single case studies: interviews, diaries, therapeutic sessions or narratives to collect data.

Question 4

personality

Answer 4

the pattern of psychological and behavioral characteristics by which each person can be compared and contrasted with other people

Question 5

psychoanalytic theory

Answer 5

Freud’s view that human behaviour and personality are determined largely by psychological factors, many of which are unconscious

Question 6

psychodynamic approach

Answer 6

a view developed by Freud that emphasizes unconscious mental processes in explaining human thought, feelings and behaviour

Question 7

id

Answer 7

according to Freud, a personality component containing basic instincts, desires, and impulses with which all people are born

Question 8

pleasure principle

Answer 8

the operating principle of the id, which guides people toward whatever feels good.

Question 9

ego

Answer 9

According to Freud, the part of the personality that makes compromises and mediates conflicts between and among the demands of the id, the superego, and the real world

Question 10

superego

Answer 10

According to Freud, the component of personality that tells people what they should and should not do

Question 11

defense mechanisms

Answer 11

Unconscious tactics that either prevent threatening material from surfacing or disguise it when it does

Question 12

psychosexual development

Answer 12

periods of personality development in which, according to Freud, internal and external conflicts focus on particular issues

Question 13

oral stage

Answer 13

the first of Freud’s psychosexual stages, in which the mouth is the centre of pleasure

Question 14

anal stage

Answer 14

the second of Freud’s psychosexual stages, in which the focus of pleasure shifts from the mouth to the anus

Question 15

phallic stage

Answer 15

the third of Freud’s psychosexual stages, in which the focus of pleasure shifts to the genital area

Question 16

Oedipal complex

Answer 16

the notion that young boys’ impulses involve sexual feelings for the mother and the desisre to eliminate the father

Question 17

Electra complex

Answer 17

the notion that young girls develop an attachment to the father and compete with the mother for the father’s attention

Question 18

latency period

Answer 18

The fourth of Freud’s psychosexual stages, in which sexual impulses become dormant and the child focuses on education and other matters

Question 19

genital stage

Answer 19

the fifth and last of Freud’s psychosexual stages, when sexual impulses reappear at the conscious level during adolescence

Question 20

Sigmund Freud

Answer 20

a physician in Vienna, Austria, during the 1890’s, specialized in treating “neurotic” disorders, those with physical manifestations but no physical cause. Freud argued psychic determinism (the idea that personality and behaviour are largely determined by psychological factors) and an unconscious portion of personality. This led to Freud creating psychoanalytic theory, which became the basis of his psychodynamic approach to personality.