AP Psychology: Unit 9 (Personality)

ch. 10 of Myers' Psychology for AP, pp. 479-518 + in-class notes

personality

characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, & acting

free association

psychoanalytic method developed by Freud; method of exploring the unconscious by saying whatever comes to mind, no matter how embarrassing

psychoanalysis

attributes thoughts & actions to the unconscious; used to treat psychological disorders

unconscious

a reservoir of unacceptable thoughts, wishes, & feelings; processing of unaware information; Freud believed it was partly composed of the id, ego, and superego

id

unconscious psychic energy to fulfill basic needs; operates on the pleasure principle (based on immediate gratification)

ego

conscious part of the personality; mediates the relationship between the id, ego, and superego and reality; operates on the reality principle (emphasise actions that bring pleasure over pain)

superego

internalised ideals; provides standards for judgement

psychosexual stages

stages theorised by Freud; childhood stages of development based around erogenous zones that are focused on by the id

Oedipus complex

a boy’s sexual attraction towards his mother and hatred towards his rival father

identification

the process by which children incorporate their parent’s values into their superego

fixation

lingering sense of a previous psychosexual stage

defense mechanism

protective methods of the ego to reduce anxiety by distorting reality

repression

banishment of anxiety-inducing thoughts from consciousness

regression

retreating to an earlier, more infantile psychosexual stage

reaction-formation

ego switches unacceptable impulses to their opposites

projection

developing self-justifying explanations in place of the real reasons for actions

displacement

shifting of impulses toward a less threatening object to redirect it

sublimation

re-channelling impulses into more socially acceptable activities

denial

flat-out refusal of events or the perception of painful realities