AP Psychology Personality Review

Psychoanalytic

perspective developed by freud, which assumes that psychological problems are the result of anxiety resulting from unresolved conflicts and forces of which a person might be unaware

Psychodyamic

focuses on the role of our unconscious thoughts, feelings, and memories and our early childhood experiences in determining behavior

Humanistic

How we meet our needs for love and acceptance and achieve self-fulfillment

Trait Theory

A theory of personality that focuses on identifying, describing, and measuring individual differences in behavioral predispositions

social cognitive

referring to the use of cognitive processes in relation to understanding the social world

Sigmund Freud

Austrian physician whose work focused on the unconscious causes of behavior and personality formation; founded psychoanalysis.

Alfred Adler

Neo-Freudian; introduced concept of "inferiority complex" and stressed the importance of birth order

Karen Horney

1885-1952; Field: neo-Freudian, psychodynamic; Contributions: criticized Freud, stated that personality is molded by current fears and impulses, rather than being determined solely by childhood experiences and instincts, neurotic trends

Carl Jung

1875-1961; Field: neo-Freudian, analytic psychology; Contributions: people had conscious and unconscious awareness; archetypes; collective unconscious; libido is all types of energy, not just sexual; Studies: dream studies/interpretation

Carl Rogers

1902-1987; Field: humanistic; Contributions: founded person-centered therapy, theory that emphasizes the unique quality of humans especially their freedom and potential for personal growth, unconditional positive regard, fully functioning person

Abraham Maslow

Humanistic psychologist known for his "Hierarchy of Needs" and the concept of "self-actualization"

Albert Bandura

pioneer in observational learning (AKA social learning), stated that people profit from the mistakes/successes of others; Studies: Bobo Dolls-adults demonstrated 'appropriate' play with dolls, children mimicked play

Gordon Allport

1897-1967; Field: trait theory of personality; Contributions: list of 11,000 traits, 3 levels of traits-cardinal, central, and secondary

Collectivism/Interdependence

giving priority to the goals of one's group (often one's extended family or work group) and defining one's identity accordingly

individualism/independence

giving priority to one's own goals over group goals and defining one's identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications

Dunning-Kruger Effect

The tendency for unskilled individuals to overestimate their own ability and the tendency for experts to underestimate their own ability.

secure self-esteem

less fragile, less contingent on external evaluations, and more likely to achieve a greater quality of life

reciprocal determinism

the interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment

spotlight effect

overestimating others' noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunders (as if we presume a spotlight shines on us)

pessimistic explanatory style

Accounting for negative events or situations with internal, stable, and global explanations

narcissism

excessive self-love and self-absorption

Extraversion

A personality dimension describing someone who is sociable, gregarious, and assertive

Introversion

dimension of personality in which people tend to withdraw from excessive stimulation

self-perception

when we use our own behavior as a guide to help us determine our own thoughts and feelings

low self-esteem

Discounting positive information and assuming the worst about self, situation, and the future- cause negativity toward others

high self esteem

more apt to handle failure better, emphasize the positive and to take more risks

self-serving bias

the tendency for people to take personal credit for success but blame failure on external factors

Electra complex

Conflict during phallic stage in which girls supposedly love their fathers romantically and want to eliminate their mothers as rivals

Oedipus complex

according to Freud, a boy's sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father

possible selves

representations of what we could become, what we would like to become, and what we are afraid of becoming

social cognition theory

predicts our future behavior based on past experiences and ways of acting

biopsychosocial theory

the theory that the interaction of biological, psychological, and cultural factors influences the intensity and duration of pain

walter mischel

Believes human behaviour is largely determined by the situation rather than traits

person-situation controversy

the question of whether behavior is caused more by personality or by situational factors

yes

do personality traits remain relatively stable over time

fixation

according to Freud, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved

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

factor analysis

a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (called factors) on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie a person's total score.

Hypnosis

a social interaction in which one person suggests to another that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will spontaneously occur

repression

in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories

Rationalization

defense mechanism that offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one's actions

reaction formation

psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites. Thus, people may express feelings that are the opposite of their anxiety-arousing unconscious feelings.

projection

psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others

Regression

psychoanalytic defense mechanism in which an individual faced with anxiety retreats to a more infantile psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated

Displacement

psychoanalytic defense mechanism that shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person, as when redirecting anger toward a safer outlet

identification

bolstering self-esteem by forming an imaginary or real alliance with some person or group

Sublimation

replacing socially unacceptable impulses with socially acceptable behavior

unconscious

according to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. According to contemporary psychologists, information processing of which we are unaware.

Preconscious

in Freud's theory, the level of consciousness in which thoughts and feelings are not conscious but are readily retrieveable to consciousness

Rorschach inkblot test

the most widely used projective test, a set of 10 inkblots, designed by Hermann Rorschach; seeks to identify people's inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots

TAT projective test

a projective test in which subjects look at and tell a story about ambiguous pictures

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.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

a personality test that taps four characteristics and classifies people into 1 of 16 personality types

ego

the largely conscious, "executive" part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality. The ego operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id's desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain.

Id

a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives.

Superego

the part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations

oral, anal, phallic, latency, gential

Freud's psychosexual stages

latent content of dreams

According to Freud, the "disguised" meanings of dreams, hidden by more obvious subjects

reality principle

tendency of the ego to postpone gratification until it can find an appropriate outlet

collective unconscious

Carl Jung's concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species' history

terror management theory

a theory of death-related anxiety; explores people's emotional and behavioral responses to reminders of their impending death

self-actualization

according to Maslow, one of the ultimate psychological needs that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved; the motivation to fulfill one's potential

eyesnck trait continuum theory

biological predispositions and socialization during childhood creates our personality