AP Psych Unit 5 Vocab

Id

The part of personality that seeks pleasure and acts on basic urges.

Ego

The part that balances desires with reality.

Superego

The moral part that tells right from wrong.

Identification

Adopting traits or values of someone you admire.

Fixation

Getting stuck at an early stage of development.

Repression

Pushing unwanted thoughts out of awareness.

Regression

Returning to childlike behavior under stress.

Reaction Formation

Showing the opposite feeling of what you really feel.

Projection

Attributing your feelings to someone else.

Rationalization

Making excuses for bad behavior.

Displacement

Taking anger out on a safer target.

Projective Test

Uses vague images to uncover hidden emotions.

Self Actualization

Becoming the best version of yourself.

Unconditional Positive Regard

Accepting someone without judgment.

Self Concept

How you see and understand yourself.

Trait

A lasting pattern of behavior or emotion.

Social Cognitive Perspective

Personality shaped by thinking, behavior, and environment.

Reciprocal Determinism

Behavior, thoughts, and environment influence each other.

Personal Control

Belief in your ability to shape your life.

Positive Psychology

Study of happiness and human strengths.

Spotlight Effect

Thinking others notice you more than they do.

Self Esteem

How much you value yourself.

Self Serving Bias

Taking credit for success but blaming others for failure.

Barnum Effect

Believing vague statements personally describe you.

Intelligence

Ability to learn, reason, and solve problems.

General Intelligence (G)

A single mental ability affecting all tasks.

Savant Syndrome

A person with limited ability has an exceptional skill.

Emotional Intelligence

Recognizing and managing emotions in yourself and others.

Creativity

Producing original and valuable ideas.

Mental Age

Age level that matches your mental performance.

Aptitude Test

Measures your potential to learn new skills.

Achievement Test

Measures what you already know.

Content Validity

How well a test covers the topic it should.

Criterion

The standard used to judge a test’s success.

Predictive Validity

How well a test forecasts future outcomes.

Down Syndrome

Genetic disorder caused by an extra chromosome 21.

Stereotype Threat

Fear of confirming a stereotype hurts performance.

Reliability

How consistent test results are over time.

Validity

How accurately a test measures what it should.

Flynn Effect

IQ scores rising over generations.