Personality
The combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual's distinctive character. Relatively stable
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
Personality | The combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual's distinctive character. Relatively stable |
Psychoanalytic Perspective | proposes that childhood sexuality & unconscious motivations influence personality & it is the job of a therapist to read the signs |
Sigmund Freud | the Austrian neurologist who first developed the theories of psychoanalysis. He explored the effect of the unconscious mind of how people act & respond to situations, for the theory of Id, Ego, & Superego, & through free association & dreams attempted to determine the unconscious conflicts that existed in people due mostly to problems in his stages of psychosexual development. |
Free association | in psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes & says whatever comes to mind no matter how trivial or embarrassing. |
Psychoanalysis | Freud's theory of personality & therapeutic technique that attributes our thoughts & actions to unconscious motives & conflicts. Freud believed the patient's free associations, resistances, dreams, & transferences |
Preconscious | information that is not conscious but is retrievable into conscious awareness. |
Unconscious | according to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, & memories. According to contemporary psychologists, information processing of which we are unaware. |
Free Association | a method of exploring the unconscious where the patient talks about anything & eventually, they will lead the therapist to the root of the problem |
Freudian Slip | when a person says something that they think is a mistake, according to Freud, that meant to say it & it is their Id or Superego trying to express themselves |
Id | contains a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual & aggressive drives. The id operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification. Present at birth (until the age of 2 we are ALL Id) |
Ego | the largely conscious, "executive" part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, superego, & reality. The ego operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id's desire in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain. Develops in the anal stage |
Superego | the part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals & provides standards for judgment (the conscience) & for future aspirations. When we do things that upset the Superego We feel guilt. |
Oral stage (0-18 months) | Pleasure centers on the mouth (sucking, biting, chewing) Babies must learn to trust their caregivers |
Fixation | a lingering focus of pleasure |
Anal stage (18-36 months) | Pleasure focuses on bowel & bladder elimination; coping with dem&s for control. |
Phallic stage (3-6 years) | Pleasure zone is the genitals coping with incestuous sexual feelings. Key here is that the child learns gender identification, first what gender they are & later, after the Oedipus complex is hopefully resolved, what being that gender means from their same sex parent |
Oedipus complex | According to Freud, a boy’s sexual desires toward his mother & feelings of jealousy & hatred for the rival father during the phallic stage |
Identification | the process by which, according to Freud, children incorporate their parent’s values into their developing superegos. Occurs in the phallic stage after the Oedipus Complex is resolved |
Latent stage | (6 |
Genital stage | (Occurs during/after puberty). Maturation of sexual interests, something that it achieved if there is enough libido left |
Defense mechanisms | the ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality |
Denial | the defense mechanism where one refuses to believe that something is happening, & therefore do not have to deal with its reality. |
Denial | Being told that you have cancer, but instead insisting on a second opinion because you do not want to believe you have it. |
Repression | the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety |
Repression | Not remembering a traumatic event (a car accident, a breakup, even being born), Repressing incestuous feelings |
Regression | defense mechanism in which an individual retreats, when faced with anxiety, to a more infantile psychosexual stage where some psychic energy remains fixated |
Regression | Sucking ones thumb when stressed |
Reaction formation | defense mechanism by which the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites. People may express feelings that are the opposite of their anxiety |
Reaction formation | An older brother or sister constantly talking about how much they love a new baby to keep herself from strangling him |
Projection | defense mechanism by which people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others |
Projection | A man having homosexual feelings his superego deems unacceptable & then calling everyone gay, Anathlete who feels inadequate so points out how bad everyone else is |
Rationalization | defense mechanism that offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one’s actions |
Rationalization | I had to hit him, he was looking at me weirdly, he |
deserved to be hit | |
Displacement | 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 |
Displacement | Taking your anger at a teacher out on her colored pencils, the wall, your boyfriend, your mom, etc. |
Sublimation | defense mechanism by which people rechannel their unacceptable impulses into socially approved activities |
Sublimation | Michelangelo painted to rechannel inappropriate sexual feelings |
Projective test | a personality test, such as the Rorschach or TAT, that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one’s unconscious, associated with the psychodynamic perspective |
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)-(below) | a projective test in which people express their inner feelings & interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes. |
Rorschach inkblot test | (below) 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. |
Psychodynamic Theory | belief in the unconscious being the root of personality but that it was not all based in regress sexuality & that most people’s unconscious thoughts were generally very similar |
Neo-Freudians | those that believe in the impact of the unconscious on human behavior, but do not subscribe to the idea that it is all based on repressed sexual desires & the libido (sex drive). |
Alfred Alder | Neo-Freudian who suggested that much of the drive of personality is overcoming insecurities about ourselves when compared to others (inferiority complex) |
Karen Horney | Neo-Freudian, sought to balance Freud’s masculine biases, & reject the idea that all women deep down inside wanted to be men (penis |
Carl Jung | Neo |
Collective unconscious | Carl Jung's concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our, species’ history. Includes archetypes such as good triumphs over evil, motherly love, etc. |
Terror Management Theory | explores the motivation that people have in their actions tied to their impending death knowing that time is not infinite |
Humanistic Psychology | focused on the individual & myself directed choices that influenced behavior (humans are basically good). |
Abraham Maslow | Founded Humanistic Psychology. Developed a Hierarchy of Needs that addresses physiological needs, safety needs, love & belonging, esteem, & self |
Self-actualization | according to Maslow, the ultimate psychological need that arises after basic physical & psychological needs are met & self |
Carl Rogers | Humanistic psychologist who used the theory of self |
Unconditional positive regard | according to Rogers, an attitude of total acceptance toward another person. Should describe how a therapist treats a client |
Self-concept | all our thoughts & feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, "Who am I?", important in humanistic therapy |
Self-serving bias | a readiness to perceive oneself favorable. Also important to healthy growth according to humanists |
Self-serving bias | It’s not my fault I failed the test, the teacher made it too hard. |
Trait perspective | a characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel & act, as assessed by self-report inventories & peer reports. Much more concerned with describing a personality rather than explaining the reasons the person acts that way |
MMPI-Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory | The most widely researched & clinically used of all personality tests. Originally developed to identify emotional disorders (still considered its most appropriate use), now used for many other screening purposes. |
The Big Five | Personality traits that are measured to see if a person scores high or low in five different factors in order to label & measure their personality. Also known as OCEAN traits |
Openness | do you like to try new things? |
Conscientiousness | how much do you plan/organize? |
Extroversion | how outgoing are you |
Agreeableness | do you keep your mouth shut to keep people happy? |
Neuroticism | how much do events in life affect you? |
Individualism | giving priority to one’s own goals over group goals, & defining one’s identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications, found in Western cultures (USA) |
Collectivism | giving priority to the goals of one’s group (often one’s extended family or work group) & defining one’s identity accordingly, found in Asian cultures |
Reciprocal determinism | the interacting influences between personality & environmental factors (Bandura) |
Self-Efficacy | the amount of control that a person believes to be in control of their lives (Internal v. External Control) |
Internal locus of control | (The Conqueror) the perception that one controls one’s own fate |
External locus of control | (The Conquered) the perception that chance or outside forces beyond one’s personal control determine one’s fate, link to depression (cognitive perspective) |
Emotion | The "feeling" aspect of consciousness, characterized by a certain physical arousal, a certain behavior that reveals the emotion to the outside world, & an inner awareness of feelings. |
James-Lange Theory of Emotion | A theory where a stimulus leads to bodily arousal first, which is then interpreted as an emotion. (Smiling makes you happy) |
Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion | A theory where a stimulus leads to activity in the brain, which then sends signals to arouse the body & interpret the emotion at the same time. Both happen simultaneously |
Schachter's Cognitive Arousal Theory (Schacter's Two Factor Theory) | Theory of emotion in which both the physical arousal & the labeling of that arousal based on cues from the environment must occur before the emotion is experienced. |
Facial Feedback Hypothesis | Theory of emotion that assumes that facial expressions provide feedback to the brain concerning the emotion being expressed, which in turn causes & intensifies the emotion. |
Arousal Theory v Performance | the more difficult the task, we perform better when emotional levels are low, but the more simple task is performed better when emotional levels are high |
Yerke-Dodson’s Optimal Arousal Level | due to many events during the day needing both high & low levels of arousal, the optimal level to usually maintain is not too high or too low but rather in the middle of both. |
Nonverbal Communication | Communication that involves movements, gestures, facial expressions, eye contact, use of personal space, & touching. (93% of communication) |
Paul Ekman’s Universal Emotion Expressions | the idea that most facial expressions are universal & that the amount of emotion displayed (as well as how it is displayed) is for the most part left up to cultural rules (norms) |
Display Rules | Culturally specific rules for which emotions to display, to whom, & when, differ by culture. |
Language | our spoken, written, or gestured works & the way we combine them to communicate meaning |
Non-verbal Communication | only 7% of communication is the words that are used, the rest of it is based on vocal cues (38%) & body language (55%) |
Phoneme | shortest segment of speech, which, if changed, would change the meaning of a spoken word |
Non-verbal Communication | “bat” has three phonemes (b |
Non-verbal Communication | “beet” also has three phonemes (b |
Morpheme | the shortest unit of spoken or written language that carries meaning |
Morpheme | “unfaithful” has three (un-faith-ful) |
Morpheme | “dogs” has two (dog-s) |
Grammar | a system of rules in a language that enables us to communicate with & underst& others |
Semantics | the set of rules by which we derive meaning from morphemes, words, & sentences in a given language; also the study of meaning |
Syntax | rules for combining words into grammatically sensible sentences in a given language |
Prelinguistic Stage(birth-one year) | before a child is able to make speech that can understand words & they also begin to make babbling sounds that match up the phonemes of their native language |
One-Word Stage | (1-2 years) children begin to communicate using single words along with other nonverbal cues |
Two-Word Stage | (2-3 years) children begin to combine words to make short & brief sentences with little to no syntax ability |
Telegraphic Speech | early speech stage in which the child speaks like a telegram – “go car” – using mostly nouns & verbs & omitting “auxiliary” words’ |
Operant Conditioning & Language development | is based on rewards & punishments received when certain words are used |
Inborn Universal Grammar Chomsky’s | belief that humans are born with innate abilities to perform & underst& language that other animals are not blessed with |
Linguistic relativity | Whorf’s hypothesis that language determines the way we think & it is largely based on cultural perception |
Linguistic relativity | “Policeman” gives the perception of the job requiring you to be masculine as opposed to a “Policewoman” |
Linguistic relativity | Eskimos have many ways to describe “snow” in the same way Houstonians have many ways to describe “heat” |