Module 56: Psychodynamic Theories

What are psychodynamic theories?

Modern-day approaches that view personality with a focus on the unconscious and the importance of childhood experiences

What is Alfred Adler’s inferiority complex?

Feelings of inadequacy and insecurity that drive a person to strive for superiority

What were the beliefs of Karen Horney?

Childhood anxiety triggers our desires for love and security

What was Carl Jung’s collective unconscious?

A shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species’ history

What is a projective test?

A personality test that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics

What is Henry Murray’s Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)?

A projective test in which people express their inner feelingsand interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes

What is the Rorschach inkblot test?

The most widely used projective test that seeks to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of inkblots

What is the false consensus effect?

The tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors

What is terror-management theory?

A theory of death-related anxiety that explores people’s emotional and behavioral responses to reminders or their impending death