AP Psych 4.B

4.4 Psychoanalytic & Humanistic Theories of Personality

- Defense mechanisms: Psychological strategies used by individuals to cope with reality and maintain self-image.

- Denial: A defense mechanism where an individual refuses to accept reality or facts, thus blocking external events from awareness.

- Displacement: A defense mechanism that involves redirecting emotions from a threatening target to a safer one.

- Ego: The part of the personality that mediates between the desires of the id and the realities of the external world.

- Humanistic psychology: A psychological perspective that emphasizes the study of the whole person and the uniqueness of each individual.

- Personality: The combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual's distinctive character.

- Preconscious: The part of the mind that contains thoughts and feelings that are not currently in conscious awareness but can be easily brought to consciousness.

- Projection: A defense mechanism where individuals attribute their own unacceptable thoughts and feelings to others.

- Projective tests: Psychological tests that use ambiguous stimuli to elicit responses that reflect the test-taker's personality.

- Psychoanalysis: A therapeutic approach that seeks to explore the unconscious mind and its influence on behavior.

- Psychodynamic theory: A theory of psychology that emphasizes the interplay of unconscious psychological processes and their effects on behavior.

- Rationalization: A defense mechanism that involves offering logical explanations for behaviors that were actually motivated by emotional factors.

- Reaction formation: A defense mechanism where an individual behaves in a way that is opposite to their true feelings.

- Regression: A defense mechanism where an individual reverts to an earlier stage of development in response to stress.

- Repression: A defense mechanism that involves unconsciously blocking unacceptable thoughts and feelings from awareness.

- Self-actualization: The realization or fulfillment of one's talents and potential, often considered as a drive or need in humanistic psychology.

- Sublimation: A defense mechanism that involves channeling unacceptable impulses into socially acceptable activities.

- Unconditional regard: Acceptance and support of a person regardless of what the person says or does, a key concept in humanistic psychology.

- Unconscious: The part of the mind that is inaccessible to the conscious mind but affects behavior and emotions.

- Unconscious processes: Mental processes that occur without conscious awareness, influencing thoughts and behaviors.

4.5 Social-Cognitive & Trait Theories of Personality

- Agreeableness: A personality trait that reflects how well a person gets along with others, characterized by trust and altruism.

- Big Five theory: A model that outlines five broad dimensions of personality: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.

- Conscientiousness: A personality trait that reflects how organized, dependable, and disciplined an individual is.

- Emotional Stability: A measure of how stable or consistent a person's emotions are, often related to the trait of neuroticism.

- Extraversion: A personality trait characterized by sociability, talkativeness, and assertiveness.

- Factor analysis: A statistical method used to identify underlying relationships between variables, often used in personality research.

- MMPI: Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, a psychological assessment that evaluates personality traits and psychopathology.

- Openness to experience: A personality trait that reflects a person's willingness to engage with new ideas, experiences, and creativity.

- Neuroticism: A personality trait characterized by emotional instability and a tendency toward anxiety and moodiness.

- Personality inventories: Standardized questionnaires designed to measure various aspects of personality.

- Reciprocal determinism: A concept in social-cognitive theory that suggests behavior, personal factors, and environmental factors interact to shape personality.

- Self-concept: An individual's perception of themselves, including beliefs about their own personality and abilities.

- Self-efficacy: The belief in one's ability to succeed in specific situations or accomplish tasks.

- Self-esteem: An individual's overall subjective evaluation of their own worth.

- Social-cognitive theory: A theory that emphasizes the role of observational learning, social experience, and reciprocal determinism in personality development.

- Trait theory: A psychological approach that focuses on the identification and measurement of individual personality characteristics.

4.6 Motivation

- Affiliation: The desire to form social bonds and relationships with others.

- Approach-approach conflicts: A type of conflict that occurs when a person must choose between two desirable options.

- Approach-avoidance conflicts: A conflict that arises when a person is faced with a decision that has both positive and negative consequences.

- Arousal theory: A theory suggesting that people are motivated to maintain an optimal level of arousal, which can affect performance.

- Avoidance-avoidance conflicts: A conflict that occurs when a person must choose between two undesirable options.

- Belonging: The human emotional need to be an accepted member of a group.

- Boredom susceptibility: A personality trait that reflects an individual's tendency to experience boredom easily.

- Disinhibition: A decrease in restraint or inhibition, often leading to impulsive behavior.

- Drive-reduction theory: A theory of motivation suggesting that behavior is motivated by the desire to reduce internal tension caused by unmet biological needs.

- Extrinsic motivation: Motivation driven by external rewards such as money, fame, or praise.

- Ghrelin: A hormone that stimulates appetite and is involved in regulating energy balance.

- Homeostasis: The process by which biological systems maintain stability while adjusting to changing external conditions.

- Hypothalamus: A region of the brain that regulates various bodily functions, including hunger and thirst.

- Incentive: A positive or negative environmental stimulus that motivates behavior.

- Incentive theory: A theory of motivation that suggests behavior is driven by the desire for external rewards.

- Instincts: Innate biological patterns of behavior that are characteristic of a species.

- Intrinsic motivation: Motivation driven by internal rewards, such as personal satisfaction or a sense of achievement.

- Lateral hypothalamus (LH): A part of the hypothalamus that is involved in stimulating hunger.

- Leptin: A hormone that helps to regulate energy balance and inhibit hunger.

- Lewin’s motivational conflicts theory: A theory that outlines the various types of conflicts that can arise in motivation.

- Motivation: The process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-oriented behaviors.

- Optimal level of arousal: The ideal level of arousal for peak performance, which varies by individual and task.

- Pituitary gland: A gland in the brain that regulates various hormonal functions and is often referred to as the 'master gland.'

- Self-determination theory: A theory that emphasizes the role of intrinsic motivation in driving behavior and personal growth.

- Sensation-seeking: The tendency to seek out new and intense experiences.

- Thrill and adventure seeking: A specific type of sensation-seeking characterized by the pursuit of risky and exciting activities.

- Ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH): A part of the hypothalamus that is involved in signaling satiety and reducing hunger.

- Yerkes-Dodson Law: A principle that suggests there is an optimal level of arousal for performance, with too little or too much arousal leading to decreased performance.

4.7 Emotion

- Affect: A term that refers to the experience of feeling or emotion.

- Broaden-and-build theory: A theory suggesting that positive emotions broaden an individual's awareness and encourage novel, varied, and exploratory thoughts and actions.

- Cognitive appraisal theory: A theory that emphasizes the role of an individual's evaluation of a situation in determining their emotional response.

- Display rule: Socially learned cues that dictate the appropriate expression of emotions in different contexts.

- Elicitor: A stimulus or event that provokes an emotional response.

- Emotion: A complex psychological state that involves a subjective experience, physiological response, and behavioral or expressive response.

- Emotional cognition: The process by which emotions influence and shape our thoughts and perceptions.

Facial-Feedback Hypothesis suggests that facial expressions can influence emotional experiences