Personality

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.

Personality

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

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 drive. This operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification.

ego

The largely unconscious, "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, 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 state, in which conflicts were unresolved.

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 from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories.

regression

Defense mechanism in which a person retreats to a more infantile psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated.

reaction formation

Defense mechanism in which a person switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites.

projection

Defense mechanism in which a person disguises his/her own threatening impulses by attributing them to others.

rationalization

Offering self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening unconscious reasons for one's actions.

displacement

Shifting sexual or aggressive impulsive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person.

sublimation

Transferring of unacceptable impulses into socially valued motives.

denial

Refusing to believe or even perceive painful realities.

anxiety according to Freud

Product of tensions between the demands of the id and the superego.

how ego copes with anxiety

Use of unconscious defense mechanisms

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 Rorschach, that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one's inner dynamics.

Thematic Apperception Test

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 behaviors.

terror-management theory

A theory of death-related anxiety; explores people's emotional and behavioral responses to reminders on 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

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

self-transcendence

according to Maslow, the striving for identity, meaning, and purpose 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.

The "Big 5" Personality Factors

Conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness, and extraversion

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.

MMPI

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

The most widely researched and clinically used of al 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.

social-cognitive perspective

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

behavioral approach

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.

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.

The personality theory of Freud

psychoanalytic

Psychdynamic Theory

how behavior springs from unconscious drives and conflicts

The personality theory of Rogers and Maslow

Humanistic

The personality theory of Allport, Eysenck, McCrae, and Costa

Trait

The personality theory of Bandura

Social-Cognitive

Author of Bobo Doll experiment

Albert Bandura

attributional style

The way we explain negative and positive events.

personality

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

psychodynamic theories

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

TAT

Thematic Apperception Test