Personality (Chapter 13)

Flashcards on Personality

Personality

An individual's distinct and relatively enduring pattern of thoughts, feelings, motives, and behaviors.

Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality

Involves mapping the id, the ego, and the superego. Core assumption: repression.

Id

The inherited part of the personality.

Ego

Who you are, or self.

Superego

Governed by morals and societal compasses.

Repression

Keeps unacceptable impulses out of conscious awareness.

Regression

Reverts to earlier developmental stages.

Displacement

Redirects emotions onto a safer target.

Sublimation

Channels unacceptable impulses into socially acceptable behaviors.

Reaction formation

Acts in the opposite way of an unacceptable impulse.

Projection

Attributes unacceptable traits to others.

Rationalization

Provides logical excuses for unacceptable actions.

Humanistic approach to personality

Emphasizes an individual's innate goodness, potential for growth, and self-actualization.

Self-concept

A person's explicit knowledge of his or her own behaviors, traits, and other personal characteristics.

Unconditional Positive Regard

The acceptance and love one receives from significant others is unqualified.

Conditional positive regard

The acceptance and love one receives from significant others is contingent upon one's behavior.

Behavioral and social learning theories of personality

Behaviors are learned through interaction with the environment. Observation and imitation are key mechanisms for acquiring new behaviors.

Locus of control

A person's perception of the extent to which he/she controls what happens to him/her.

External locus of control

The perception that chance or external forces beyond your control determine your fate.

Internal locus of control

The perception that you control your own fate.

Trait models of personality

Suggest that personality can be understood by identifying and measuring individuals' stable characteristics or traits.

Big Five

Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Extraversion, Neuroticism.

Structured personality test (MMPI)

A large scale test designed to measure a multitude of psychological disorders and personality traits.

Projective tests (Rorschach and Thematic Apperception Test)

A test in which individual interpretations of the meaning of a set of unstructured inkblots are analyzed to identify a respondents inner feelings and interpret his or her personality structure.