Personality Theories and Concepts

A comprehensive vocabulary review of psychodynamic, humanistic, trait, and social-cognitive theories of personality, as well as psychological concepts of the self.

Psychosexual Stages

Freud's developmental sequence (Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, Genital) during which the id's pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones.

Oedipus Complex

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

Identification

The process by which children incorporate their parents' values into their developing superegos to resolve Oedipal/Electra anxieties.

Fixation

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

Defense Mechanisms

The ego's protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality.

Repression

The basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness.

Collective Unconscious

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

Rorschach Inkblot

A projective test in which people describe what they see in a series of ten symmetrical inkblots, designed to reveal unconscious drives.

Self-Actualization

According to Maslow, the ultimate psychological need that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met; the motivation to fulfill one's potential.

Unconditional Positive Regard

According to Carl Rogers, an attitude of total acceptance, empathy, and warmth toward another person regardless of their flaws.

Self-Concept

All our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, answering the fundamental question, "Who am I?"

Trait

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

Personality Inventory

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

MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory)

The most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests; originally developed to identify emotional disorders, now used for screening.

Big Five

The dominant model of personality traits, measuring five dimensions: Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Neuroticism, Openness, and Extraversion (CANOE).

Social Cognitive Theories

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

Self

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

Spotlight Effect

Overestimating how much others notice and evaluate our appearance, performance, and blunders.

Self-Efficacy

One's sense of competence and effectiveness in handling specific tasks or challenges.

Self-Serving Bias

A readiness to perceive oneself favorably, attributing successes to internal factors and failures to external circumstances.

Narcissism

Excessive self-love, self-absorption, and a demanding need for admiration, accompanied by a lack of empathy for others.