ch 10 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

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

Id

contains a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives

ego

You. operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id's desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain.

Superego

part of the personality that acts as a moral center

unconscious

a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories

psychosexual stages

the childhood stages of development during which, according to Freud, the id's pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones

Oedipus complex

a boy's sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father

identification

the process by which 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

keeping distressing thoughts and feelings buried in the unconscious

Regression

A reversion to immature patterns of behavior.

reaction formation

switching unacceptable impulses into their opposites

Projection

disguising one's own threatening impulses by attributing them to others

Rationalization

Creating false but plausible excuses to justify unacceptable behavior.

Displacement

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

sublimation

channeling socially unacceptable impulses into constructive, even admirable, behavior

Denial

refusing to believe or even perceive painful realities

collective unconscious

Jung's theory that we all share an inherited memory that contains our culture's most basic elements

projective test

a personality test that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one's inner dynamics

Rorschach inkblot test

A projective personality test in which individual interpretations of the meaning of a set of unstructured inkblots are analyzed to identify a respondent's inner feelings and interpret his or her personality structure

self-actualization

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

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 perspective

Perspective of personality that focuses on durable aspects of an individual's disposition and consistent ways of behaving.

Trait

specific characteristic of an individual

personality inventory

a questionnaire on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors; used to assess selected personality traits

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 developed by testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminate between groups

reciprocal determinism

Bandura's idea that though our environment affects us, we also affect our environment

positive psychology

the scientific study of human functioning, with the goals of discovering and promoting strengths and virtues that help individuals and communities to thrive

Alfred Adler

Neo-Freudian; introduced concept of "inferiority complex" and stressed the importance of birth order

Gordon Allport

trait theory of personality; 3 levels of traits: cardinal, central, and secondary

Albert Bandura

researcher famous for work in observational or social learning including the famous Bobo doll experiment

Hans Eysenck

personality is determined to a large extent by genes; used the terms extroversion and introversion

Sigmund Freud

Austrian neurologist known for his work on the unconscious mind. Father of psychoanalysis.

Karen Horney

neo-Freudian, psychodynamic; criticized Freud, stated that personality is molded by current fears and impulses, rather than being determined solely by childhood experiences and instincts, neurotic trends; concept of "basic anxiety"

Carl Jung

neo-Freudian who created concept of "collective unconscious" and wrote books on dream interpretation

Abraham Maslow

Humanistic psychologist known for his "Hierarchy of Needs" and the concept of "self-actualization"

Carl Rogers

Humanisic; self-concept and unconditional positive regard drive personality

Hermann Rorschach

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

Julian Rotter

Developed terms: internal/external locus of control

Martin Seligman

researcher known for work on learned helplessness and learned optimism as well as positive psychology

Personality

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

psychoanalytic perspective

childhood sexuality and unconscious motivations influence personality

Freud's unconscious

a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories

modern unconscious

information processing that goes on, of which we are unaware

Freudian slip

a verbal mistake that is thought to reveal an unconscious belief, thought, or emotion

pleasure principle

principle by which the id functions; the immediate satisfaction of needs without regard for the consequences

morality principle

the principle on which the superego may operate, which results in feelings of guilt if its rules are violated

reality principle

tendency of the ego to postpone gratification until it can find an appropriate outlet

defense mechanism

tactics that reduce or redirect anxiety by distorting reality

anxiety

overpowering nervousness/worries from Id and Superego fighting

the oral stage

(0-18 months) infant's pleasure centers on the mouth. fixation: chewing things, kissing, eating, smoking

the anal stage

(1.5-3 years) child seeks pleasure in going to the bathroom. Fixations: anal retentive and anal expulsive

anal retentive

Hyper organized, meticulously neat

anal expulsive

disorderly, messy, destructive, or cruel

the phallic stage

(3-6 years) childs pleasure is focused on the genitals, becomes aware of body parts and the body parts of others. fixations: oedipus complex and electra complex

castration anxiety

fear that a boys father will cut off his genitals

penis envy

In psychoanalytic theory, the wish for a penis that is assumed to ensue normally in females. mad that mom already castrated them

Electra complex

Conflict during phallic stage in which girls supposedly love their fathers romantically and want to eliminate their mothers as rivals

catency stage

(6-puberty) all sexual thoughts are repressed, child focuses on developing social skills. fixation: sexual unfulfillment if fixation occurs

genital stage

(puberty-adulthood) sexual desires are renewed, seeks relationships

psychosexual stages of childhood development, Id, Ego, Superego

what did modern psychologists reject out of freuds beliefs/concepts?

role of the unconscious, inner conflicts, and defense mechanisms

what did modern psychologists keep out of freuds beliefs/concepts?

Neo-Freudians

followers of Freud who developed their own competing psychodynamic theories

more emphasis on the role of the conscious mind, and saw social interaction as a key motivator

how did neo-freudians differ from Freud?

compensation

idea that people overcome feelings of inferiority in one area by striving for superiority in another area (alfred adler)

basic anxiety

a child's knowledge that no matter how bad their parents are, they depend on them for everything. scared of abandonment (Horney)

womb envy

a man's compensation for their lack of child bearing by striving for success in other areas and being agressive

archetypes

the shared memories from our species (Jung)

B.F. skinner

remained hardcore, said that we are shaped only by our current environment

self efficacy

a person's expectancy of effectiveness in any given circumstance

high self-efficacy

you think you will succeed

low self-efficacy

you think you won't succeed

locus of control

a learned view of whether we feel as if we have control over our own world

internal locus of control

high achiever, happier

external locus of control

the perception that chance or outside forces beyond our personal control determine our fate

Humanism

a branch of psychology that focused on "healthy" people and how to help them strive to be "all that they can be"

ideal self

who we want to be

actual self

who we perceive ourselves to be

fully functioning

a person who is self actualized, 1 self

Raymond Cattell

split traits into two groups, surface and source traits

surface traits

what we see

source traits

underlying basic source of behavior

top 5 traits

openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism

openness

original, imaginative, curious, artistic vs. down to earth, conventional

Conscientiousness

responsible, organized vs. lazy and undisciplined

Extraversion

social, outgoing vs. withdrawn, quiet

Agreeableness

good natured, warm, helpful vs. argumentative, ruthless

Neuroticism

opposite of emotional stability, insecure, anxiety, guilt, worry vs. stable, calm, even