Unit 9 - Personality

Abraham Maslow

recognized as a prominent psychologist known for his "Hierarchy of Needs"

Agreeableness

kindness, trust, altruism, cooperativeness

Big Five Theory

a theory in psychology that identifies five broad dimensions used by some psychologists to describe the human personality and psyche

Conscientiousness

organization, dependability, discipline, goal-oriented behavior

Conscious Mind

contact with outside world

Denial

people refuse to accept or acknowledge an anxiety-producing piece of information

Displacement

the expression of an unwanted feeling or thought it redirected from a more threatening, powerful person to a weaker one

Ego

what everyone sees; integrates and negotiates between ID and superego; controlled by reality principle

Ego-Defense Mechanisms

the ego’s protective psychological methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality

Emotional Stability

a personality trait describing a person's ability to maintain a calm and consistent mood, with minimal fluctuations in emotions

Empathy

sharing and mirroring others’ feelings, relaxing, and fully expressing one’s true self

External Locus of Control

belief that outcomes are due to luck or external forces; linked to learned helplessness; leads to passivity and anxiety

Extraversion

sociability, energy, assertiveness, enthusiasm

Factor Analysis

statistical method procedure that identifies cluster of personality traits; allows researches to use correlations between traits to form clusters and reduces/shows the relationship between the number of variables

Genuiness

open with feelings, transparent, and self-disclosing

Heritability

a statistical measure that estimates how much of the variation in a particular trait within a population can be attributed to genetic differences

Humanistic Psychology

a way of evaluating an individual as a whole, rather than looking at them only through a smaller aspect of their person

Id

unconscious, hidden animalistic wants and desires; controlled by pleasure principle

Internal Locus of Control

belief that personal actions influence outcome; linked to higher motivation and resilience; leads to proactive behavior and better mental health

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

originally to identify emotional disorders, also assesses personality traits; includes 10 clinical scales; objectively scored, but not necessarily valid (social-desirability bias); currently best approximation of basic trait dimensions (applies to many cultures)

Morality Principle

internalized need to comply with authority

Myers Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI)

based on typological theory of Carl Jung’ sensation, intuition, feeling, thinking (one of these is dominant for a person most of the time)

Neuroticism

emotional instability, anxiety, moodiness, sensitivity to stress

Openness to Experience

creativity, curiosity, imagination, open-mindedness, and appreciation of new experiences

Personality/Self-Report Inventories

psychological tests in which a person’s responses to standard questions are compared to established norms

Pleasure Principle

receive instant gratification

Preconscious Mind

material just beneath the surface of awareness

Projection

people attribute unwanted impulses and feelings to someone else

Projective Tests

Psychodynamic Theory

Rationalization

people distort reality in order to justify something that has happened

Reaction Formation

unconscious impulses are accepted as their opposite in conscious

Reality Principle

satisfy id with struggles of reality

Reciprocal Determinism

personalities are shaped by the interaction of our personal traits, our environments, and our behaviors

Regression

people behave as if they were at an earlier stage of development

Repression

unacceptable or unpleasant impulses are pushed back into the unconscious

Rorschach Inkblot Test

a person interprets an ambiguous image; used to stress unconscious motives, conflicts, psychological defenses, personality traits; subjectively scores

Self-Actualizing Tendency

the process of realizing and fulfilling one's potential and capabilities; the highest level of psychological development.

Self-Concept

an understanding you have of yourself that includes elements such as intelligence level, gender identity roles, racial identity roles etc

Self-Efficacy

one’s belief about their capabilities and effectiveness

Self-Esteem

one’s feeling of high or low self-worth

Social-Cognitive Theory

suggests people learn behaviors primarily by observing others within their social environment, where their actions are influenced by a combination of their thoughts, the environment, and their own past experiences

Sublimation

people divert unwanted impulses into socially approved thoughts, feelings, or behaviors

Superego

moral imperatives; controlled by morality principle

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

involved describing ambiguous scenes; popularly known as the “picture interpretation techniques” and one of the most widely researched and clinically used

Trait Theory

focuses on identifying, describing, measuring individual differences in behaviors; observable, measurable - stable characteristics

Unconditional Positive Regard (Acceptance)

attitude of total acceptance toward another person in which value is shown despite failings

Unconscious Mind

hidden, animalistic wants and desires

Unconscious Processes

mental activities that occur without conscious awareness, meaning thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are influenced by factors outside of our conscious perception, often impacting our actions without us realizing it