2025 Personality, Motivation & Emotion Vocabulary Terms

personality

an individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 578)

psychodynamic theories

theories that view personality with a focus on the unconscious and the importance of childhood experiences. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 578)

psychoanalysis

(1) Freud's theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts. (2) Sigmund Freud's therapeutic technique used in treating psychological disorders. Freud believed the patient's free associations, resistances, dreams, and transferences—and the therapist's interpretations of them—released previously repressed feelings, allowing the patient to gain self-insight. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e pp. 578, 723)

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. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 579)

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. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 579)

id

a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives. The id operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 580)

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. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 580)

superego

the part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 580)

defense mechanisms

in psychoanalytic theory, the ego's protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 581)

repression

in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e pp. 355, 581)

collective unconscious

Carl Jung's concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species' history. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 583)

projective test

a personality test, such as the Rorschach, that provides ambiguous images designed to trigger projection of one's inner dynamics. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 584)

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. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 584)

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. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 584)

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. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e pp. 405, 591)

humanistic theories

theories that view personality with a focus on the potential for healthy personal growth. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 591)

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. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 591)

unconditional positive regard

a caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed would help clients develop self-awareness and self-acceptance. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e pp. 592, 726)

self-concept

all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves in answer to the question, "Who am I?" (Myers Psychology for AP 3e pp. 515, 592)

trait

a characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act in certain ways, as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 596)

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. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 598)

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. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 598)

social-cognitive perspective/theory

views behavior as influenced by the interaction between people's traits (including their thinking) and their social context. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 606)

reciprocal determinism

the interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 606)

self-esteem

one's feelings of high or low self-worth. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 612)

self-efficacy

one's sense of competence and effectiveness. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 612)

self-serving bias

a readiness to perceive oneself favorably. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 614)

motivation

a need or desire that energizes and directs behavior. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 402)

instinct

a complex behavior that is rigidly patterned throughout a species and is unlearned. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 402)

physiological need

a basic bodily requirement. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 403)

drive-reduction theory

the idea that a physiological need creates an aroused state (a drive) that motivates an organism to satisfy the need. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 403)

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. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 403)

incentive

a positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 403)

Yerkes-Dodson law

the principle that performance increases with arousal only up to a point, beyond which performance decreases. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 404)

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. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e pp. 405, 591)

achievement motivation

a desire for significant accomplishment, for mastery of skills or ideas, for control, and for attaining a high standard. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 428)

grit

in psychology, passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e pp. 429, 629)

emotion

a response of the whole organism, involving (1) physiological arousal, (2) expressive behaviors, and (3) conscious experience. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 433)

Cannon-Bard theory

the theory that an emotion-arousing stimulus simultaneously triggers (1) physiological responses and (2) the subjective experience of emotion. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 433)

two-factor theory

the Schachter-Singer theory that to experience emotion one must (1) be physically aroused and (2) cognitively label the arousal. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 434)

facial feedback effect

the tendency of facial muscle states to trigger corresponding feelings such as fear, anger, or happiness. (Myers Psychology for AP 3e p. 447)