Personality: Theory and Measurement

Oedipus Complex

A conflict of the phallic stage in which the boy wishes to possess his mother sexually and perceives his father as a rival in love.

Electra Complex

A conflict of the phallic stage in which the girl longs for her father and resents her mother.

Repression

A defense mechanism that protects the person from anxiety by ejecting anxiety-evoking ideas and impulses from awareness.

Ego Identity

A firm sense of who one is and what one stands for.

Latency

A phase of psychosexual development characterized by repression of sexual impulses.

Creative Self

According to Adler, the self-aware aspect of personality that strives to achieve its full potential.

Individual Psychology

Adler's psychodynamic theory, which emphasizes feelings of inferiority and creative self.

Drive for Superiority

Adler's term for the desire to compensate for feelings of inferiority.

Erogenous Zone

An area of the body that is sensitive to sexual sensations.

Archetypes

Basic, primitive images or concepts hypothesized by Jung to reside in collective unconscious.

Preconscious

Capable of being brought into awareness by simple focusing of attention.

Reality Principle

Consideration of what is practical and possible in gratifying needs; the governing principle of ego.

Psychosocial Development

Erikson's theory of personality and development, which emphasizes social relationships and eight stages of growth.

Inferiority Complex

Feelings of inferiority hypothesized by Adler to serve as a central motivating force.

Psychoanalysis

Freud's method of exploring human personality.

Psychic Structure

In psychodynamic theory, a hypothesized mental structure that helps explain different aspects of behavior.

Defense Mechanism

In psychodynamic theory, an unconscious function of the ego that protects it from anxiety-evoking material by preventing accurate recognition of this material.

Fixation

In psychodynamic theory, arrested development; attachment to objects of an earlier stage.

Unconscious

In psychodynamic theory, not available to awareness by simple focusing or attention.

Eros

In psychodynamic theory, the basic instinct to preserve and perpetuate life.

Libido

In psychodynamic theory, the energy of eros; the sexual instinct. Generally, sexual interest or drive.

Psychosexual Development

In psychodynamic theory, the process by which libidinal energy is expressed through different erogenous zones during different stages of development.

Identification

In psychodynamic theory, the unconscious adoption of another person's behavior.

Collective Unconscious

Jung's hypothesized store of vague racial memories.

Analytical Psychology

Jung's psychodynamic theory, which emphasizes the collective unconscious and archetypes.

Conscious

Self-aware.

Psychodynamic Theory

Sigmund Freud's perspective, which emphasizes the importance of unconscious motives and conflicts as forces that determine behavior. Dynamic refers to the concept of (psychological) forces in motion.

Incest Taboo

The cultural prohibition against marrying or having sexual relations with a close blood relative.

Oral Stage

The first stage of psychosexual development, during which gratification is hypothesized to be attained primarily through oral activities.

Pleasure Principle

The governing principle of the id - the seeking of immediate gratification of instinctive needs.

Moral Principle

The governing principle of the superego, which sets moral standards and enforces adherence to them.

Genital Stage

The mature stage of psychosexual development, characterized by preferred expression of libido through intercourse with an adult of the other gender.

Id

The psychic structure, present at birth, that represents physiological drives and is fully unconscious.

Personality

The reasonably stable patterns of emotions, motives, and behavior that distinguish one person from another.

Ego

The second psychic structure to develop, characterized by self-awareness, planning, and delay of gratification.

Anal Stage

The second stage of psychosexual development, when gratification is attained through anal activities.

Superego

The third psychic structure, which functions as a moral guardian and sets forth high standards for behavior.

Phallic Stage

The third stage of psychosexual development, characterized by a shift of libido to the phallic region. (From the greek phallos, referring to the image of penis. However, Freud used the term phallic, to refer both boys and girls.)

Displaced

Transferred.