Personality Terms & Definitions for Psychology Study Set

agreeableness

A personality dimension that includes attributes such as trust, altruism, kindness, cooperation, and other prosocial behaviors.

Big Five theory

A model of the primary dimensions of individual differences in personality. The dimensions are usually labeled extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience.

collectivist culture

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

conscientiousness

A personality dimension that describes someone who is responsible, dependable, persistent, and organized.

denial

Defense mechanism by which people refuse to believe or even to perceive painful realities.

displacement

Defense mechanism that shifts negative impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person.

ego

The largely conscious "executive" part of personality that mediates among the demands of the other two parts of the psyche and ultimately operates on what is realistic.

ego defense mechanisms

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

emotional stability

A personality dimension in which a person

extraversion

A personality dimension describing someone who is sociable, gregarious, and assertive.

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.

humanistic psychology

In addition to patterns and characteristics, this perspective aims to understand personality by considering what it is like to be that person, what makes that person essentially himself or herself, and what gives the person's life meaning from the person's own subjective perspective.

id

A reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives, demanding immediate gratification.

openness to experience

A personality dimension that characterizes someone in terms of a sense of curiosity, open-mindedness, and acceptance of novel situations.

personality

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

personality inventories

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

preconscious mind

according to psychodynamic theory, the level of the psyche that contains thoughts, feelings, and impulses not presently in awareness but that can more or less readily called into consciousness

projection

Psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others.

projective test

A personality test, such as the rorschach or tat, that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one's inner dynamics.

psychodynamic theory

View personality with a focus on the unconscious and the importance of childhood experiences.

rationalization

Psychoanalytic defense mechanism that offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one's actions.

reaction formation

Defense mechanism by which the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites. Thus, people may express feelings that are the opposite of their anxiety-arousing unconscious feelings.

reciprocal determinism

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

regression

Defense mechanism in which an individual faced with anxiety retreats to a more infantile psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated.

repression

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

Rorschach test

The most widely used projective test - seeks to identify people's inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of inkblots.

self-actualization

The complete realization of that of which one is capable, involving maximum development of abilities and full involvement in and appreciation for life.

self-concept

One's description and evaluation of oneself, including psychological and physical characteristics, qualities, skills, roles and so forth.

self-efficacy

An individual's subjective perception of his or her capability to perform in a given setting or to attain desired results.

self-esteem

The degree to which the qualities and characteristics contained in one's self-concept are perceived to be positive.

social-cognitive theory

A personality theory stating that our traits and social environments interact with one another and how mental processes such as interpretation further impact our behavior.

sublimation

Defense mechanism by which people re-channel their unacceptable impulses into socially approved activities.

superego

Represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgement (the conscience)and for future aspirations.

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

trait theories

A theory of personality that emphasizes the lasting nature of personal characteristics and an individual's tendency to respond in a certain way in many different kinds of situations.

unconditional positive regard

According to Carl Rogers, an attitude of total acceptance toward another person.

unconscious

According to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories.