AP Psychology Units 10+11

Collective Unconscious

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

Collectivism

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

Defense mechanism

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

Displacement

The transfer of feelings or behavior from their original object to another person or thing

Ego

The largely unconscious, “executive” part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality

Empirically derived test

A test developed by testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminate between groups

External locus of control

The perception that chance or outside forces beyond our personal control determine our fate

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

Id

A reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives. Entirely in the unconscious

Identification

The process by which, according to Freud, children incorporate their parents’ values into their developing superegos

Individualism

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

Internal locus of control

The perception that you control your own fate

Learned helplessness

The hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

The most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests

Oedipus Complex

According to Freud, a boy’s sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealous and hatred for the rival father

Personal control

A person’s beliefs about how well he or she can bring about good events and avoid bad events

Personality

An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting

Personality Inventory

A questionnaire on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors

Projection

In psychoanalytic and psychodynamic theories, the process by which one attributes one’s own individual positive or negative traits, affects, and impulses to another person or group

Projective test

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

Psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud’s theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts

Psychosexual stages

The childhood stages of development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) during which, according to Freud, the id’s pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones

Rationalization

An ego defense in which apparently logical reasons are given to justify unacceptable behavior

Reaction formation

In psychoanalytic theory, a defense mechanism in which unacceptable or threatening impulses are denied and are replaced in consciousness with their opposite

Reciprocal determinism

The interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment

Regression

A return to a prior, lower state of cognitive, emotional, or behavioral functioning

Repression

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

Rorschach Inkblot Test

A projective technique designed to interpret the participant’s personality structure in terms of several factors

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 is to fulfill one’s potential

Self-concept

All our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, “Who am I?”

Self-esteem

One’s feelings of high or low self-worth

Self-serving bias

A readiness to perceive oneself favorably

Social-cognitive perspective

Views behavior as influenced by the interaction between people’s traits and their social context

Spotlight effect

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

Superego

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

Terror-management theory

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

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

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

Trait

A characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act, as assessed by self-report inventories and peer-reports

Unconditional positive regard

A caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed would help clients to develop self-awareness and self-acceptance

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

Alfred Binet

Pioneer in intelligence (IQ) tests; designed a test to identify slow learners in need of help

Aptitude test

A test designed to predict a person’s future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn

Charles Spearman

Argued that intelligence could be expressed by a single factor “g”, or general intelligence

Content validity

The extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest

Creativity

The ability to produce novel and valuable ideas

David Wechsler

Developed WAIS and WISC intelligence tests

Down Syndrome

A condition of mild to severe intellectual disability and associated physical disorders caused by an extra chormosome

Emotional intelligence

The ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions

Factor analysis

A statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie a person’s total score

General intelligence (g)

A general intelligence factor that, according to Spearman and others, underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test

Howard Gardner

Devised theory of multiple intelligences: logical-mathematic, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, intrapersonal, linguistic, musical, interpersonal, naturalistic

Intelligence

Mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use info to adapt to new situations

Intelligence quotient

Defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100

Intelligence test

A method for assessing an individual’s mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores

Lewis Terman

Revised Binet’s IQ test; established norms for American Children

LL Thurstone

Proposed that intelligence consisted of 7 different primary mental abilities

Mental age

A measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance

Mental retardation

Condition characterized by significant limitations both in intellectual functioning and in conceptual, social, and practical adaptive skills

Normal curve

A symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many types of data

Predictive validity

The success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict (also called criterion-related validity)

Reliability

The extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on 2 halves of the test, on alternate forms of the test, or on retesting

Robert Sternberg

Devised the triarchic theory of intelligence (academic problem-solving, practical, and creative)

Savant Syndrome

A condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill

Standardization

Defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with performance of a pretested group

Stanford-Binet

The widely-used American revision of Binet’s original intelligence test

Stereotype threat

A self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype

Validity

The extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

The most widely used intelligence test; contains verbal and performance subtests

Denial

Not accepting the ego-threatening truth

Intellectualization

Undertaking an academic, unemotional study of a topic (defense mechanism)

Sublimation

Channeling one’s frustration toward a different goal

Nomothetic Theories

The same traits can be used to describe all people’s personalities

Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness to Experience, Emotional Stability

Big Five personality traits

Idiographic Theorists

Using the same set of traits to classify everyone is impossible.

Somatotype Theory

Endomorphs(Fat) tend to be friendly and outgoing. Mesomorphs(Muscular) tend to be more aggressive. Ectomorphs(Thin) tend to be more shy and secretive.

Severely Challenged(<1%): 40-54, Challenged(2.3%): 55-69, Below Average: 70-84, Average(68%): 85-114, Above Average: 115-129, Gifted(2.3%): 130-144, Genius(<1%): 145-159, Extraordinary Genius: 160-175

What is each Intelligence Interval’s Cognitive Designation?

Social Intelligence

The know-how involved in comprehending social situations and managing oneself successfully

Achievement Test

A test designed to assess what a person has learned

Criterion

Behavior that a test is designed to predict

Heritability

The proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes