Psychology: A Concise Introduction - Chapter 8

Unconscious Mind

Freud's term for the part of our mind that we cannot become aware of.

Preconscious Mind

Freud's term for what is stored in your memory that you are not presently aware of but can access.

Self-efficacy

a judgment of one's effectiveness in dealing with particular situations.

Phallic stage of psychosexual development

the 3rd stage in Freud's theory (from3 to 6 years), in which the erogenous zone is located are the genitals, and the child derives pleasure from genital stimulation.

Erogenous Zone

the area of the body where the id's pleasure-seeking energies are focused during a particular stage of psychosexual development.

Self-serving bias

the tendency to make attributions so that one can perceive oneself favorably.

Conscious Mind

Freud's term for what you are presently aware of.

Personality inventory

an objective personality test that uses a series of questions of statements for which the test taker must indicate whether they apply to her or not.

Conditions of worth

the behaviors and attitudes for which other people, starting with our parents, will give us positive regard.

Self-actualization

the fullest realization of a person's potential.

Superego

the part of the personality that represents one's conscience and idealized standards of behavior.

Ego

the part of the personality that starts developing in the first year of life or so to find realistic outlets for the id's instinctual drives.

Personality

a person's internally based characteristic ways of acting and thinking.

Projective test

a personality test that uses a series of ambiguous stimuli to which the test taker must respond about her perceptions to the stimuli.

Oedipus conflict

a phallic stage conflict for a boy in which the boy becomes sexually attracted to his mother and fears his father will find out and castrate him.

Defense Mechanism

a process used by the ego to distort reality and protect a person from anxiety.

Learned helplessness

a sense of hopelessness in which a person thinks that he is unable to prevent aversive events.

Fixation

some of the id's pleasure-seeking energies remaining in a psychosexual stage due to excessive or insufficient gratification of instinctual needs.

Oral stage of psychosexual development

the 1st stage in Freud's theory (from birth to 18 months), in which the erogenous zones are the mouth, lips, and tongue, and the child derives pleasure from oral activities such as sucking, biting, and chewing.

Anal stage of psychosexual development

the 2nd stage in Freud's theory (from 18 months to 3 years), in which the erogenous zone is the anus, and the child derives pleasure from stimulation of the anal region though having and withholding bowel movements.

Latency stage of psychosexual development

the 4th stage in Freud's theory (from 6 to puberty) in which there is no erogenous zone, sexual feelings are repressed, and the focus is on cognitive and social development.

Genital stage of psychosexual development

the 5th stage in Freud's theory (from puberty though adulthood) in which the erogenous zone is at the genitals and the child develops sexual relationships, moving toward intimate adult relationships.

Hierarchy of needs

the motivational component in Maslow's theory of personality in which our innate needs that motivate our behavior are hierarchically arranged in a pyramid shape. From bottom to top, the needs are physiological, safety, belonging and love, esteem, and self-actualization.

Id

the part of the personality that a person is born with, where the biological instinctual drives reside, and that is located totally in the unconscious mind.

External locus of control

the perception that chance of external forces beyond your personal control determines your fate.

Internal locus of control

the perception that you control your own fate.

Reality Principle

the principle of finding gratification for instinctual drives within the constraints of reality (norms of society).

Pleasure Principle

the principle of seeking immediate gratification for instinctual drives without concern for the consequences.

Identification

the process by which children adopt the characteristics of the same-sex parent and learn their gender role and sense of morality.

Attribution

the process by which we explain our own behavior and that of others.

Traits

the relativity stable internally based characteristics that describe a person.

Self-system

the set of cognitive processes by which a person observes, evaluates, and regulates her behavior.

Unconditional positive regard

unconditional acceptance and approval of a person by others.