50
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.