AP PSYCH-PERSONALITY

personality

an individual’s characteristics pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting; stable and consistent way of thinking

psychodynamic theory

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

psychoanalysis

freud’s theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts

unconscious

a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories; information processing of which we are unaware

preconscious

easily brought into awareness

conscious

what we are aware of

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

the ID

reservoir of unconscious psychic energy, operates on the pleasure principle(demanding immediate gratification, our wants), causes us to feel anxiety

the EGO

mediates the demands of the id, the superego, and reality, operates on the reality principle(satisfying the id’s desires); keeps us together and incheck

the SUPEREGO

partly conscious part of personality that represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgement, strives for perfection which causes us to feel guilt

intrapsychic conflict

an internal, often unconscious, “tug-of-war” between opposing forces within the mind, such as desires, drives, or values; clash between ID(wants), EGO(reason) and, SUPEREGO(judgements)

oral stage

mouth is pleasure center, ID is present, oral fixations may cause people who overeat, alcoholics, smoking, or excessive talking

anal stage

anus is pleasure center, EGO is present

anal-retentive

highly controlled and compulsively neat

anal-expulsive

messy, disorderly, rebellious, and destructive

phallic stage

genitals are the pleasure center, SUPEREGO is present, fixations in this stage cause problems with dealing with authority figures and inability to maintain stable love relationships

latency stage

sexual wants lie dormant, focus on education, same-sex peer play, and social skills and intellectual skills development, refinement of appropriate gender roles

genital stage

genitals becomes pleasure center, lasts for the rest of the person’s life, adolescents seek to fulfill their sexual desires through emotional attachment to members of the opposite sex, fixations in this stage leads to participation in sexual relationships only on lustful desires

defense mechanisms

in psychoanalytic theory, the ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality

freudian slips

occurs when the unconscious seeps through and reveals an anxiety

repression

pushing thoughts into the unconscious

denial

refusing to acknowledge painful realities; ignoring the problem

projection

attributing one’s negative feelings to others; putting your emotions on another

displacement

redirecting emotions from original source to a safer target; physically moving emotions to another

rationalization

creating logical but incorrect explanations

sublimation

transforming negative wants into socially valuable achievements

regression

reverting to earlier developmental stages

non-freudians

disagree with freud on the role of sexual tensions

inferiority complex

if you don’t reach your goals, you develop this

alfred adler

agreed with Freud that childhood was important, but not because of sexual tensions – rather, social tensions

karen horney

focused more on social tensions in childhood and the need for love and security

basic anxiety

if a child felt alone and isolated in a hostile environment and his needs weren’t met; feelings helpless and insecure

carl jung

believes we had a collective unconscious full of common archetypes that help to explain universal experiences and ideas

terror-management theory

a theory of death-related anxiety; people’s emotional and behavior responses to reminders of their impending death, relates to repression

projection test

a personality test, such as the TAT or Rorschach, that provides ambiguous images designed to trigger projections of one’s inner dynamics and explore the preconscious and unconscious mind; does not have a set answer and no answer choices

thematic apperception test(TAT)

a projective test in which people express their inner feeling and interests through stories they make up about ambiguous scenes

Rorschach inkblot test

a projective test seeking to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing how they interpret 10 ink blots

humanistic theories

theories that view personality with a focus on the potential for healthy personal growth; people have a unique presumption of the world

abraham maslow

proposed people are motivates by the hierarchy of needs(HoN)

psychological needs

1st in HoN, water and food

safety needs

2nd in HoN, protection and stability

love and belonging

3rd in HoN, relationships

esteem needs

4th in HoN, self-confidence and independence, respect and acknowledgment of others

self actualization

5th in HoN, desire to accomplish everything that one can; being best self/ reaching your fullest potential

self-transcendence

the striving for identity, meaning, and purpose beyond the self

carl roger’s person-centered perspective

believed people needed a growth-promoting social climate, these environments include empathy, congruence, and unconditional positive regard

empathy

putting yourself in others’ shoes

unconditional positive regard(UPR)

value other people as human beings

congruency

how you act matches how you feel

conditions of worth

opposite of U.P.R, only valuable if they meet a certain condition

self concept

the overall cognitive, conscious representation of oneself, encompassing all beliefs, attitudes, and opinions an individual holds about their own personality, abilities, and physical traits

trait

a characteristic pattern of behavior or disposition to feel and act in a certain way, as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports

cardinal traits

these drives interactions

central traits

things we see in different areas

secondary traits

can’t see inherently, specific areas

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

a test that sorts people into personality types based on Carl Jung’s archetypes

Eysenck Personality inventory

focuses on extraversion-introversion and emotional stability-instability; believes its biological

Personality inventory

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; used to assess selected personality traits

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 test

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

Big Five factors/ five factor model

five traits – openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism – that describe personality

characteristics of openness

imagination, feelings, actions, ideas

characteristics of conscientiousness

competence, self-discipline, thoughtfulness, goal-driven

characteristics of extroversion

sociability, assertiveness, emotional expression

characteristics of agreeableness

cooperative, trustworthy, goal-natured

characteristics of neuroticism

tendency towards unstable emotions

Social-cognitive perspective

a view of behaviors 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

internal locus of control

people think that they control events in their lives through their own efforts; you make things happen

external locus of control

people think the environment and external forces have primary control over their lives; things happen to you

assessment center approach

using simulations to assess one's abilities

self

in modern psychology, assumed to be the center of personality, the organizer of our thoughts, feelings, and actions

spotlight effect

similar to egocentrism; overestimating others noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunders

self esteem

refers to how we feel about ourselves, our feelings of self worth

self efficacy

relates to our sense of competence and how successful we will be in a certain task

self serving bias

a readiness to perceive ourselves favorable

narcissism

excessive self-love and self-absorption

dunning-kruger effect

the most overconfidence are usually the most incompetent

individualism

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

collectivism

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