Personality Terms

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 embarrassing

psychoanalysis

Sigmund 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

id

a reservoir of unconscious, psychic energy that strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives

ego

a largely conscious executive part of the personality that mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality

superego

the part of the personality that represents internalized ideals, and provides standards for judgement

psychosexual stages

the childhood stages of development during which the id’s pleasure

Oedipus Complex

a boy’s sexual desires towards his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred towards rival father

identification

the process by which children incorporate their parents values into their developing superegos

fixation

a lingering focus of pleasure seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage in which conflicts were unresolved

defense mechanism

the ego’s protective methods for reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality

repression

the basic defense mechanism that banishes from consciousness anxiety arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories

psychodynamic theories

modern day approaches that view personality with a focus on unconscious and the importance of childhood experiences

collectivism

giving priority to the goals of one's group and defining one's identity accordingly

projective tests

a personality test such as the Rorschach that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one's inner dynamics

TAT

a projective test in which people project their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes

inkblot test

most widely used projective test, a set of 10 inkblots, seeks to identify people's inner feelings by analyzing their interpretation of the blots

individualism

giving priority to one's own goals over group goals

narcissism

excessive self love and self absorption

humanistic theories

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

self actualization

one of the ultimate psychological needs that arrives after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self esteem is achieved

unconditional positive regard

the caring, accepting, non judgemental attitude that helps clients develop self awareness and self acceptance 

self concept

all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves in an answer to the question “who am I”

trait

a characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act as assessed by a self report and peer reports

personality inventory

a questionnaire on which people respond to items meant to gauge a wide array of feelings and behaviors, used to assess selected personality traits

MN Multiphasic Personality Inventory

the most widely researched and used personality test

self serving bias

a readiness to perceive oneself favorably

social cognitive perspective

views behavior as influenced by the interaction between people’s traits and their social context

behavioral approach

in personality theory, this perspective focuses on the effects of learning on our personality and development

reciprocal determinism

the interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment

positive psychology

scientific study of human functioning with the goals of discovering and promoting strength and virtues that help individuals and communities to thrive

self

assumed to be the center of personality, the organizer of thoughts, feelings and actions

spotlight effect

overestimating others noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunders

self esteem

one's feelings of high or low self worth

self efficacy

one's sense of competence and effectiveness