Personality Psychology Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards for Personality Psychology.

Personality

An individual's unique set of consistent behavioral traits, explaining consistency and distinctiveness in behavior.

Personality Trait

A durable disposition to behave in a particular way across various situations.

Factor Analysis

A statistical procedure used to identify basic traits by analyzing correlations among many trait variables.

Extraversion

Outgoing, sociable, upbeat, friendly, assertive, and gregarious; associated with a positive outlook.

Neuroticism

Anxious, hostile, self-conscious, insecure, and vulnerable; associated with impulsiveness and emotional instability.

Openness to Experience

Curious, flexible, imaginative, intellectual, and interested in new ideas; associated with tolerance for ambiguity.

Agreeableness

Warm, sympathetic, trusting, compassionate, cooperative, modest, and straightforward; correlated with empathy.

Conscientiousness

Diligent, well-organized, punctual, and dependable; associated with strong self-discipline and self-regulation.

Id

The primitive, instinctive component of personality that operates on the pleasure principle.

Ego

The decision-making component of personality that operates on the reality principle.

Superego

The moral component of personality incorporating social standards of right and wrong.

Conscious

Whatever one is aware of at a particular moment.

Preconscious

Material just beneath the surface of awareness that is easily retrieved.

Unconscious

Thoughts, memories, and desires well below awareness but greatly influencing behavior.

Defense Mechanisms

Largely unconscious reactions that protect a person from unpleasant emotions like anxiety and guilt, typically through self-deception.

Repression

Keeping distressing thoughts/feelings buried in the unconscious.

Projection

Attributing one's own unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or motives to another.

Displacement

Diverting emotional feelings from their original source to a substitute target.

Reaction Formation

Behaving in a way that is exactly the opposite of one's true feelings.

Regression

A reversion to immature patterns of behavior.

Rationalization

Creating false but plausible excuses to justify unacceptable behavior.

Identification

Boosting self-esteem by forming an imaginary or real alliance with some person or group.

Sublimation

Channeling unconscious, unacceptable impulses into socially acceptable or admirable activities.

Oral Stage

Erotic focus on the mouth. Key task: weaning.

Anal Stage

Erotic pleasure from bowel movements. Key task: toilet training.

Phallic Stage

Erotic focus on genitals. Key event: Oedipal complex.

Latency Stage

Sexuality is largely suppressed. Focus on expanding social contacts.

Genital Stage

Sexual urges reappear, focus on genitals, directed toward peers.

Collective Unconscious

A storehouse of latent memory traces inherited from ancestral past, shared by the human race.

Compensation

Efforts to overcome imagined or real inferiorities by developing one's abilities.

Inferiority Complex

Exaggerated feelings of weakness and inadequacy.

Overcompensation

Working to acquire status, power, etc., to conceal underlying inferiority feelings.

Self-Efficacy

One's belief about one's ability to perform behaviors leading to expected outcomes.

Reciprocal Determinism

Internal mental events, external environmental events, and overt behavior all influence one another.

Self-Concept

The core of personality structure, a collection of beliefs about one's own nature, qualities, and typical behavior.

Incongruence

The disparity between one's self-concept and one's actual experience.

Conditional Love

Parental affection depends on the child behaving well.

Unconditional Love

Parental affection is given regardless of behavior.

Self-Actualization

Fulfilling one's potential.

Cultural Heritage

People's behavior is influenced by their cultural background.

Narcissism

A personality trait marked by an inflated sense of importance, a need for attention and admiration, a sense of entitlement, and a tendency to exploit others

Terror Management Theory (TMT)

Humans have a self-preservation instinct but also complex cognitive abilities allowing awareness of the inevitability of death

Microsystem

The child and individuals in their immediate environment.

Hindsight Bias

A tendency for to overestimate their ability to have predicted an outcome that could not possibly have been predicted

Mesosystem

Reciprocal interactions between various microsystems.

Exosystem

Social settings that indirectly influence the child, even if the child isn't directly part of them.

Macrosystem

The broadest context; refers to cultures and subcultures with their own beliefs and value systems.