Personality, Motivation, & Emotion

psychodynamic theories

theories that view personality with the focus on the unconcious mind and the importance of childhood experiences

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.

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

Retreating to an earlier psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated

reaction formation

Feeling the urge to cry with disappointment, instead declares loudly that “Getting cut from the soccer team was the best thing that ever happened to me”

Projection

Disguising one’s 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 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

collective unconscious

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

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.

self actualization tendancy

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.

personality inventories

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.

openess to experience

inventitive/curious vs. consistent/cautious

conscientiousness

efficient/organized vs. extravagent/careless