AP Psychology – Chapter 15: Personality – Flashcards
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personality
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an individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting
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free association
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in psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing
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psychoanalysis
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Freud's theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts
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unconscious
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according to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. According to contemporary psychologists, information processing of which we are unaware
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id
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contains a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives. The id operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification
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ego
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the largely conscious, "executive" part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality
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superego
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the part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations
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psychosexual stages
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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
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Oedipus complex
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according to Freud, a boy's sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father
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identification
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the process by which, according to Freud, children incorporate their parents' values into their developing superegos
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fixation
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according to Freud, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved
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defense mechanisms
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in psychoanalytic theory, the ego's protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality
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repression
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in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness
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regression
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psychoanalytic defense mechanism in which an individual faced with anxiety retreats to a more infantile psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated
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reaction formation
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psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites
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projection
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psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others
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rationalization
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defense mechanism that offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one's actions
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displacement
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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
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collective unconscious
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Carl Jung's concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species' history
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projective test
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a personality test, such as the Rorschach or TAT, that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one's inner dynamics
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Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
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a projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes
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Rorshach inkblot test
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the most widely used projective test, a set of 10 inkblots, designed by Hermann Rorschach; seeks to identify people's inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots
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terror-management theory
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proposes that faith in one's worldview and the pursuit of self-esteem provide protection against a deeply rooted fear of death
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self-actualization
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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
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unconditional positive regard
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according to Rogers, an attitude of total acceptance toward another person
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self-concept
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all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, "Who am I?"
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trait
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a characteristic pattern of behaviour or a disposition to feel and act, as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports
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personality inventory
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a questionnaire (often with true-false or agree-disagree items) on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviours
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Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
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the most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests; originally developed to identify emotional disorders, this test is now used for many other screening purposes
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empirically derived test
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a test (such as the MMPI) developed by testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminate between groups
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social-cognitive perspective
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views behaviour as influenced by the interaction between persons (and their thinking) and their social context
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reciprocal determinism
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the interacting influences between personality and environmental factors
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personal control
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our sense of controlling our environment rather than feeling helpless
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external locus of control
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the perception that chance or outside forces beyond one's personal control determine one's fate
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internal locus of control
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the perception that one controls one's own fate
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learned helplessness
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the hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events
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positive psychology
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the scientific study of optimal human functioning; aims to discover and promote strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive
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spotlight effect
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overestimating others' noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunders
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self-esteem
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one's feelings of high or low self-worth
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self-serving bias
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a readiness to perceive oneself favourably
