Flashcards of Theories of Personality

Flashcards of vocabulary associated with theories of personality.

Real-Life Associations

Think of a child mimicking a dance they saw on TikTok to relate to Bandura’s Social Learning Theory.

Storytelling Method

Imagine a movie where characters fit the Hero, the Wise Mentor, or the Trickster to understand Jung’s archetypes.

Psychic Determinism

The idea that all human behavior is influenced by unconscious psychological forces, rather than free will or rational choice.

Levels of Consciousness in Freud’s Iceberg Model

1. Conscious Mind – Thoughts and memories we are aware of. 2. Preconscious Mind – Stored memories that can surface. 3. Unconscious Mind – Repressed desires and conflicts influencing behavior.

Repression

A defense mechanism that pushes unacceptable thoughts or desires into the unconscious to reduce anxiety.

The difference between the unconscious and nonconscious mind

Unconscious (Freud) → Hidden psychological forces influencing behavior. Nonconscious → Automatic bodily functions like breathing and reflexes.

Freud’s three structures of personality

1. Id – Pleasure-seeking, impulsive urges. 2. Ego – Rational self, balancing between the id and superego. 3. Superego – Moral compass, enforcing societal rules.

Conversion hysteria

The idea that unconscious conflicts manifest as physical symptoms (e.g., paralysis, blindness) without medical cause.

Freud's View on Dreams

As a “royal road to the unconscious,” revealing hidden desires in symbolic form.

Manifest Content vs. Latent Content

Manifest Content → The story remembered from the dream. Latent Content → Hidden, unconscious meaning behind the dream.

Freud’s view on hypnosis

Freud observed that hypnosis could induce psychiatric symptoms, leading him to believe unconscious forces shape behavior.

Hedonic Hypothesis

The idea that people seek pleasure and avoid pain, leading to repression of painful thoughts.

Interaction of Freud’s Personality Structures

The id demands gratification, the superego enforces morality, and the ego mediates between them.

Examples of Freud’s Defense Mechanisms

Repression → Blocking distressing thoughts from awareness. Reaction Formation → Expressing opposite emotions. Projection → Attributing personal impulses to others. Displacement → Redirecting impulses to a safer target.

Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious

A universal level of unconscious containing shared mental patterns and symbols called archetypes.

Jung’s difference from Freud regarding personality motivation

Jung believed that personality is shaped by future growth and self-realization, while Freud emphasized early childhood conflicts.

Jung’s two fundamental personality orientations

1. Extroversion – Focused outward on social connections. 2. Introversion – Focused inward on personal thoughts and reflection.

Jung’s Four Psychological Functions

1. Thinking – Logical reasoning. 2. Feeling – Emotion-driven decisions. 3. Sensation – Focus on concrete details. 4. Intuition – Grasping broader meanings beyond logic.

Individuation

The process of integrating conscious and unconscious elements to achieve psychological wholeness.

Jung’s major archetypes

The Hero – Represents courage and mastery. The Wise Sage – Symbolizes wisdom and guidance. The Trickster – Challenges norms, bringing humor and chaos. The Great Mother – Represents nurturing and destruction.

Jung’s concept of the persona

The persona is the social mask individuals wear, shaped by societal expectations and roles.

Jung’s concept of the shadow

The shadow represents repressed aspects of the psyche that conflict with an individual’s self-concept.

Anima and animus

Anima → Feminine traits in a man’s unconscious. Animus → Masculine traits in a woman’s unconscious.

Projection

The unconscious anima or animus is projected onto romantic partners, influencing attraction and emotions.

Jung’s concept of the mandala

Mandalas symbolize psychological wholeness and self-integration—found in spiritual traditions worldwide.

Transference

The unconscious redirection of feelings from past relationships onto the therapist, often resembling parental dynamics.

Countertransference

The therapist’s unconscious emotional reaction to the patient, influenced by the therapist’s own unresolved conflicts.

Freud’s Pleasure Principle

The id operates on the pleasure principle, seeking immediate gratification of desires without concern for reality or consequences.

The reality principle

The ego operates on the reality principle, balancing the id’s impulses with rational decision-making and social rules.

Projective tests

Psychological assessments used to explore the unconscious mind, such as the Rorschach Inkblot Test and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT).

Concept of the self

The self represents the total integrated personality, balancing conscious and unconscious elements through individuation.

Ego inflation

A psychological state where an individual overidentifies with their conscious ego, leading to arrogance or unrealistic self-importance.

Transcendent function

A process where the psyche integrates different aspects, including conflicts between ego and unconscious, to achieve balance.

Role of dreams

Dreams are symbolic messages from the unconscious, revealing unresolved personal and collective archetypal conflicts.

Anima/animus

People project unconscious gendered traits onto romantic partners, influencing attraction and emotional dynamics.

Concept of organ inferiority

The idea that individuals compensate for physical weaknesses by developing strengths in other areas, shaping personality.

Striving for superiority

The drive for self-improvement and achievement, central to personality development.

Influence of social interest

High social interest leads to healthy relationships and well-being, while low social interest contributes to neurosis.

Parenting styles to avoid

Pampering → Overprotects child, creating dependency and insecurity. Neglect → Fails to provide emotional support, leading to distrust and avoidance.

Major social tasks

Career and success, Friendships and community, Intimate relationships.

Outcome if a psychosocial stage is unresolved

Failure to resolve a stage leads to difficulties in future stages, affecting identity, relationships, and emotional development.

Moratorium

A period of exploration, where adolescents delay committing to a single identity to test different paths.

Generativity vs. stagnation

In middle adulthood, individuals either contribute to society (generativity) or experience self-absorption and stagnation.

Wisdom

Wisdom comes from reflecting on life with acceptance, leading to peace and understanding rather than despair.

Horney’s Concept of Basic Anxiety

The deep fear of isolation and helplessness that arises when childhood emotional needs are unmet.

How Basic Hostility Develops

When a child’s needs are neglected, they repress anger, leading to inner conflict and neurotic behaviors.

Horney’s Three Neurotic Solutions

1. Moving toward people – Seeking love and approval excessively. 2. Moving against people – Aggressive, domineering behavior to gain power. 3. Moving away from people – Detachment, avoiding relationships to protect oneself.

How Horney Challenged Freud’s views on gender

She rejected penis envy, arguing that women envy social privileges, not anatomy.

Sublimation

Transforming unacceptable impulses into socially beneficial activities (e.g., aggression → sports, desire → art).

Motivation in personality

Stimuli that encourage one to start or stop a particular behavior.

Model studying components one at a time

The idiographic approach.

Technique to allow conflict to surface

Free association in psychoanalysis

Epigenetic principle

Personality develops in sequential stages, influenced by biological and social factors.

Jung’s concept of the persona

The persona is the social mask individuals wear, shaped by societal expectations and roles.

influence of social interest

Social interest leads to healthy relationships and well-being, while low social interest contributes to neurosis.

The three major social tasks

Career and success, Friendships and community, Intimate relationships.

Womb Envy

Horney’s theory that men unconsciously envy women’s ability to give birth, leading them to compensate through career achievements.

Free association

A technique where patients say whatever comes to mind, allowing unconscious conflicts to surface.

Aid of transference in therapy

By projecting old emotional conflicts onto the therapist, patients reveal unresolved issues that can be addressed.

Cognitive restructuring

A modern therapy approach where patients reframe negative thoughts, replacing them with healthier beliefs.

Erikson's theory

Therapists help clients resolve past developmental conflicts, strengthening ego strengths like identity or intimacy.

Function of a case study

It involves intensive and direct investigations of single individuals.

Innate tendencies toward personality

Temperament

Group with common personality characteristics

A Type

Lack of a criterion for theory

verifiability

Fundamental aspect focusing on motivation

Dynamics

Jung’s Rational Functions

Thinking and Feeling

Freud's levels of consciousness

Conscious, preconscious, unconscious.

Proposer of inferiority complex

Alfred Adler.

Suggests ment have 'womb envy'

Karen Horney.

psychosexual stage associated with orderliness

The anal stage.

Psychological conflict and defense mechanisms

Classical psychoanalysis.

How Adler's theory addresses individual differences

Individuals differ in their goals and how they pursue them based on their style of life.

Social interest required for health theorist

Alfred Adler.

How Adler addresses culture

Society—especially through schools—shapes people through social roles, including gender roles.

Male person embracing anima traits

Integrating emotional and nurturing characteristics.

How Jung’s personal unconsciousness explains behavior

Through involving the anima/animus, the shadow, family conflicts, and past experiences that shape behavior.

Self-effacing solution theorist

Karen Horney.

critic of catering to a child's demand

Alfred Adler.

One of the three pillars of positive psychology

Positive states.

Who describes personality as product of heredity and environment

Gordan Allport.

Evolved psychological mechanism theorist

Behavioral imitation.

how Rogers's actualizing tendency contrasts with freud

Rogers's humanistic view is more positive than Freud's psychoanalytic view.

true regarding similarity of people's needs

People have similar level-one needs but different level-five needs.

How Maslow's hierarchy of needs leads to happiness and serenity

By easing stagnation through striving toward new levels.

Innate learning trait of intelligence

Fluid intelligence.

Characterizes the HEXACO model

It adds a sixth factor related to modesty to the Five-Factor Model.

Dynamic trait demonstrated by education

Metaerg.

Five-Factor Model trait avoided when avoiding conflict

Extraversion.