Unit 4.2 Vocabulary - Personality

Flashcards on Personality

Personality

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

Psychodynamic theories

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

Unconscious

According to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, & memories; according to contemporary psychologists, information processing of which we are unaware

Id

A reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual & aggressive drives; operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification

Ego

The partly conscious, “executive” part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, the superego, & reality; operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id’s desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain

Superego

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

Defense mechanisms

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

Repression

In psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, & memories (according to Freud, this underlies all other defense mechanisms)

Projective tests

A personality test, such as the TAT or Rorschach, that provides ambiguous images designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics & explore the preconscious & unconscious mind

Thematic apperception test (TAT)

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

Rorschach inkblot test

A projective test designed by Hermann Rorschach that seeks to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing how they interpret 10 inkblots

Humanistic theories

Theories that view personality with a focus on the potential for healthy personal growth

Self-actualization

According to Maslow, one of the ultimate psychological needs that arises after basic physical & psychological needs are met & 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 people develop self-awareness & self-acceptance (also called unconditional regard)

Traits

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

Personality inventories

A questionnaire (often with true-false or agree-disagree items) on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings & behaviors; used to assess selected personality traits

Factor analysis

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

Big Five factors

Five traits - openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, & neuroticism - that describe personality (also called the five-factor model)

Big Five trait of Openness

A person’s level of curiosity, creativity, & preference for variety & novelty

Big Five trait of Conscientiousness

A person’s level of organization, discipline, & achievement-oriented behavior

Big Five trait of Extraversion

A person’s level of sociability, assertiveness, & emotional expressiveness

Big Five trait of Agreeableness

A person’s level of cooperative behavior, compassion for others, & trust

Big Five trait of Neuroticism

A person’s tendency toward negative emotions & emotional stability (sometimes called Emotional Stability rather than Neuroticism)

Social-cognitive perspective

A view of behavior as influenced by the interaction between people’s traits (including their thinking) & their social context

Reciprocal determinism

The interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, & environment

Self

In modern psychology, assumed to be the center of our personality, the organizer of our thoughts, feelings, & actions

Spotlight effect

Overestimating others’ noticing & evaluating our appearance, performance, & blunders (as if we assume a spotlight shines on us)

Self-esteem

Our feelings of high or low self-worth

Self-concept

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

Self-efficacy

Our sense of competence & effectiveness

Individualism

A cultural pattern that emphasizes people’s own goals over group goals & defines identity mainly in terms of unique personal attributes

Collectivism

A cultural pattern that prioritizes the goals of important groups (often one’s extended family or work group)

Motivation

A need or desire that energizes & directs behavior

Instinct

A complex behavior that is rigidly patterned throughout a species & is unlearned (know called the evolutionary perspective)

Physiological need

A basic bodily requirement

Drive-reduction theory

The idea that a physiological need (such as food or water) creates an aroused, motivated state (called a drive, such as hunger or thirst - an internal push) that motivates an organism to satisfy that need

Homeostasis

A tendency to maintain a balanced or constant internal state; the regulation of any aspect of body chemistry, such as blood glucose, around a particular level

Incentive

A positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior (an external pull)

Sensation-seeking theory

Proposes that one’s level of need for varied or novel experiences as the basis for motivation; people with high sensation-seeking motivation may display traits such as experience seeking, thrill or adventure seeking, disinhibition, & boredom susceptibility

Yerkes-Dodson law

The principle that performance increases with arousal only up to a point, beyond which performance decreases

Self-determination theory

Theory that we feel motivated to satisfy our needs for competence, autonomy, & relatedness; includes intrinsic & extrinsic motivation

Affiliation need

The need to build & maintain relationships & to feel part of a group

Intrinsic motivation

Desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake (inherently meaningful or satisfying)

Extrinsic motivation

Desire to perform a behavior to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishments

Approach & avoidance motives

The drive to move toward (approach) or away from (avoid) a stimulus

Glucose

The form of sugar that circulates in the blood & provides the major source of energy for body tissues; when its level is low, we feel hunger

Leptin

Hunger-suppressing hormone secreted by fat cells, causing the brain to increase metabolism

Ghrelin

Hunger-arousing hormone secreted by an empty stomach

Emotion

A response of the whole organism, involving (1) physiological arousal, (2) expressive behaviors, &, most importantly, (3) conscious experience resulting from one’s interpretations

Spillover effect

Tendency of one person’s emotion to affect those around them

Facial feedback effect

The tendency of facial muscle states to trigger corresponding feelings such as anger, fear, or happiness

Broaden-and-build theory of emotion

Proposes that positive emotional experiences tend to broaden awareness & encourage new actions & thoughts; negative emotional experiences tend to reduce awareness & narrow thinking & action

Elicitors

Stimuli or events that trigger emotional responses

Display rules

Culturally & socially determined norms that govern how, when, & where emotions should be expressed