Unit 7 Vocab - Personality

Question 1

personality

Answer 1

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

Question 2

free association

Answer 2

(psychoanalysis) method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind

Question 3

psychoanalysis

Answer 3

Freud’s theraputic technique where the patient and therapist’s insight on previously repressed feelings, allow the patient to gain self-insight

Question 4

unconscious

Answer 4

Freud: reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feeling, and memories
Psychologists: info processing of which we are unaware

Question 5

id

Answer 5

unconscious psychic energy that strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives; operates on pleasure principle and demands immediate satisfaction

Question 6

ego

Answer 6

largely conscious, executive part of personality, mediates demands of id, superego, and reality; operates on reality principle

Question 7

superego

Answer 7

represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgements/conscious and future aspirations

Question 8

psychosexual stages

Answer 8

childhood stages of development during which the id’s pleasure seeking energies focus on distinc erogenous zones - oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital

Question 9

Oedipus Complex

Answer 9

a boy’s sexual desires towards his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father

Question 10

indentification

Answer 10

children incorporate their parents’ values into their developing superegos

Question 11

fixation

Answer 11

lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage in which conflicts were unresolved

Question 12

defense mechanisms

Answer 12

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

Question 13

repression

Answer 13

psychoanalytic defense mechanism, banished anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness

Question 14

regression

Answer 14

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

Question 15

reaction formation

Answer 15

psychoanalytic defense mechanism, ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites

Question 16

projection

Answer 16

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

Question 17

rationalization

Answer 17

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

Question 18

displacement

Answer 18

psychoanalytic defense mechanism, shifts sexual/aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable object (redirection)

Question 19

collective unconscious

Answer 19

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

Question 20

projective test

Answer 20

personality test that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics

Question 21

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Rorschach Test (Inkblot)

Answer 22

most widely used projective test, a set of 10 inkblots seeks to identify people’s inner feelings based on their interpretations of the blots

Question 23

terror-management theory

Answer 23

death-related anxiety, explores people’s emotional and behavioral responses to reminders of their impending death

Question 24

self-actualization

Answer 24

Maslow - the ultimate psychological need that arises after basic physical and psychological needs; the motivation to fulfill one’s potential

Question 25

unconditional positive regard

Answer 25

Carl Rogers - caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude which would help clients develop self-awareness and self-acceptance

Question 26

self-concept

Answer 26

our understanding and evaluation of who we are
all thoughts and feelings about ourselves - “Who am I?”

Question 27

trait

Answer 27

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

Question 28

personality inventory

Answer 28

a questionnaire on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings/behaviors, assesses selected personality traits

Question 29

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

Answer 29

most widely researched and clinically used personality test
developed to identify emotional disorders, used for many things now

Question 30

empirically derived test

Answer 30

test developed by testing a pool of items, then selecting those that discriminate between groups

Question 31

social-cognitive perspective

Answer 31

aims to understand how individuals make sense of themselves, others, and events in everday life

Question 32

reciprocal determinism

Answer 32

interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment

Question 33

personal control

Answer 33

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

Question 34

external locus of control

Answer 34

perception that chance/outside forces beyond your personal control determine your fate

Question 35

internal locus of control

Answer 35

perception that you control your own fate

Question 36

learned helplessness

Answer 36

hopelessness and passive resignation an animal/human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events

Question 37

positive psychology

Answer 37

scientific study of optimal human functioning, aims to discover and promote strengths/virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive

Question 38

spotlight effect

Answer 38

overestimating others noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunder

Question 39

self-esteem

Answer 39

one’s feelings of high/low self worth

Question 40

self-serving bias

Answer 40

a readiness to perceive oneself favorably