question

personality

answer

A distinctive and relatively stable pattern of behavior, thoughts, motives, and emotions that characterizes an individual

question

trait

answer

A characteristic of an individual, describing a habitual way of behaving, thinking or feeling.

question

Sigmund Freud

answer

Psychoanalysis; believed in unconscious motives, passions, guilty secrets, unspeakable yearnings, and conflicts between desire and duty.

question

psychoanalysis

answer

A theory of personality and a method of psychotherapy developed by Sigmund Freud; it emphasizes unconscious motives and conflicts.

question

psychodynamic theories

answer

Theories that explain behavior and personality in terms of unconscious energy dynamics within the individual.

question

id

answer

In psychoanalysis, the part of personality containing inherited psychic energy, particularly sexual and aggressive instincts; the reservoir of unconscious psychological energies and the motives to avoid pain and obtain pleasure.

question

libido

answer

In psychoanalysis, the psychic energy that fuels the life or sexual instincts of the id.

question

ego

answer

In psychoanalysis, the part of personality that represents reason, good sense, and rational self-control.

question

superego

answer

In psychoanalysis, the part of personality that represents conscience, morality, and social standards.

question

defense mechanisms

answer

Methods used by the ego to prevent unconscious anxiety or threatening thoughts from entering consciousness.

question

repression

answer

When a threatening idea, memory or emotion is blocked from consciousness. A woman who had a frightening childhood experience that she cannot remember, for example, is said to be repressing her memory of it.

question

projection

answer

Occurs when a person's own unacceptable or threatening feelings are repressed and then attributed to someone else. A person who is embarrassed about having sexual feelings toward members of a different ethnic group, for example, may project this discomfort onto them, saying, "Those people are dirty-minded and oversexed."

question

displacement

answer

Occurs when people direct emotions (especially anger) toward things, animals, or other people that are not the real object of their feelings. A boy who is forbidden to express anger toward his father, for example, may "take it out" on his toys or his younger sister.

question

sublimation

answer

When displacement serves a higher cultural or socially useful purpose, as in the creation of art or inventions.

question

regression

answer

Occurs when a person reverts to a previous phase of psychological development. An 8-year-old boy who is anxious about his parents' divorce may regress to earlier habits of thumb sucking or clinging.

question

denial

answer

When people refuse to admit that something unpleasant is happening, such as mistreatment by a partner; that they have a problem, such as drinking too much; or that they are feeling a forbidden emotion, such as anger.

question

psychosexual stages

answer

A series of stages in which sexual energy takes different forms as the child matures. Each new stage produces a certain amount of frustration, conflict, and anxiety.

question

oral stage

answer

Occurs during the first year of life, when babies experience the world through their mouths. People can start smoking, overeating, nail biting, or chewing on pencils; some may become clinging and dependent, like a nursing child.

question

anal stage

answer

At ages 2 to 3, when toilet training and control of bodily wastes are the key issues. Some become obsessive about neatness and cleanliness, while others may be messy and disorganized.

question

phallic stage

answer

Most crucial stage for the formation of personality; lasts roughly from age 3 to age 5 or 6, when the child unconsciously wishes to possess the parent of the other sex and to get rid of the parent of the same sex. For example, some children say they will marry their mother when they grow up.

question

latency stage

answer

Nonsexual stage before genital stage.

question

genital stage

answer

Begins at puberty and leads to adult sexuality.

question

Oedipus complex

answer

When a child wants to possess the parent of the opposite sex and get rid of the parent of the same sex.

question

Clara Thompson and Karen Horney

answer

Argued that it was insulting and unscientific to claim that half the human race is dissatisfied with its anatomy. When women feel inferior to men, they said, we should look for explanations in the disadvantages that women live with and their second-class status.

question

Carl Jung

answer

Originally one of Freud's closest friends and a member of his inner circle. He said that in addition to the individual's own unconscious, all human beings share a vast collective unconscious, containing universal memories, symbols, images, and themes, which he called archetypes.

question

collective unconscious

answer

In Jungian theory, the universal memories and experiences of humankind, represented in the symbols, stories, and images (archetypes) that occur across all cultures.

question

achetypes

answer

Universal, symbolic images that appear in myths, art, stories, and dreams; to Jungians, they reflect the collective unconscious.

question

shadow

answer

Archetype that reflects the prehistoric fear of wild animals and represents the bestial, evil side of human nature.

question

object-relations school

answer

A psychodynamic approach that emphasizes the importance of the infant's first two years of life and the baby's formative relationships, especially with the mother.

question

mental representations

answer

A child's representations and perception of people, relating to the attachment a child may not only have with a parent, but of his perception of the parent.

question

illusion of causality

answer

If A came before B, then A must have caused B, but this isn't true.

question

objective tests (inventories)

answer

Standardized questionnaires requiring written responses, typically to multiple-choice or true-false items. They provide information about literally hundreds of different aspects of personality, including needs, values, interests, self-esteem, emotional problems, and typical ways of responding to situations. They typically include scales on which people are asked to rate themselves.

question

Gordon Allport

answer

One of the most influential psychologists in the empirical study of personality; he recognized that not all traits have equal weight and significance in people's lives, and that most of us have five to ten central traits that reflect a characteristic way of behaving, dealing with others, and reacting to new situations.

question

central traits

answer

Five to ten main traits that reflect a characteristic way of behaving, dealing with others, and reacting to new situations.

question

secondary traits

answer

More changeable aspects of personality, such as music preferences, habits, casual opinions, and the like.

question

Raymond Cattell

answer

Applied a statistical method called factor analysis.

question

factor analysis

answer

A statistical method for analyzing the intercorrelations among various measures or test scores; clusters of measures or scores that are highly correlated are assumed to measure the same underlying trait or ability (factor).

question

extroversion versus introversion

answer

Describes the extent to which people are outgoing or shy.

question

Neuroticism (negative emotionality) versus emotional stability

answer

Describes the extent to which a person suffers from such traits as anxiety, the inability to control impulses, and a tendency to feel negative emotions such as anger, guilt, contempt, and resentment.

question

agreeableness versus antagonism

answer

Describes the extent to which people are good-natured or irritable, cooperative or abrasive, secure or suspicious, and jealous.

question

conscientiousness versus impulsiveness

answer

Describes the degree to which people are responsible or undependable, persevering or quick to give up, steadfast or fickle, tidy or careless, self-disciplined or impulsive.

question

openness to experience versus resistance to new experience

answer

Describes the extent to which people are curious, imaginative, questioning, and creative or conforming, unimaginative, predictable, and uncomfortable with novelty.

question

temperaments

answer

Physiological dispositions to respond to the environment in certain ways; they are present in infancy and in many nonhuman species and are assumed to be innate.

question

heritability

answer

A statistical estimate of the proportion of the total variance in some trait that is attributable to genetic differences among individuals within a group.

question

social-cognitive learning theory

answer

Argues that people do acquire central personality traits from their learning history and their resulting expectations and beliefs. A child who studies hard and gets good grades will expect that hard work in other situations will also pay off.

question

reciprocal determinism

answer

In social-cognitive theories, the two-way interaction between aspects of the environment and aspects of the individual in the shaping of personality traits.

question

nonshared environment

answer

Unique aspects of a person's environment and experience that are not shared with family members.

question

culture

answer

A program of shared rules that governs the behavior of members of a community or society and a set of values, beliefs, and attitudes shared by most members of that community.

question

individualist cultures

answer

Cultures in which the self is regarded as autonomous, and individual goals and wishes are prized above duty and relations with others.

question

collectivist cultures

answer

Cultures in which the self is regarded as embedded in relationships, and harmony with one's group is prized above individual goals and wishes.

question

culture of honor

answer

In which even small disputes and trivial insults put a man's reputation for toughness on the line, requiring him to respond with violence to restore his status.

question

humanist psychology

answer

A psychological approach that emphasizes personal growth, resilience, and the achievement of human potential.

question

Abraham Maslow

answer

One of the leaders of the humanist psychology movement; believed that the trouble with psychology was that it had ignored many of the positive aspects of life, such as joy, laughter, love, happiness, and peak experiences.

question

peak experiences

answer

Rare moments of rapture caused by the attainment of excellence or the experience of beauty.

question

self-actualization

answer

Striving for a life that is meaningful, challenging, and satisfying.

question

Carl Rogers

answer

Interested in what he called the "fully functioning individual"; How you behave depends on your subjective reality, not on the external reality around you.

question

congruence

answer

Harmony between the image they project to others and their true feelings and wishes.

question

unconditional positive regard

answer

To Carl Rogers, love or support given to another person with no conditions attached.

question

Rollo May

answer

Shared with the humanists a belief in free will; but he also emphasized some of the inherently difficult and tragic aspects of the human condition, including loneliness, anxiety, and alienation.

question

existentialism

answer

A philosophical approach that emphasizes the inevitable dilemmas and the challenges of human existence.

question

life narratives

answer

The story that each of us develops over time to explain ourselves and make meaning of everything that has happened to us.

PS101: Chapter 14 (Theories of Personality) – Flashcards

Unlock all answers in this set

Haven't found what you were looking for?

Search for samples, answers to your questions and flashcards