Psych 11
Electra Complex
The term given by some psychodynamic theorists to the form of the Oedipus complex in young girls.
Behavior Therapy
Therapy in which learning principles are applied to help people deal with emotional and behavioral problems.
Social-Cognitive Theory
A contemporary learning-based model that emphasizes the roles played by both cognitive factors and environmental or situational factors in determining behavior.
Individualistic Culture
A culture that emphasizes individual identity and personal accomplishments.
Collectivistic Culture
A culture that emphasizes people's social roles and obligations.
Transsexualism
A mismatch in which one's gender identity is inconsistent with one's chromosomal and anatomic sex.
Androgyny
A type of gender-role indentification that characterizes people who posses high levels of both masculine and feminine traits.
Drive for Superiority
Adler's term for the motivation to compensate for feelings of inferiority. Also called the will-to-power.
Individual Psychology
Adler's theory of personality, which emphasizes the unique potential of each individual.
Central Traits
Allport's term for personality characteristics that have a widespread influence on the individual's behavior across situations.
Secondary Traits
Allport's term for specific traits that influence behavior in relatively few situations.
Cardinal Traits
Allport's term for the more persuasive dimensions that define an individual's general personality.
Rorschach
Attempted the inkblot experiment.
Reciprocal Determinism
Bandura's model in which cognitions, behaviors, and environmental factors both influence and are influenced by each other.
Outcome Expectations
Bandura's term for our personal predictions about the outcomes of our behavior.
Efficacy Expectations
Bandura's term for the expectancies we have regarding our ability to perform behaviors we set out to accomplish.
Surface Traits
Cattell's term for personality traits at the surface level that can be gleaned from observations of behavior.
Source Traits
Cattell's term for traits at deep level of personality that are not apparent in observed behavior but must be inferred based on underlying relationships among surface traits.
Fixations
Constellations of personality traits characteristic of a particular stage of psychosexual development, resulting from either excessive or inadequate gratification at that stage.
Circular Reasoning
Explaining behavior in terms of a trait whose existence is based on observing the very same behavior.
Gender-Role Stereotypes
Fixed, conventional views of "masculine" and "feminine" behavior.
Id
Freud's term for the psychic structure existing in the unconscious that contains our basic animal drives and instinctual impulses.
Ego
Freud's term for the psychic structure that attempts to balance the instinctual demands of the id with social realities and expectations.
Superego
Freud's term for the psychic structure that corresponds to an internal moral guardian or conscience.
Psychoanalytic Theory
Freud's theory of personality, which holds that personality and behavior are shaped by unconscious forces and conflicts.
Client-Centered Therapy
Helps people get in touch with their true feelings and come to value and prize themselves.
Inferiority Complex
In Adler's theory, the feelings of inadequacy or inferiority in young children that influence their developing personalities and create desires to overcome.
Creative Self
In Adler's theory, the self-aware part of personality that organizes goal-seeking efforts.
Pleasure Principle
In Freud's theory, a governing principle of the id that is based on demand for instant gratification without regard to social rules or customs.
Regression
In Freudian theory, a defense mechanism in which an individual, usually under high levels of stress, reverts to a behavior characteristic of an earlier stage of development.
Displacement
In Freudian theory, a defense mechanism in which an unacceptable sexual or aggressive impulse is transferred to an object or person that is safer or less threatening than the original object of the impulse.
Reaction Formation
In Freudian theory, a defense mechanism involving behavior that stands in opposition to one's true motives and desires so as to prevent conscious awareness of them.
Sublimation
In Freudian theory, a defense mechanism involving the channeling of unacceptable impulses into socially sanctioned behaviors or interests.
Denial
In Freudian theory, a defense mechanism involving the failure to recognize a threatening impulse or urge.
Projection
In Freudian theory, a defense mechanism involving the projection of one's own unacceptable impulses, wishes, or urges onto another person.
Rationalization
In Freudian theory, a defense mechanism involving the use of self-justification to explain away unacceptable behavior, impulses, or ideas.
Anal-Expulsive Personality
In Freudian theory, a personality type characterized by messiness, lack of self-discipline, and carelessness.
Anal-Retentive Personality
In Freudian theory, a personality type charaterized by perfectionism and excessive needs for self-control as expressed through extreme neatness and punctuality.
Repression
In Freudian theory, a type of defense mechanism involving motivated forgetting of anxiety-evoking material.
Penis Envy
In Freudian theory, jealousy of boys for having a penis.
Genital Stage
In Freudian theory, the fifth and final stage of psychosexual development, which begins around puberty and corresponds to the development of mature sexuality and emphasis on procreation.
Oral Stage
In Freudian theory, the first stage of psychosexual development, during which the infant seeks sexual gratification through oral stimulation.
Latency Stage
In Freudian theory, the fourth stage of psychosexual development, during which sexual impulses remain latent or dormant.
Reality Principle
In Freudian theory, the governing principle of the ego that takes into account what is practical and acceptable in satisfying basic needs.
Conscious
In Freudian theory, the part of the mind corresponding to the state of present awareness.
Unconscious
In Freudian theory, the part of the mind that lies outside the range of ordinary awareness and that contains primitive drives or instincts and unacceptable urges, wishes, or ideas.
Oedipus Complex
In Freudian theory, the psychological complex in which the young boy or girl develops incestuous feelings toward the parent of the opposite gender and perceives the parent of the same gender as a rival.
Defense Mechanisms
In Freudian theory, the reality-distorting strategies of the ego to prevent awareness of anxiety-evoking or troubling ideas or impulses.
Anal Stage
In Freudian theory, the second stage of psychosexual development, during which sexual gratification is centered on processes of elimination.
Phallic Stage
In Freudian theory, the third stage of psychosexual development, marked by erotic attention on the phallic region and the development of the Oedipus complex.
Castration Anxiety
In Freudian theory, unconscious fear of removal of the penis as punishment for having unacceptable sexual impulses.
Basic Anxiety
In Horney's theory, a deepseated form of anxiety in children that is associated with feelings of being isolated and helpless in a world perceived as potentially threatening and hostile.
Basic Hostility
In Horney's theory, deep feelings of resentment that children may harbor toward their parents.
Collective Unconscious
In Jung's theory, a part of the mind containing ideas and archetypal images shared among humankind that have been transmitted genetically from ancestral humans.
Locus of Control
In Rotter's theory, one's general expectancies about whether one's efforts can bring about desired outcomes or reinforcements.
Expectancies
In social-cognitive theory, personal predictions about the outcomes of behavior.
Subjective Value
In social-cognitive theory, the importance that individuals place on desired outcomes.
Cognitve-Behavioral Therapy
Incorporates cognitive as well as behavioral approaches to therapy and mirrors the teachings of the social-cognitive theorists.
Personal Unconsious
Jung's term for an unconscious region of mind comprising a reservoir of the individual's repressed memories and impulses.
Archetypes
Jung's term for the primitive images contained in the collective unconscious that reflect ancestral or universal experiences of human beings.
Situation Variables
Mischel's term for environmental influences on behavior, such as rewards and punishments.
Person Variables
Mischel's term for internal personal factors that influence behavior, including competencies, expectancies, and subjective values.
Introversion-Extraversion
One of the three underlying dimensions of personality in Eysenck's model, referring to tendencies toward being solitary and reserved on the one end or outgoing and sociable on the other end.
Neuroticism
One of the three underlying dimensions of personality in Eysenck's model, referring to tendencies toward emotional instability, anxiety, and worry.
Erogenous Zones
Parts of the body that are especially sensitive to sexual or pleasurable stimulation.
Encoding Strategies
Personal perceptions of events.
Projective Tests
Personality tests in which ambiguous or vague test materials are used to elicit responses that are believed to reveal a person's unconscious needs, drives, or motives.
Self-Actualization
Recognizing our own unique self potentials.
Traits
Relatively enduring personal characteristics.
Self-Theory
Roger's model of personality, which focuses on the importance of the self.
Self-Ideals
Roger's term for the idealized sense of how or what we should be.
Standard Scores
Scores that represent an individual's relative deviation from the mean of the standardization sample.
Self-Report Personality Inventories
Structured psychological tests in which individuals are given a limited range of response options to answer a set of questions about themselves.
Personality Tests
Structured psychological tests that use formal methods of assessing personality.
Objective Tests
Tests of personality that can be scored objectively and that are based on a research foundation.
Self-Regulatory Systems and Plans
The ability to plan courses of action to achieve our goals and to reward ourselves for accomplishing them.
Psychodynamic Theory
The belief that a dynamic struggle takes place within the human mind between unconsious forces.
Interactionism
The belief that behavior reflects an interaction between trait tendencies and situational factors.
Gender-Schema Theory
The belief that children form mental representations or schemas of masculinity and femininity, which they then use as a basis for organizing their behavior and evaluating their self-worth.
Gender Roles
The cultural expectations imposed on men and women to behave in ways deemed appropriate for their gender.
Five-Factor Model (FFM)
The dominant contemporary trait model of personality, consisting of five broad personality factors: neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness.
Gall
The guy we remember as the leading proponent to phrenology.
Competencies
The knowledge and skills we possess.
Phrenology
The now-discredited view that one can judge a person's character and mental abilities by measuring the bumps on his or her head.
Gender Identity
The psychological sense of maleness or femaleness.
Personality
The relatively stable constelation of psychological characteristics and behavioral patterns that account for our individuality and consistency over time.
Gender
The state of maleness or femaleness.
Preconscious
To Freud, the part of the mind whose contents can be brought into awareness through focused attention.
Conditional Positive Regard
Valuing a person only when the person's behavior meets certain expectations or standards.
Unconditional Positive Regard
Valuing another person as having intrinsic worth, regardless of the person's behavior at the particular time.
Dyslexia
A learning disorder characterized by impaired ability to read.
Psychoanalysis
Focuses on helping people gain insight into the unconscious motives and conflicts that he believed were at the root of their problems.
Psychoticism
One of the three underlying dimensions of personality in Eysenck's model, referring to tendencies to be perceived as cold and antisocial.
