Chapter 13 (traits and personality)

Trait

A characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act, as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports (Allport and Briggs Myers) (describes personality)

Empirically Derived Test

A test (such as the MMPI) developed by testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminate between groups

Fixate

According to Freud, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved.

Unconscious

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

Self-concept

All our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, "Who am I?" (affects how we view world)

Collective unconscious

Carl Jung's concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species' history

Resistance

In psychoanalysis, the blocking from consciousness of anxiety-laden material

Projection

Psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others (VERBAL/MENTAL)

Bandura

Social-cognitive theory, believed personality is a result of person and social context interaction (reciprocal determinism)

Unconditional Positive Regard

a caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed to be conducive to developing self-awareness and self-acceptance.

Projective test

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

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

Personality inventory

a questionaire (often with true-false or agree-disagree terms) on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors; used to assess selected personality traits

Self-serving bias

a readiness to perceive oneself favorably

Terror-management theory

a theory of death-related anxiety; explores people's emotional and behavioral responses to reminders of their impending death

Oedipus complex

according to Freud, a boy's sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father

Self-actualization

according to Maslow, the ultimate psychological need that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved; the motivation to fulfill one's potential

Personality

an individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting (enduring, distinguished personality)

Karen Horney

anxiety is libido (kids)

Carl Jung

archetypes, persona shown, evolutionary driven by subconscious

Big 5 factors

conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness, neuroticism, extroversion

Id

contains a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives. (PLEASURE principle, demanding immediate gratification)

Denial

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

Rationalization

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

Alfred Adler

filled with insecurities, cope with them which makes strengths

Self

in contemporary psychology, assumed to be the center of personality, the organizer of our thoughts, feelings, and actions

Interpretation

in psychoanalysis, the analyst's noting supposed dream meanings, resistances, and other significant behaviors and events in order to promote insight

Repression

in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness

Defense Mechanisms

in psychoanalytic theory, the ego's protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality

Self-esteem

one's feelings of high or low self-worth

Personal control

our sense of controlling our environment rather than feeling helpless (Social-cognitive psychology)

Spotlight effect

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

Carl Rogers

person-centered perspective, people basically good, need genuineness, acceptance, and empathy to grow

Barnum effect

personality inventories, gullibility of people when reading descriptions of ourselves

Reaction formation

psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites. (express feelings that are the opposite of their anxiety-arousing unconscious feelings)

Regression

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

Displacement

psychoanalytic defense mechanism that shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person, as when redirecting anger toward a safer outlet (PHYSICAL)

Sublimation

re-channel unacceptable impulses towards more acceptable activities

Psychosexual stages

the childhood stages of development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) during which, according to Freud, the id's pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones

Learned helplessness

the hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events (uncontrollable bad events-> perceived lack of control-> generalized helpless behavior)

Reciprocal determinism

the interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment (starts with thoughts)

Ego

the largely conscious, "executive" part of personality that, according to freud, mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality. (REALITY principle, satisfying the id's desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain)

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

the most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests. Originally developed to identify emotional disorders (still considered its most appropriate use), this test is now used for many other screening purposes.

Roschach inkblot test

the most widely used projective test, a set of 10 inkblots, designed by Hermann Roschach; seeks to identify people's inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots.

Superego

the part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations (REAL AND IDEAL/ MORALS)

External locus of control

the perception that chance or outside forces beyond your personal control determine your fate

Internal locus of control

the perception that you control your own fate

Identification

the process by which, according to Freud, children incorporate their parents' values into their developing superegos (identify with rival parent)

Positive psychology

the scientific study of optimal human functioning; aims to discover and promote strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive

Social-cognitive perspective

views behavior as influenced by the interaction between people's traits (including their thinking) and their social context (observational learning, stems from social learning theory)