Psychology Ch. 13

Front 1

personality

Back 1

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

Front 2

free association

Back 2

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.

Front 3

unconscious

Back 3

according to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. According to contemporary psychologists, information processing of which we are unaware.

Front 4

id

Back 4

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.

Front 5

ego

Back 5

the largely conscious, "executive" part of personality that, according to Freud, meditates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality. The ego operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id's desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain.

Front 6

superego

Back 6

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

Back 7

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.

Front 8

Oedipus complex

Back 8

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

Front 9

identification

Back 9

the process by which, according to Freud, children incorporate their parents' values into their developing superegos.

Front 10

fixation

Back 10

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

Front 11

defense mechanism

Back 11

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

Front 12

repression

Back 12

in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness.

Front 13

regression

Back 13

psychoanalytic defense mechanism in which an individual faced with anxiety retreats to a more infantile psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated.

Front 14

reaction formation

Back 14

psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites. Thus, people may express feelings that are the opposite of their anxiety-arousing unconscious feelings.

Front 15

projection

Back 15

psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others.

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rationalization

Back 16

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

Front 17

displacement

Back 17

psychoanalytic defense mechanism that shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object or person, as when redirection anger toward a safer outlet.

Front 18

denial

Back 18

defense mechanism by which people refuse to believe or even to perceive painful realities.

Front 19

collective unconscious

Back 19

Carl Jung's concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species' history.

Front 20

projective test

Back 20

a personality test, such as the Rorschach or TAT, that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one's inner dynamics.

Front 21

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Back 21

a projective test in which people express their inner feelings and intersts through the stories thry make up about ambiguous scenes.

Front 22

Rorschach inkblot test

Back 22

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.

Front 23

terror-management theory

Back 23

a theory of death-related anxiety;explores people's emotional and behavioral responses to reminders of their impending death.

Front 24

self-actualization

Back 24

according to Maslow, one of the ultimate psychological needs that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved; the motivation to fulfill one's potential.

Front 25

unconditional positive regard

Back 25

according to Rogers, an attitude of total acceptance toward another person.

Front 26

self-concept

Back 26

all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, "Who am I?"

Front 27

trait

Back 27

a characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act, as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports.

Front 28

personality invertory

Back 28

a questionaire (often with true-false or agree-disagree items) on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors; used to assess selected personality traits.

Front 29

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

Back 29

the most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests. Originally developed to identify emotional disorders (still considered its most appropriate use), this test is now used for many other screening purposes.

Front 30

empirically derived test

Back 30

a test (such as the MMPI) developed by testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminate between groups.

Front 31

social-cognitive perspective

Back 31

views behavior as influenced by the interaction between people's traits (including their thinking) and their social context.

Front 32

reciprocal determinism

Back 32

the interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment.

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personal control

Back 33

the extent to which people perceive conrol over their environment rather than feeling helpless.

Front 34

external locus of control

Back 34

the perception that chance or outside forces beyond your control determine your fate.

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internal locus of control

Back 35

the perception that you control your own fate.

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learned helplessness

Back 36

the hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events.

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positive psychology

Back 37

the scientific study of optimal human functioning; aims to discover and promote strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive.

Front 38

self

Back 38

in contemporary psychology, assumed to be the center of personality, the organizer of our thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Front 39

spotlight effect

Back 39

overestimating others' noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunders (as if we presume a spotlight shines on us).

Front 40

self-esteem

Back 40

one's feelings of high or low self-worth.

Front 41

self-serving bias

Back 41

a readiness to perceive oneself favorably.