AP Psychology Vocab List #17 (Personality: Freud and Neo-Freudians)

personality

the unique and relatively stable ways in which people think, feel and act

character

a person's moral and ethical behavior

temperament

the enduring characteristics with which people are born

Psychoanalysis

Freud's theory that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts; also his therapy which includes the techniques free association and dream analysis

unconscious mind

level of the mind in which thoughts and feeling are not easily brought into our awareness

preconscious mind

those facts, thoughts and memories which are not in our immediate awareness, but can be easily accessed

id

part of the personality present at birth which is unconscious and irrationally seeks immediate pleasure (pleasure principle)

ego

part of the personality that is conscious, rational and operates on the reality principle

superego

part of the personality that is unconscious and irrationally acts as our moral conscience

conscience

part of the superego that produces guilt and shame when we do not match our ideal self

Psychosexual stages

Freud's theory that our personality is shaped by memories and feelings repressed during the oral, anal and phallic stages of early childhood

fixation

disorder in which an adult has not fully resolved early childhood psychosexual conflicts and suffers as a result

Oedipus complex

when a child develops a "sexual" attraction to the opposite sex parent during the phallic stage and feels hostility towards the same sex parent

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

identification

the process by which a child adopts the values and principles of the same-sex parent; taking on the characteristics of someone else to avoid anxiety

regression

Retreating to childish behavior when confronted with unpleasant circumstances

reaction formation

switching unacceptable impulses into their opposites

projection

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

rationalization

Offering self-justifying explanations for our behavior other than the real, unflattering truth

displacement

Shifting aggressive or sexual impulses toward a less threatening object or person

sublimation

Transferring unacceptable impulses into socially valued motives

denial

Refusing to perceive painful realities

compensation

Making up for feelings of inferiority in one area by exaggerating another facet of our life

personal unconscious

Carl Jung's name for the unconscious mind as described by Freud

collective unconscious

Carl Jung's name for the reservoir of "memories" shared by all members of the human species from birth

archetypes

Carl Jung's universal human memories that are shared by all humans

basic anxiety

anxiety created when a child is born into the bigger and more powerful world of older children and adults which triggers our desire for love and security (Karen Horney)

neurotic personalities

maladaptive ways of coping and dealing with relationships (Karen Horney)

inferiority complex

the idea that children feel inadequate when comparing themselves to more powerful adults (Alfred Adler)

terror management theory

a theory of death-related anxiety; explores people's emotional and behavioral responses to reminders of their impending death

conscious mind

level of the mind that is aware of immediate surroundings and perceptions