UNIT 1: personality vocabulary

personality

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

free association

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

unconscious

A reservoir (unconscious mind) of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories.

id

unconsciously strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives, operating on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification.

ego

functions as the "executive" and mediates the demands of the id and superego.

superego

provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations.

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

Oedipus complex

A boy's sexual desire for his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father. A girl's desire for her father is called the Electra complex.

identification

Children cope with threatening feelings by repressing them and by identifying with the rival parent. Through this process of identification, their superego gains strength that incorporates their parents' values.

fixation

according to Freud, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved

defense mechanisms

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

repression

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

projective test

a personality test, such as the Rorschach or TAT, that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one's inner dynamics (unconscious)

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Developed by Henry Murray, the TAT is a projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes.

Rorschach inkblot test

The most widely used projective test uses a set of 10 inkblots and was designed by Hermann Rorschach. It seeks to identify people's inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots.

false consensus effect

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

terror-management theory

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

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 to fulfill one's potential

unconditional positive regard

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

self-concept

All of our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in an answer to the question, "Who am I?"

trait

An individual's unique constellation of durable dispositions and consistent ways of behaving

empirically derived test

a test (such as the MMPI) developed by testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminate between groups

social-cognitive perspective

Bandura (1986, 2001, 2005) believes that personality is the result of an interaction that takes place between a person and their social context.

reciprocal determinism*

the interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment

self

in contemporary psychology, assumed to be the center of personality, the organizer of our thoughts, feelings, and actions

spotlight effect

the belief that others are paying more attention to our appearance and behavior than they really are

self-esteem

how much you value, respect, and feel confident about yourself

self-efficacy

one's sense of competence and effectiveness

self-serving bias

the tendency for people to take personal credit for success but blame failure on external factors