7 Motivation, Emotion and Personality

personality

an individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.

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.

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.

id

a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives. the ___ 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 judgement (the conscience) and for future aspirations.

psychosexual stages

the childhood stages of development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) during which, according to Freud, 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.

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.

repression

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

psychodynamic theories

modern-day approaches that view personality with a focus on the unconscious and the importance of childhood experiences

collective unconscious

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

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.

false consensus effect

the tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and our behaviours

terror-management theory

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

self-actualization

according to Maslow, one of the ultimate psychological needs that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met self-esteem is achieved; the motivation to fulfill one's potential.

unconditional positive regard

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

self-concept

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

trait

a characteristic pattern of behaviour 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 behaviours; 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

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

social-cognitive perspective

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

behavioural approach

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

reciprocal determinism

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

positive psychology

the scientific study of optimal human functioning; aims to discover and promote strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive.

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 blunder (as if we presume a spotlight shine 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.

drive-reduction theory

the idea that a physiological need creates an aroused tension state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need

homeostasis

a tendency to maintain a balanced or constant internal state; the regulation of any aspect of body chemistry, such as blood glucose, around a particular level

incentive

a positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behaviour

Yerkes-Dodson law

the principle that performance increases with arousal only up to a point, beyond which performance decreases.

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

glucose

the form of sugar that circulates in the blood and provides the major source of energy for body tissues; when its level is low, we feel hunger

set point

the point at which an individual's "weight thermostat" is supposedly set; when the body falls below this weight, an increase in hunger and a lowered metabolic rate my act to restore the lost weight

basal metabolic rate

the body's resting rate of energy expenditure

sexual response cycle

the four stages of sexual responding described by Masters and Jonson - excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution

refractory period

a resting period after orgasm, during which a man cannot achieve another orgasm

sexual dysfunction

a problem that consistently impairs sexual arousal or functioning.

estrogens

sex hormones, such as estradiol, secreted in greater amounts by females than by males and contributing to female sex characteristics; in nonhuman female mammals, estrogen levels peak during ovulation, promoting sexual receptivity

testosterone

the most important of the male sex hormones; both males and females have it, but the additional ___ in males stimulates the growth of the male sex organs in the fetus and the development of the male sex characteristics during puberty

emotion

a response of the whole organism, involving (1) physiological arousal, (2) expressive behaviours, and (3) conscious experience

James-Lange theory

the theory that our experience of emotion is our awareness of our physiological responses to emotion-arousing stimuli; physiological activity precedes the emotional experience

Cannon-Bard theory

the theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers (1) physiological responses and (2) the subjective experience of emotion

Schachter/two-factor theory

the Schachter-Singer theory that to experience emotion one must (1) be physically aroused and (2) cognitively label the arousal

polygraph

a machine, commonly used in attempts to detect lies, that measures several of the physiological responses (such as perspiration and cardiovascular and breathing changes) accompanying emotion.

facial feedback effect

effect the tendency of facial muscle states to trigger corresponding feelings, such as fear, anger, or happiness.

health psychology

a subfield of psychology that provides psychology's contribution to behavioural medicine; view personality with a focus on the potential for healthy personal growth

stress

the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, which we appraise as threatening or challenging.

general adaptation syndrome (GAS)

Selye's concept of the body's adaptive response to stress in three phases - alarm, resistance, exhaustion

tend and befriend response

under stress, people (especially women) often provide support to others (tend) and bond with and seek support from others (befriend).

psychophysiological illness

literally, "mind-body" illness; any stress-related physical illness, such as hypertension and some headaches

psychoneuroimmunology

the study of how psychological, neural, and endocrine processes together affect the immune system and resulting health

lymphocytes

the two types of white blood cells that are part of the body's immune system: B ___ form in the bone marrow and release antibodies that fight bacterial infections; T ___ form in the thymus and other lymphatic tissue and attack cancer cells, viruses, and foreign substances

coronary heart disease

the clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle; the leading cause of death in North America and many other developed countries

Type A

Friedman and Rosenman's term for competitive, hard-driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and anger-prone people

Type B

Friedman and Rosenman's term for easygoing, relaxed people

industrial-organizational (I/O) psychology

the application of psychological concepts and methods to optimizing human behaviour in workplaces

personnel psychology

an I/O psychology subfield that focuses on employee recruitment, selection, placement, training, appraisal, and development

organizational psychology

an I/O psychology subfield that examines organizational influences on worker satisfaction and productivity and facilitates organizational change

human factors psychology

an I/O psychology subfield that explores how people and machines interact and how machines and physical environments can be made safe and easy to use.

structured interviews

an interview process that asks the same job-relevant questions of all applicants, each of whom is rated on established scales.

achievement motivation

a desire for significant accomplishment, for mastery of skills or ideas, for control, and for attaining a high standard.

grit

in psychology, grit is passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals.

task leadership

goal-oriented leadership that sets standards, organizes work, and focuses attention on goals.

social leadership

group-oriented leadership that builds teamwork, mediates conflict, and offers support

catharsis

in psychology, the idea that “releasing” aggressive energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges

feel-good, do-good phenomenon

people's tendency to be helpful when already in a good mood

subjective well-being

self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life; used along measures of objective well-being (for example, physical and economic indicators) to evaluate people's quality of life

adaptation-level phenomenon

our tendency to form judgments (of sounds, of lights, of income) relative to a neutral level defined by our prior experience

relative deprivation

the perception that we are worse off relative to those with whom we compare ourselves

aerobic exercise

sustained exercise that increases heart and lung fitness; may also alleviate depression and anxiety

complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)

as yet unproven health care treatments intended to supplement (complement) or serve as alternatives to conventional medicine, and which typically are not widely taught in medical schools, used in hospitals, or reimbursed by insurance companies. When research shows a therapy to be safe and effective, it usually then becomes part of accepted medical practice.

defense mechanisms

in psychoanalytic theory, the ego's protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality. repression in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness.

regression

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

reaction formation

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

projection

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

rationalization

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

displacement

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

sublimation

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

denial

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

motivation

a need or desire that energizes and directs behaviour

flow

a completely involved, focused state of consciousness, with diminished awareness of self and time, resulting from optimal engagement of one’s skills

optimism

feeling a strong sense of personal control; thinking more positively about events. tend to have more control over stressors (internal locus of control), cope better, be happier, live longer etc.

pessimism

attribute poor performance to lack of ability or factors beyond their control

instinct theory

complex behaviour that has a fixed pattern across a species and is unlearned

arousal theory

theory that human motivation aims to seek optimum levels of arousal instead of eliminating it

insulin

decreases glucose in the blood, making us feel hungry

lateral hypothalamus

brings on hunger; if destroyed, animals show no interest in eating

orexin

the reduction of blood glucose stimulates the release of ___, which leads rats to eat ravenously