AP Psychology Unit 5: Personality & Psychodynamics

Marquette Highschool AP Psychology Ashley Hobbs

personality

an individual's unique and relatively consistent pattern of thinking, feeling, and behaving

id

part of the mind that demands immediate gratification, holds all impulsive and aggressive desires - operates on the pleasure principle at the unconscious level

ego

the "executive" that mediates the id and the superego - operates on the reality principle at the conscious and preconscious level

superego

the conscience and moral compass; strives for an ideal version of oneself - operates on the morality principle at the preconscious level

defense mechanisms

tactics employed by the ego that reduce or redirect anxiety by indirectly and unconsciously distorting reality

denial

defense mechanism in which one refuses to believe painful realities

displacement

defense mechanism in which behavior is directed toward a less threatening entity

projection

defense mechanism in which one attributes their own impulse to others

rationalization

defense mechanism that uses realistic explanation

reaction formation

defense mechanism in which a person acts the opposite of their true feeling

regression

defense mechanism in which one retreats to an earlier stage of life

repression

characteristic that underlies all defense mechanisms; banishes anxiety-inducing thoughts from consciousness

sublimation

defense mechanism in which unacceptable impulses are transferred into something more socially valued

projective tests

personality test that provides ambiguous images designed to trigger projection and reveal processes of the unconscious/preconscious mind; examples include Thematic Apperception Test and Rorschach Inkblot Test

preconscious

Information that is not conscious but is retrievable into conscious awareness

unconscious

information processing of which we are unaware

unconditional positive regard

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

self-actualizing tendency

the human motive toward realizing our inner potential

self-concept

all thoughts and feeling about ourselves

self-efficacy

belief in one's own competence

self-esteem

opinion about oneself; satisfaction with oneself

social-cognitive theory of personality

the importance of observational learning, conscious thought, self-efficacy, social experience, and reciprocal determinism in personality (developed by Bandura)

reciprocal determinism

model that explains personality as the result of behavioral, cognitive, and environmental factors

Big Five Theory

five traits make up our personalities (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism)

openness

big five factor - a measure of creativity and acceptance of new ideas

conscientiousness

big five factor - a measure of competence, thoughtfulness, focus, and detail-oriented nature

extraversion

big five factor - a measure of sociability, assertiveness, and emotional expression

agreeableness

big five factor - a measure of cooperativeness, trustworthiness, and empathy

neuroticism

big five factor - a measure of one's tendency toward unstable emotions

personality inventories

long questionnaires covering a variety of feelings and behaviors used to assess selected personality traits

factor analysis

identifying clusters (factors) of items that tap basic components of a trait

psychodynamic

psychology perspective that focuses on unconscious mental forces, repressed conflicts, and influence of childhood experience (Freud)

behaviorism

psychology perspective that focuses on learning and conditioning

humanistic

psychology perspective that focuses on growth and potential

cognitive

psychology perspective that focuses on thinking, memory, problem solving, information processing, etc.

biological

psychology perspective that focuses on physical bases of behavior including body systems and the brain

evolutionary

psychology perspective that focuses on natural selection, survival, and reproduction

social-cultural

psychology perspective that focuses on the ways thinking and behavior vary across situations and groups

empirically derived

type of questions developed by testing a pool of questions and selecting those that discriminate between groups - comes up with the best questions to use for a test