ap psych unit seven part two - personality

study set over unit seven of ap psychology, the personality unit.

personality

an individual's characteristic style of behaving, thinking, and feeling.

psychoanalytic theory

theories that view personality with a focus on the unconscious and importance of childhood experiences.

psychoanalysis

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.

unconscious

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

free association

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.

id

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.

ego

the largely conscious, "executive" part of 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 desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain.

superego

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

psychosexual stages

the childhood stages of development- oral (0-18 months), anal (18-36 months), phallic (3-6 years), latency (6- puberty), and genital (puberty on)- during which, according to Freud, the id's pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous (sensitive to sexual stimulation) zones.

oedipus complex

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

identification

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

fixation

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

defense mechanisms

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

repression

defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness, ex) after being cut from the soccer team, wants to go to grandma's house and eat cookies.

reaction formation

defense mechanism where you switch unacceptable impulses into their opposites, ex) after being cut from the soccer team, making a big show of expressing indifference about being on the "stupid soccer team."

projection

defense mechanism where you disguise your threatening impulses by attributing them to others, ex) after being cut from the soccer team, talks a lot about how mad your parents are at the coach.

rationalization

defense mechanism where you offer self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one's actions, ex) after being cut from the soccer team, explaining that you weren't working very hard in tryouts and could have made the team if you really wanted to.

displacement

defense mechanism where you shift sexual or aggressive feelings toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person, ex) after being cut from the soccer team, you yell at your little brother for no reason.

sublimation

defense mechanism where you redirect socially unacceptable impulses toward acceptable goals, ex) after being cut from the soccer team, you decide to join cross country instead, where all runners are accepted.

denial

defense mechanism where you refuse to accept reality, ex) after being cut from the soccer team, you insists that there was an error and you're going to set things right with the coach.

collective unconcious

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

carl jung

neo-Freudian who created the concept of unconscious is not just repressed thoughts and feelings. "collective unconscious". archetypes: hero figure, mother figure. Introversion vs. extroversion.

sigmund freud

use of defense mechanisms. idea that we sometimes lack awareness of our true motivations. Insight-based therapy- simply knowing the cause of the problem dissolves the problem.

alfred adler

neo-freudian; introduced concept of "inferiority complex" and stressed the importance of birth order. Overcompensating, middle child syndrome, sibling rivalry.

albert bandura

social cognitive perspective. emphasizes interaction between person + environment.

paul costa and robert mccrae

Big Five Trait Theory (CANOE: conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness to experience, and extraversion)

abraham maslow

real self vs. ideal self. congruence vs. incongruence. In order to achieve idea self your beliefs and your behavior must be congruent.

carl rogers

person-centered approach. Growth-promoting environments vs. growth limiting environments.

karen horney

Neo-Freudian; offered feminist critique of Freud's theory.

hermann rorschach

1884-1922; Field: personality, psychoanalysis; Contributions: developed one of the first projective tests, the Inkblot test which consists of 10 standardized inkblots where the subject tells a story, the observer then derives aspects of the personality from the subject's commentary.

projective test

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

thematic apperception test (TAT)

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

rorschach inkblot test

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.

terror management theory

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

humanistic theories

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

hierarchy of needs

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

self-actualization needs

the need to live up to our fullest and unique potential.

self-trancendence needs

the need to find meaning and identity beyond the self.

unconditional positive regard

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

self-concept

all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, "Who am I?"

trait

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

personality inventory

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.

minnesota multiphasic personality inventory (MMPI)

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.

empirically derived test

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

CANOE

abbreviation for "the big five" discovered by paul costa and robert mccrae, ex)

conscientiousness: disorganized

social-cognitive perspective

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

behavioral approach

in personality theory, this perspective focuses on the effects of learning on our personality development.

reciprocal determinism

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

self

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

spotlight effect

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

self-esteem

one's feelings of high or low self-worth.

self-efficacy

one's sense of competence and effectiveness.

self-serving bias

a readiness to perceive oneself favorably.

narcissism

excessive self-love and self-absorption.

Individualism

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

collectivism

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

personal inventory

thinking about what you really know and care about in order to generate possible topics that are both meaningful to you and significant for your audience.

unconscious mind

level of the mind in which thoughts, feelings, memories, and other information are kept that are not easily or voluntarily brought into consciousness.

freudian slips

slips of the tongue that expose the unconscious.

penis envy

according to Freud, the female desire to have a penis - a condition that usually results in their attraction to males.

electra complex

the unconscious desire of girls to replace their mother and win their father's romantic love. (opposite of oedipus complex)

collective unconscious

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

archetypes

emotionally charged images and thought forms that have universal meaning.

womb envy

Psychologist: Karen Horney

Defined:women do not suffer from "penis envy" but are envious of male's superior status.

Men are envious of a women's ability to have children and therefore, they compensate with other forms of achievement.

inferiority complex

Adler's conception of a basic feeling of inadequacy stemming from childhood experiences.