personality
refers to an individual's unique constellation of consistent behavioral traits.
personality trait
a durable disposition to behave in a particular way in a variety of situations.
factor analysis
correlations among many variables are analyzed to identify closely related clusters of variables.
psychodynamic theories
all the diverse theories descended from the work of Sigmund Freud, which focus on unconscious mental forces.
Id
the primitive, instinctive component of personality that operates according to the pleasure principle.
Pleasure principle
demands immediate gratification of its urges.
ego
the decision-making component of personality that operates according to the reality principle.
reality principle
seeks to delay gratification of the id's urges until appropriate outlets and situations can be found.
conscious
consists of whatever one is aware of at a particular point in time.
preconscious
contains material just beneath the surface of awareness that can easily be retrieved.
unconscious
contains thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below the surface of conscious awareness but that nonetheless exert great influence on behavior.
defense mechanisms
largely unconscious reactions that protect a person from unpleasant emotions such as anxiety and guilt.
rationalization
creating false but plausible excuses to justify unacceptable behavior.
repression
keeping distressing thoughts and feelings buried in the unconscious.
projection
attributing one's own thoughts, feelings, or motives to another.
displacement
diverting emotional feelings (usually anger) from their original source to a substitute target.
Reaction formation
behaving in a way that's exactly the opposite of one's true feelings.
Regression
a reversion to immature patterns of behavior.
Identification
bolstering self-esteem by forming an imaginary or real alliance with some person or group.
psychosexual stages
developmental periods with a characteristics sexual focus that leave their mark on adult personality.
fixation
a failure to move forward from one stage to another as expected.
Oedipal complex
children manifest erotically tinged desires for their opposite-sex parent, accompanied by feelings of hostility toward their same-sex parent.
personal unconscious
houses material that is not within one's conscious awareness because it has been repressed or forgotten.
collective unconscious
a storehouse of latent memory traces inherited from people's ancestral past.
archetypes
emotionally charged images and thought forms that have universal meaning.
striving for superiority
a universal drive to adapt, improve oneself, and master life's challenges.
compensation
involves efforts to overcome imagined or real inferiorites by developing one's abilities.
behaviorism
a theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific psychology should study only observable behavior.
reciprocal determinism
the idea that internal mental events, external environmental events, and overt behavior all influence one another.
observational learning
occurs when an organism's responding is influenced by the observation of others, who are called models.
model
a person whose behavior is observed by another.
self-efficacy
refers to one's belief about one's ability to perform behaviors that should lead to expected outcomes.
phenomenological approach
assumes that one has to appreciate individuals' personal, subjective experiences to truly understand their behavior.
humanism
a theoretical orientation that emphasizes the unique qualities of humans, especially their freedom and their potential for personal growth.
self-concept
a collection of beliefs about one's own nature, unique qualities, and typical behavior.
incongruence
the degree of disparity between one's self-concept and one's actual experience.
hierarchy of needs
a systematic arrangement of needs, according to priority, in which basic needs must be met before less basic needs are aroused.
need for self-actualization
the need to fulfill one's potential.
self-actualizing persons
people with exceptionally healthy personalities, marked by continued personal growth.
self-report inventories
personality tests that ask individuals to answer a series of questions about their characteristic behavior.
projective tests
ask participants to respond to vague, ambiguous stimuli in ways that may reveal the subject's needs, feelings, and personality traits.
hindsight bias
the tendency to mold one's interpretation of the past to fit how events actually turned out.