| A | B |
|---|
| personality | distinctive and relatively stable pattern of behavior, thoughts, motives, and emotions that characterizes an individual |
| trait | characteristic of an individual, describing a habitual way of behaving, thinking, or feeling |
| psychoanalysis | theory of personality that emphasizes unconscious motives and conflicts |
| psychodynamic theories | theories that explain behavior & personality in terms of unconconscious dynamics within the individual |
| id | part of personality containing psychic energy, particularly sexual and aggressive instincts |
| libido | psychic energy that fuels the life or sexual instincts of the id |
| ego | part of personality that represents reason, good sense, and rational self-control |
| superego | part of personality that represents conscience, morality, and social standards |
| defense mechanism | methods used by the ego to prevent unconscious anxiety or threatening thoughts from entering consciousness |
| repression | involuntary pushing or threatening or upsetting information into the unconscious |
| unconscious | involuntary thought process |
| conscious | voluntary thought process |
| projection | repression of unacceptable or threatening feelings by attributing to someone or something else |
| displacement | direction of emotions toward things, animals, or other people that are not the real object of the feelings |
| sublimation | displacement that serves a cultural of social purpose (like art, music) |
| reaction formation | transformation of an unconscious feeling or anxiety into the opposite in the consciousness |
| regression | act of reverting to a previous phase of psychological development |
| denial | refusal to admit that something unpleasant is happening or has happened |
| psychosexual stage | series of phases in which sexual energy takes different forms during the maturation process of a child |
| fixated | to be stuck at a stage or phase |
| oral stage | stage when the world is experienced via the mouth |
| anal stage | stage when the child learns of control, becoming either retentive or expulsive |
| phallic (oedipal) stage | stage when the child focuses on the parent of the opposite sex & wishes to get rid of the same sex parent |
| Oedipus Complex | conflict occuring in the phallic stage, in which a child desires the parent of the other sex |
| penis envy | a feeling that girls may experience a sense of loss |
| latency | non-sexual stage in which the child is resolving past issues and preparing for adult sexuality |
| genital stage | begins with puberty & continues until adult sexuality |
| womb envy | feeling that boys may experience because they can never bare children |
| collective unconscious | universal memories & experiences of humankind that occur in all cultures |
| archetypes | universal, symbolic images that appear in myths, art, stories, and dreams |
| mandala | collective magic circle that symbolizes the unity of life and the totality of self in Eastern religions |
| shadow | aspect of self that reflects the prehistoric fear of wild animals and represents the bestial, evil side of human nature |
| anima | ♀ archetype in men |
| animus | ♂ archetype in women |
| object-relations school | psychodynamic approach that emphasizes the importance of the infant's first two years of life and the baby's formative relationships (most specifically with the mother) |
| mental representation | an evolving perception or view |
| retrospective analysis | act of using the past to explain the present; construction of theories based on themes in adults' memories of childhood |
| illusion of casuality | assumption that a previous event caused a later response |
| psychological practice | concept of providing health or mental-health services |
| choleric | hothead, short tempered |
| objective test | (inventory) standardized questionaires requiring written responses; they typically include scales on which people are asked to rate themselves |
| central traits | characteristics that reflect a way of behaving, interacting with others, and reacting to new stimuli |
| secondary traits | conditions or changeable aspects of personality |
| factor analysis | statistical method for analyzing the intercorrelations among various measures or test scores; clusters of scores that are highly correlated are assumed to measure the same underlying trait or ability |
| extroversion | outgoing, talkative, sociable, adventurous, eager to enjoy limelight |
| introversion | shy, silent, reclusive, cautious, inclined to stay in the shadows |
| neurotic | anxious, poor impulse control, negative emotions, pessimist, complains |
| stable | impulse control, calm, realist, positive |
| agreeable | good-natured, cooperative, secure & friendly relationships |
| antagonistic | irritable, abrasive, suspicious, jealous, hostile relationships |
| conscientious | responsible, persevering, steadfast, tidy, self-disciplined |
| impulsive | undependable, quick to give up, fickle, careless |
| open | curious, imaginative, questioning, creative |
| resistant | conforming, unimaginative, predictable, uncomfortable with novelty |
| nature-nuture | conflict between explaning causation: biology, genetics, and environment -v- experience |
| genes | functional units of heredity |
| infer | educated guess, deductions |
| temperaments | phsyiological dispositions to respond to the environment in certain ways; they are present in infancy and are assumed to be innate |
| reactivity | explains how excitable, arousable, or responsive a baby can be |
| soothability | describes how easy it is to calm a baby |
| heritability | statistical estimate of the proportion of the total variance in some trait that is attributable to genetic differences among individuals within the same group |
| behavioral genetics | interdisciplinary field of study concerned with the genetic bases of individual differences in behavior and personality |
| identical twins | twins born of the same egg (share all genes) |
| fraternal twins | twins born at same time but each from their own egg (wombmates) |
| transform | change, modify |
| predisposition | tendency to have or display a certain quality based on biology and environment |
| inevitability | unavoidable, not possible |
| social-cognitive learning theory | view of learning that holds the personality traits result from a person's learning history and his or her expectations, beliefs, perceptions or events, and other cognitions |
| reciprocal (mutual) determinism | two-way interaction between aspects of the environment and aspects of the individual in the shaping of personality traits |
| nonshared environment | unique aspects of a person's environment and experience that are not shared with family members |
| culture | program of shared rules that govern the behavior of members of a community or society, and a set of values, beliefs, and attitudes shared by most members of that community |
| individualist culture | culture in which the self is regarded as autonomous and individual goals & wishes are prized above duty and relations with others |
| collectivist culture | culture in which the self is regarded as embedded in relationships, and harmony with one's groups is prized above individual goals and wishes |
| tachiba | Japanese description or cultural trait of performing social roles correctly to maintain harmony with others |
| conversational distance | how close people usually stand to one another when they are speaking |
| culture of honor | system in which a man must physically and aggressively respond to small disputes and trivial insults to be respected |
| cross-cultural psychology | study of cultural influences on personality |
| humanist | self-determination (ability to make choices) |
| peak experiences | rare moments of excellence or the experience of beauty |
| self-actualized person | person who strives for a life that is meaningful, challenging, and satisfying |
| congruence | harmony experienced by fully functioning people |
| unconditional positive regard | love or support given to another person with no conditions attached |
| conditional | depending on a condition |
| incongruence | sense of being out of touch with your feelings, of not being true to your "real self" |
| existentialism | philosophic approach that emphasizes the inevitable dilemmas and challenges of human existence |
