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

Vocabulary flashcards covering the principal people, concepts, theories, stages, and assessment tools related to personality as presented in Chapter 11 of Discovering Psychology.

Personality

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

Personality Theory

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

Psychoanalytic Perspective

Freud’s view emphasizing unconscious forces, instincts, and early childhood experiences.

Humanistic Perspective

Approach that stresses free will, self-awareness, and psychological growth.

Social Cognitive Perspective

Focuses on conscious thought, self-regulation, and situational influences on behavior.

Trait Perspective

Identifies, describes, and measures individual differences in behavioral predispositions.

Conscious

Thoughts and sensations in immediate awareness.

Preconscious

Information that can be brought to consciousness easily.

Unconscious

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

Id

Completely unconscious component that seeks immediate gratification; ruled by the pleasure principle.

Ego

Partly conscious, rational mediator operating on the reality principle.

Superego

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

Pleasure Principle

Id’s drive to seek pleasure and avoid pain immediately.

Reality Principle

Ego’s capacity to delay gratification until appropriate realities are met.

Ego Defense Mechanisms

Unconscious distortions of reality that reduce anxiety when ego is threatened.

Repression

Excluding anxiety-provoking thoughts from consciousness; basic defense mechanism.

Displacement

Redirecting emotional impulses toward a safer substitute target.

Sublimation

Channeling unacceptable urges into socially productive activities.

Rationalization

Justifying actions with acceptable reasons instead of true motives.

Projection

Attributing one’s own unacceptable urges to others.

Reaction Formation

Behaving in a way opposite to unacceptable impulses.

Denial

Refusing to acknowledge anxiety-provoking information.

Regression

Retreating to behavior typical of an earlier developmental stage.

Psychosexual Stages

Age-related periods in which id energies focus on specific bodily zones.

Oral Stage

First stage where pleasure is centered on the mouth (0–18 months).

Anal Stage

Stage focused on bowel and bladder control (18 months–3 yrs).

Phallic Stage

Stage where pleasure zone is the genitals; includes Oedipus complex (3–6 yrs).

Latency Stage

Period of dormant sexual feelings and same-sex peer focus (6–puberty).

Genital Stage

Mature sexual interests emerge during adolescence.

Fixation

Lingering focus on an earlier psychosexual stage due to unresolved conflict.

Oedipus Complex

Child’s unconscious sexual desire for opposite-sex parent and rivalry with same-sex parent.

Neo-Freudians

Theorists who built on but diverged from Freud’s ideas.

Collective Unconscious

Jung’s concept of shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces (archetypes).

Archetypes

Universal symbolic images in the collective unconscious.

Basic Anxiety

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

Womb Envy

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

Striving for Superiority

Adler’s primary human motive to overcome feelings of inferiority.

Third Force

Humanistic psychology, an alternative to psychoanalysis and behaviorism.

Actualizing Tendency

Rogers’ innate drive to maintain and enhance the organism.

Self-Concept

Total perceptions and beliefs about oneself.

Conditional Positive Regard

Love and acceptance contingent on meeting others’ standards.

Unconditional Positive Regard

Love and acceptance independent of behavior.

Fully Functioning Person

Individual whose self-concept is flexible and congruent with experience.

Social Cognitive Theory

Bandura’s model emphasizing observational learning, cognition, and self-regulation.

Reciprocal Determinism

Mutual influence of behavior, cognitive factors, and environment.

Self-Efficacy

Belief in one’s capability to meet situational demands.

Trait

Relatively stable predisposition to behave in a certain way.

Surface Traits

Observable personality characteristics inferred from behavior.

Source Traits

Basic dimensions underlying surface traits; fewer and more universal.

16 Personality Factor Model

Cattell’s identification of 16 fundamental source traits using factor analysis.

Eysenck’s Three Dimensions

Introversion–extraversion, neuroticism–emotional stability, and psychoticism.

Five-Factor Model (OCEAN)

Trait system of Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism.

Openness to Experience

Imaginative, creative versus conventional, down-to-earth.

Conscientiousness

Organized, hardworking versus lazy, careless.

Extraversion

Sociable, outgoing versus reserved, quiet.

Agreeableness

Trusting, soft-hearted versus antagonistic, ruthless.

Neuroticism

Worrying, emotional versus calm, even-tempered.

HEXACO Model

Six-factor trait model adding honesty–humility to the Big Five.

Honesty–Humility

Sincere, fair, modest versus sly, boastful trait in HEXACO.

Projective Test

Assessment where ambiguous stimuli elicit projection of inner dynamics.

Rorschach Inkblot Test

Projective test using inkblots to uncover unconscious content.

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Projective test involving stories about ambiguous pictures.

Self-Report Inventory

Objective questionnaire comparing responses to standardized norms.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

Widely used self-report tool assessing personality and psychopathology.

California Psychological Inventory (CPI)

Self-report inventory measuring traits in normal populations.

Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

Questionnaire assigning one of 16 personality types based on preferences.

Behavior Genetics

Field studying genetic influences on behavior through relatedness comparisons.

Possible Selves

Vivid images of what one might become, hope to become, or fear becoming.