General Psychology Chapter 11 Personality

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Percent of our individual traits that can be credited to our genes.

Adler

Neo-Freudian psychologist who believed childhood tensions were social in nature. Children struggle with an inferiority complex during growth and strive for superiority and power, so birth order is important.

anal

Freud's psychosexual stage, from 18 to 36 months, where the pleasure focus is on bowel and bladder elimination: coping with demands for control

behaviorist

Perspective of personality that says an individual's environment shapes his/her personality - so an individual exhibit different personality in different environments

Big Five factors

Conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness, extraversion.

collectivism

Giving priority to goals of our group (often our extended family or work group) and defining our identity accordingly.

defense mechanisms

In psychoanalytic theory, the ego's protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality.

displacement

In psychoanalytic theory, the defense mechanism that shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person, redirecting anger toward a safer outlet.

dream analysis

Analyzing the unconscious by interpreting the manifest and latent content of dreams

ego

part of the unconscious that functions as the "executive" and mediates the demands of the biological impulses and social restraints.

Electra complex

Girl's sexual desire for her father and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival mother.

empathy

Three conditions Rogers' proposed are crucial for personal growth: 1) unconditional positive regard, 2) genuineness, and 3) ______.

extraversion and neuroticism

The two dimensions of the Eysenck's personality theory

factor

A cluster of behavior tendencies that occur together.

factor analysis

Statistical approach used to describe and relate personality traits

fixation

According to Freud, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved.

free association

Technique where a person says whatever chain of thought comes to their mind.

Freud

Father of the psychoanalytic perspective of psychology

genital

Freud's psychosexual stage, after puberty, where the focus is on the maturation of sexual interests.

genuineness

Three conditions Rogers' proposed are crucial for personal growth: 1) unconditional positive regard, 2) ______, and 3) empathy.

hierarchy of needs

Maslow's pyramid of human needs.

Horney

Neo-Freudian psychologist who believed that children unconsciously strive for safety and security. When exposed to dysfunction they move toward (compliance), away (aggressive personality) or withdraw. Countered Freud's assumption that women have weak superegos and penis envy.

humanist

Perspective of personality that says an individual can shape the personality that has emerged as a result of their environment and childhood, through self actualizing behavior.

id

part of the unconscious that strives to satisfy biological impulses, operating on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification

identification

The process by which, according to Freud, children incorporate their parent's values into their developing superegos.

individualism

Giving priority to our own goals over group goals and defining our identity in terms of personal traits rather than group membership.

Jung

Neo-Freudian psychologist who believed in the collective unconscious, a common cultural reference from our species' past (eg innate sense of good and mother figure) and that personalities are on a continuum from introversion to extraversion.

latency

Freud's psychosexual stage, from 6 years to puberty, where sexual feelings are dormant.

latent content

Underlying meaning of a dream

manifest content

Overt storyline of a dream

Maslow

Humanist psychologist who labeled the self-actualizing person

MMPI

Personality inventory that is the most widely researched and clinically used for all personality tests, originally designed to identify emotional disorders.

model of mind

Collection of conscious, preconscious and unconscious

Oedipus complex

According to Freud, a boy's sexual desire for his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father.

oral

Freud's psychosexual stage, from 0 to 18 months, where the focus is on the pleasure centers of the moth: sucking, biting and chewing

personality

an individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling and acting.

personality inventories

Questionnaires designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors, assessing several traits at once.

person-situation

Controversy posed by trait theorists who argue that behaviors from a situation may be different, but average behavior remains the same.

phallic

Freud's psychosexual stage, from 3 to 6 years, where the pleasure focus is on the genitals; coping with incestuous sexual feelings. Related to development of the superego.

positive self concept

Thoughts and feelings an individual has about themselves that are close to their description of their ideal self.

preconscious

long term memory that is outside of our awareness but is accessible

projection

In psychoanalytic theory, the defense mechanism that leads people to disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others.

projective tests

Personality test that uses an unclear image to reveal the test-taker's unconscious thoughts or feelings.

psychodynamic theory

A Freud-influenced perspective that sees behavior, thinking and emotions as reflecting unconscious motives.

rationalization

In psychoanalytic theory, the defense mechanism that offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one's actions.

reaction Formation

In psychoanalytic theory, the defense mechanism causes the ego to unconsciously switch unacceptable impulses into their opposites. People may express feelings of purity when they may be suffering anxiety from unconscious feelings about sex.

reciprocal determinism

The interacting influences of behavior, internal personal factors and environment.

regression

In psychoanalytic theory, the defense mechanism in which an individual faced with anxiety retreats to an earlier psychosexual stage of development.

reliability and validity

Two main criticisms of projective tests

repression

In psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that Pushing anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings and memories from consciousness and into the unconscious.

Rogers

Humanist psychologist who developed the Person-centered perspective

Rorschach Test

Most widely used projective test involving inkblots

self

Your image and understanding of who you are, in modern psychology, the idea that this is the center of personality, organizing your thoughts, feelings and actions.

self-actualization

According to Maslow, the psychological need that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self esteem is achieved; the motivation to fulfill our potential.

self-concept

All our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer the question, "Who am I

self-esteem

Your feelings of high or low self-worth.

self-serving bias

Our readiness to perceive ourselves favorably.

self-transcendence

According to Maslow, the striving for identity, meaning, and purpose beyond the self.

social-cognitive

Perspective of personality theory that Albert Bandura subscribed to, which views behavior as influenced by the interaction between persons (and their thinking) and their social context.

spotlight effect

Overestimating others' noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance and blunders.

superego

part of the unconscious that provides standards for judgment (the conscious) and for future aspirations.

TAT

Projective test involving an individual interpreting a picture.

trait

A characteristic pattern of behavior or a tendency to feel and act in a certain way, as assessed by self-reports on a personality test.

trait perspective

Perspective of personality that focuses on durable aspects of an individual's disposition and consistent ways of behaving.

unconditional positive regard

Three conditions Rogers' proposed are crucial for personal growth: 1) ______, 2) genuineness, and 3) empathy

unconditional positive regard

According to Rogers, an attitude of total acceptance toward another person

unconscious

A reservoir of unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings and memories.