AP PSYCH UNIT 4 V2

Personality

An individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.

Psychodynamic theories

Theories that view personality with a focus on the unconscious mind and the importance of childhood experiences.

Psychoanalysis

Freud's theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts.

Unconscious

A reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories.

Free association

A method in psychoanalysis for exploring the unconscious, where a person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind.

Id

A reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives.

Ego

The partly conscious 'executive' part of personality that mediates among the demands of the id, the superego, and reality.

Superego

The partly conscious part of personality that represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment.

Defense mechanisms

Ego's protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality.

Repression

The basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness.

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.

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

A projective test where people express their inner feelings through stories about ambiguous scenes.

Projective test

A personality test that provides ambiguous images designed to trigger projection of one's inner dynamics.

Rorschach inkblot test

A projective test seeking to identify people's inner feelings by analyzing their interpretation of inkblots.

Humanistic theories

Theories that focus on the potential for healthy personal growth.

Hierarchy of needs

Maslow's levels of human needs, often visualized as a pyramid.

Self-actualization

The motivation to fulfill one's potential after basic physical and psychological needs are met.

Self-transcendence

The striving for identity, meaning, and purpose beyond the self.

Unconditional positive regard

A caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude that helps people develop self-awareness and self-acceptance.

Self-concept

All our thoughts and feelings about ourselves in response to 'Who am I?'

Trait

A characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act in certain ways.

Personality inventory

A questionnaire designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

The most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests.

Empirically derived test

A test created by selecting items that discriminate between groups.

Big Five factors

Five traits - openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism - that describe personality.

Social-cognitive perspective

A view of behavior influenced by the interaction between people's traits and their social context.

Behavioral approach

Focuses on the effects of learning on personality development.

Reciprocal determinism

The interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment.

Self

In modern psychology, assumed to be the center of personality.

Spotlight effect

Overestimating others' noticing and evaluating our appearance and performance.

Self-esteem

Feelings of high or low self-worth.

Self-efficacy

Sense of competence and effectiveness.

Self-serving bias

A readiness to perceive ourselves favorably.

Narcissism

Excessive self-love and self-absorption.

Individualism

A cultural pattern emphasizing individual goals over group goals.

Collectivism

A cultural pattern that prioritizes the goals of important groups.

Motivation

A need or desire that energizes and directs behavior.

Instinct

A complex behavior rigidly patterned throughout a species.

Physiological need

A basic bodily requirement.

Drive-reduction theory

The idea that a physiological need creates an aroused state that motivates an organism to satisfy the need.

Homeostasis

The tendency to maintain a balanced internal state.

Incentive

A positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior.

Yerkes-Dodson law

The principle that performance increases with arousal only up to a point.

Affiliation need

The need to build and maintain relationships and feel part of a group.

Self-determination theory

The theory that we feel motivated to satisfy our needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness.

Intrinsic motivation

The desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake.

Extrinsic motivation

The desire to perform a behavior to receive rewards or avoid punishment.

Ostracism

Deliberate social exclusion of individuals or groups.

Achievement motivation

A desire for significant accomplishment or mastery of skills.

Grit

Passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals.

Glucose

The form of sugar that provides energy for body tissues.

Set point

The weight thermostat point at which hunger and metabolic rate are regulated.

Basal metabolic rate

The body's resting rate of energy output.

Obesity

Defined as a body mass index (BMI) measurement of 30 or higher.

Emotion

A response involving physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience.

Polygraph

A machine used to detect lies by measuring emotion-linked changes.

Facial feedback effect

The tendency of facial muscle states to trigger corresponding feelings.

Behavior feedback effect

The tendency of behavior to influence thoughts, feelings, and actions.