Personality – Chapter 11 (Discovering Psychology, 10th ed.)

Vocabulary flashcards covering major terms, theories, and assessments from Chapter 11 on Personality, suitable for exam review.

Personality

An individual’s unique and relatively consistent patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving.

Personality Theory

A framework that describes and explains how people are similar, different, and unique.

Psychoanalytic Perspective

Freud’s view that personality is shaped by unconscious forces, instincts, and early childhood experiences.

Humanistic Perspective

Approach emphasizing free will, self-awareness, and psychological growth.

Social Cognitive Perspective

Viewpoint stressing conscious thought processes, self-regulation, and situational influences.

Trait Perspective

Approach focused on identifying, describing, and measuring individual personality differences.

Unconscious

Thoughts, urges, and wishes difficult to bring to conscious awareness.

Preconscious

Information not currently in awareness but easily retrievable.

Conscious

Information in immediate awareness.

Id

Completely unconscious, irrational component ruled by the pleasure principle.

Ego

Partly conscious, rational mediator that operates on the reality principle.

Superego

Partly conscious, moralistic component formed by internalized parental and societal rules.

Pleasure Principle

Id’s drive to seek immediate gratification of urges.

Reality Principle

Ego’s capacity to postpone gratification until appropriate.

Ego Defense Mechanism

Unconscious distortion of reality that reduces anxiety when ego is threatened.

Repression

Basic defense mechanism; complete exclusion of anxiety-provoking thoughts from consciousness.

Displacement

Redirecting emotional impulses toward a substitute, less threatening target.

Sublimation

Form of displacement; channeling sexual or aggressive energy into productive, nonsexual activities.

Rationalization

Justifying actions with socially acceptable explanations while hiding true motives.

Projection

Attributing one’s own unacceptable urges or qualities to others.

Reaction Formation

Behaving in a way that is the extreme opposite of unacceptable impulses.

Denial

Failure to recognize or acknowledge anxiety-provoking information.

Regression

Retreating to behaviors characteristic of an earlier developmental stage.

Psychosexual Stage

Freud’s age-related periods where id’s sexual energy focuses on different body zones.

Fixation

Stalled development due to unresolved conflicts in a psychosexual stage.

Oral Stage

Birth–18 mo; pleasure centers on mouth activities.

Anal Stage

18 mo–3 yr; pleasure from control of elimination.

Phallic Stage

3–6 yr; pleasure from genitals; site of Oedipus complex.

Latency Stage

6 yr–puberty; sexual urges repressed, focus on same-sex friendships and academics.

Genital Stage

Adolescence onward; mature sexual interests toward peers.

Oedipus Complex

Child’s unconscious desire for opposite-sex parent with hostility toward same-sex parent.

Neo-Freudians

Freud’s followers who emphasized unconscious and childhood but developed their own theories.

Collective Unconscious

Jung’s concept of inherited, universal human memories (archetypes).

Archetype

Universal mental image or theme in the collective unconscious.

Basic Anxiety

Horney’s term for feelings of helplessness in a hostile world.

Womb Envy

Horney’s idea that men envy women’s capacity to bear children.

Inferiority Feelings

Adler’s notion of childhood feelings of weakness that motivate striving for superiority.

Striving for Superiority

Adler’s primary human motive to overcome inferiority by improving oneself.

Actualizing Tendency

Rogers’ innate drive to maintain and enhance the organism.

Self-Concept

Set of perceptions and beliefs one holds about oneself.

Conditional Positive Regard

Love and acceptance dependent on meeting others’ standards.

Unconditional Positive Regard

Love and acceptance given without conditions; fosters congruence.

Fully Functioning Person

Rogers’ term for someone whose self-concept is flexible and congruent with experience.

Social Cognitive Theory

Bandura’s theory stressing observational learning, cognitive processes, and self-regulation.

Reciprocal Determinism

Interaction of behavioral, cognitive, and environmental factors in personality.

Self-Efficacy

Belief in one’s ability to meet demands of a specific situation.

Trait

Relatively stable predisposition to behave in a certain way.

Surface Trait

Observable characteristic inferred from behavior.

Source Trait

Basic, universal dimension underlying surface traits.

16PF

Cattell’s inventory measuring 16 personality source traits.

Introversion–Extraversion

Eysenck’s dimension describing tendency toward sociability versus reserve.

Neuroticism–Stability

Eysenck’s continuum of emotional instability versus calmness.

Psychoticism

Eysenck’s later trait involving aggressiveness and interpersonal hostility.

Five-Factor Model (Big 5)

Trait theory positing personality as Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism (OCEAN).

Openness to Experience

Curiosity, imagination, preference for variety vs. conventionality.

Conscientiousness

Diligence, organization, and dependability vs. impulsiveness.

Extraversion

Sociability, assertiveness, and positive emotion vs. reserve.

Agreeableness

Cooperativeness, trust, and compassion vs. antagonism.

Neuroticism

Tendency toward anxiety, moodiness, and emotional instability.

HEXACO Model

Six-factor trait model adding Honesty–Humility to the Big 5.

Honesty–Humility

Sincerity, fairness, modesty vs. greed and deceit; HEXACO’s sixth factor.

Behavior Genetics

Field studying genetic influences on behavior through relatedness comparisons.

Projective Test

Assessment in which ambiguous stimuli elicit projections of unconscious motives.

Rorschach Inkblot Test

Projective test where interpretations of inkblots reveal unconscious processes.

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Projective test involving stories about pictures to uncover motives and conflicts.

Self-Report Inventory

Objective questionnaire comparing answers to standardized norms.

MMPI-2

Widely used self-report inventory assessing personality and psychological disorders.

CPI

California Psychological Inventory; measures traits in normal populations.

MBTI

Myers–Briggs Type Indicator; sorts individuals into 16 personality types.

Possible Selves

Futuristic images of the self reflecting hopes and fears that guide behavior.

Third Force Psychology

Humanistic movement opposing psychoanalysis and behaviorism.

Pleasure Principle

Id’s demand for immediate gratification of needs.

Anxiety (Freudian)

Ego’s warning signal when id or superego demands threaten to overwhelm.

Displacement

Redirecting emotional impulses toward a safer substitute target.

Congruence

Match between self-concept and actual experience; goal in Rogers’ theory.

Observed Learning

Acquiring behaviors by watching others (key to Bandura).

Twin Study

Behavior-genetics method comparing identical and fraternal twins.

Dark Triad

Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy – maladaptive trait cluster studied via HEXACO.

Self-Regulation

Ability to control thoughts, feelings, and actions to achieve goals.

Factor Analysis

Statistical technique used by Cattell and others to identify trait dimensions.

Archetype: Shadow

Jung’s archetype representing the dark, repressed aspects of personality.

Archetype: Anima/Animus

Jung’s archetypes of feminine aspects in men and masculine aspects in women.

Latency Period

Freud’s stage where sexual impulses are repressed and same-sex friendships form.