Psychology Sem 2

Motivation

A need or desire that energizes and directs behavior

Instinct

A complex behavior that is rigidly patterned throughout a species and is unlearned

Instinct Theory

There is a genetic basis for unlearned, species-typical behavior

Drive-reduction Theory

the idea that a physical need creates an aroused state that motivates an organism to satisfy the need

Arousal Theory

Our need to maintain an optimal level of arousal motivates behaviors that meet no physiological need

Hierarchy of Needs

We prioritize survival-based needs and then social needs more than the needs for esteem and meaning

Physiological Needs

A basic bodily requirement

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

Incentives

A positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior

Yerkes-Dodson Law

The principle that performance increases with arousal only up to a point, beyond which performance decreases

Affiliation Need

The need to build and maintain relationships and to feel part of a group

Self-determination Theory

The theory that we feel motivated to satisfy out needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness

Intrinsically Motivated

The desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake

Extrinsically Motivated

The desire to perform a behavior to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment

Ostracism

Deliberate social exclusion of individuals or groups

Achievement Motivation

A desire for significant accomplishment, for mastery of skills or ideas, for control, and for attaining a high standard

Grit

Passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals

Set Point

The point at which the “weight thermostat” may be set. When the body falls below this weight, increased hunger and a lowered metabolic rate may combine to restore lost weight

Basal Metabolic Rate

The body’s resting rate of energy output

Obesity

BMI of 30 or higher

Emotion

A response of the whole organism, involving physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and, most importantly, conscious experience resulting from one’s interpretations

Facial Feedback Effect

The tendency of facial muscle states to trigger corresponding feelings such as fear, anger, or happiness

Behavior Feedback Effect

The tendency of behavior to influence our own and others’ thoughts, feelings, and actions

Sensation-Seeking Theory

High sensation seekers have a higher optimal level of arousal, whereas low sensation seekers have a lower optimal level of arousal.

Personality

an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.

Psychodynamic Theories

theories that view personality with a focus on the unconscious mind and the importance of childhood experiences.

Psychoanalysis

(1) 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. (2) Sigmund Freud’s therapeutic technique. Freud believed the patient’s free associations, resistances, dreams, and transferences — and the analyst’s interpretations of them — released previously repressed feelings, allowing the patient to gain self-insight.

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.

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.

Id

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

Ego

the partly conscious, “executive” part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, the 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.

Superego

the partly conscious part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations.

Oral

0-18 months, pleasures center on the mouth

Anal

18-36 months, pleasures focus on bowel and bladder elimination

Phallic

3-6yrs, pleasure zones in the genitals, coping with incestuous sexual feelings

Latency

6yrs-puberty, a phase of dormant sexual feelings

Genital

Puberty and beyond, maturation of sexual interests

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

Switching unacceptable impulses into their opposites

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

Sublimination

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.

Terror Management Theory

a theory of death-related anxiety

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.

Projective Test

a personality test that provides ambiguous images designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics and explore the preconscious and unconscious mind.

Rorschach Inkblot Test

projective test that seeks to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing how they interpret 10 inkblots.

Humanistic Theorists

theories that view personality with a focus on the potential for healthy personal growth.

Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow’s levels of human needs, beginning at the base with physiological need. Often visualized as a pyramid, with needs nearer the base taking priority until they are satisfied.

Self Actualization

one of the ultimate psychological needs that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved

Self Transcendence

according to Maslow, the striving for identity, meaning, and purpose beyond the self.

Unconditional Positive Regard

a caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed would help clients develop self-awareness and self-acceptance.

Self Concept

all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves in answer to the question, “Who am I?”

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

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.

Empirically Derived

a test (such as the MMPI) created by selecting from a pool of items those that discriminate between groups.

Big Five Factors

five traits — openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism — that describe personality. (Also called the five-factor model.)

Social-cognitive Perspective

a view of behavior as influenced by the interaction between people’s traits (including their thinking) and their social context.

Behavioral Approach

focuses on the effects of learning on our personality development.

Reciprocal Determinism

the interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment.

Trait

We have certain stable and enduring characteristics, which are influenced by genetic predispositions.

Spotlight Effect

overestimating others’ noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunders

Self-esteem

our feelings of high or low self-worth

Self-efficacy

our sense of competence and effectiveness

Self-serving Bias

a readiness to perceive ourselves favorably

Narcissism

excessive self-love and self-absorption

Individualist

a cultural pattern that emphasizes people’s own goals over group goals and defines identity mainly in terms of unique personal attributes.

Collectivism

a cultural pattern that prioritizes the goals of important groups (often one’s extended family or work group).

Neurosis

Physical ailment without a physical cause

Personality Psychologists

the scientific study of personality and its development, structure, traits, processes, variations, and disordered forms (personality disorders).

Social Psychologists

the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another.

Person Perception

how we form impressions of ourselves and others, including attributions of behavior.

Attribution Theory

the theory that we explain someone’s behavior by crediting either the situation (a situational attribution) or the person’s stable, enduring traits (a dispositional attribution).

Fundamental Attribution Theory

the tendency for observers, when analyzing others’ behavior, to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition.

Actor-observer Bias

the tendency for those acting in a situation to attribute their behavior to external causes, but for observers to attribute others’ behavior to internal causes. This contributes to the fundamental attribution error (which focuses on our explanations for others’ behavior).

Prejudice

an unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a group and its members.

Stereotypes

a generalized (sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people.

Discriminate

unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group or its members.

Just-world Phenomenon

the tendency for people to believe the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get.

Social Identity

the “we” aspect of our self-concept

Ingroup

“us” — people with whom we share a common identity.

Outgroup

“them” — those perceived as different or apart from our ingroup.

Ingroup Bias

the tendency to favor our own group.

Scapegoat Theory

the theory that prejudice offers an outlet for anger by providing someone to blame.

Other-race Effect

the tendency to recall faces of one’s own race more accurately than faces of other races. Also called the cross-race effect and the own-race bias.

Attitudes

feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events.

Foot-in-the-door Phenomenon

the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request.

Role

a set of expectations (norms) about a social position, defining how those in the position ought to behave.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

the theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent. For example, when we become aware that our attitudes and our actions clash, we can reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes.

Persuasion

changing people’s attitudes, potentially influencing their actions.

Peripheral Route Persuasion

occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speaker’s attractiveness.

Central Route Persuasion

occurs when interested people’s thinking is influenced by considering evidence and arguments.

Norms

a society’s understood rules for accepted and expected behavior.

Conformity

adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.

Normative Social Influence

influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disapproval.

Informational Social Influence

influence resulting from a person’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality.