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personality

individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, acting

psychodynamic theories

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

psychoanalysis

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

• freud’s therapeutic technique — free associations released repressed feelings, allowing self-insight

unconscious

• freud — unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, memories

• psychologists — unaware info processing

free association

method of exploring unconscious in which person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how unimportant or embarrassing

id

reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that wants to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive impulses

• pleasure principle — immediate gratification

ego

partly conscious ‘executive’ part of personality that balances demands of id, superego, reality

• reality principle — satisfy id while balancing consequences

superego

partly conscious part that represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment, future goals

psychosexual stages

childhood stages of development

• oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital

• id’s pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones

oedipus complex

boy’s sexual desires toward mother, feelings of jealousy and hatred for rival father

identification

process where kids incorporate parents’ values into developing superegos

fixation

• cognition: inability to see a problem from a new perspective; obstacle to problem solving

• psychoanalytic theory: lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, where conflicts were unresolved

defense mechanisms

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

repression

psychoanalytic theory; basic defense mechanism that banishes form unconsciousness the thoughts, feelings, memories that arouse anxiety

collective unconscious

Carl Jung’s concept of shared, inherited group of memories from our species’ history

projective test

personality test that gives ambiguous images to trigger projection of test-taker’s unconscious thoughts or feelings

thematic apperception test

projective test where people express their inner feelings and interests through stories they make up about ambiguous scenes

rorschach inkblot test

projective test designed by Rorschach; identifies inner feelings by analyzing how they interpret 10 inkblots

hierarchy of needs

Maslow: 5 levels of human needs

self-actualization

Maslow; psychological need after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved; motivation to fulfill potential

self-transcedence

Maslow; strive for identity, meaning, purpose beyond self

unconditional positive regard

caring, accepting, nonjudgemental attitude by Carl Rogers

self-concept

all thoughts and feelings about ourselves

trait

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

factor

cluster of behavior tendencies that occur together

personality inventory

questionnaire which people respond to items designed to gauge wide range of feelings and behaviors; used to assess selected personality traits

self-report

method of recording participants’ descriptions of their personality traits, often used in surveys, questionnaires, tests

MMPI

most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests; og to identify emotional disorders

big 5 factors

openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism

social-cognitive perspective

view of behavior as influenced by the interaction between persons and social context

reciprocal determinism

interacting influences of behavior, internal personal factors, environment

self-efficacy

our sense of competence and effectiveness

self

center of personality, organizing thoughts, feelings, actions

spotlight effect

overestimating others’ noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, blunders

self-esteem

feelings of high or low self-worth

narcissism

excessive self-love, absorption

self-serving bias

perceiving ourselves favorably

individualism

cultural pattern that emphasizes people’s individual goals over group goals and defines identity in terms of unique personal traits

collectivism

giving priority to the goals of our group and defining our identity accordingly