AP Psych - Personality

an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting

• psychoanalysis

• method of exploring the unconscious where an individual relaxes and said whatever comes to mind

• Freud’s theory of personality

• attributes emotions to unconscious thoughts

• according to Freud, the ______ is a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings and memories

• according to contemporary psychologists, information processing we are unaware of

• reservoir of unconscious energy that strives to satisfy sexual and aggressive drives

• operates of the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification

• largely conscious, “executive” part of personality that mediates the demands of the id, superego, and reality

• operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id’s desires that will bring pleasure rather than pain

• part of personality that represents internalized ideas

• provides standards for judgement and future aspirations

driving force of id that seeks immediate gratification

the opposing force to the instinctual urges of the pleasure principle

• childhood stages of development (oral, anal, phallic, latent, genital) proposed by Freud

• during these, the id’s pleasure-seeking focuses on distinct erogenous zones

• one of Freud’s psychosexual stages; 0-18 months

• pleasure centered on the mouth (sucking, biting, chewing)

• one of Freud’s psychosexual stages; 18-36 months

• pleasure focused on bowel and bladder, coping w/ demands for control

• one of Freud’s psychosexual stages; 3-6 years

• pleasure zone is the genitals, coping w/ incestuous sexual feelings

• one of Freud’s psychosexual stages; 6 to puberty

• dormant sexual feelings

• one of Freud’s psychosexual stages; puberty on

• maturation of sexual interests

Freud’s idea that a boy has sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father

• opposite of Oedipus complex

• Carl Jung’s idea that a girl has sexual desires toward her father and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival mother

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

according to Freud, the lingering focus on unresolved pleasure seeking from an earlier psychosexual stage

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

• defense mechanism where an individual banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness

• ex. a victim of a car accident doesn’t remember anything about the accident

• defense mechanism where an individual dealing with anxiety retreats to a more infantile stage

• ex. following the anxious first day of school, a child may revert to comfort of thumb-sucking

• defense mechanism where the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites

• ex. “I love them” becomes “I hate them”

• defense mechanism where people disguise their own impulses by attributing them to others

• ex. “they’re such a gossip” when in reality, the person speaking is insecure about their gossiping habits

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

• ex. an alcoholic says they drink with their friends ”just to be sociable”

• defense mechanism that shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable outlet

• ex. someone is angry and wants to hit someone, but they redirect that energy towards punching a wall

• defense mechanism where people refuse to believe or percieve painful realities

• ex. someone ignores evidence of their partner’s affair

Carl Jung’s concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory that is derived from our universal experiences

a personality test, like the Rorschach or TAT that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one’s internal dynamics

a personality test where people view ambiguous pictures and make up a story

well known projective test that attempts to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing their interpretation of inkblots

• theory of death-related anxiety

• explores people’s emotional and behavioral responses to reminders of death

Maslow’s theory of the motivation to fufill one’s potential after basic physical and psychological needs are met

Carl Rogers’ idea of an attitude of total acceptance toward another

all of our thoughts and feelings about ourselves

a characteristic pattern of behavior

a questionnaire used to assess selected personality traits

the most widely researched and clinically used personality test

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

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

the interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and enviroment

the extent to which people perceive control over their environment

the perception that chance or outside forces beyond personal control determine one’s fate

the perception that you control your own fate

the hopelessness and resignation an individul learns when unable to avoid repeated averse effects

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

the center of personality, the organizer of our thoughts, feelings, and actions

overestimating others’ observation and evaluation of our appearance, performance, and blunders (as if we pretend a spotlight shines on us)

one’s feelings of high or low self worth

a readiness to perceive oneself favorably

• Neo-Freudian

• Importance of child social (not sexual) tension

• Inferiority complex

• Birth order psychology

• Neo-Freudian

• Sought to balance Freud's masculine biases

• “Womb envy”

• Neo-Freudian

• Collective unconscious

• Archetypes (self, persona, shadow, anima, ect.)

Psychoanalyst

• Unconscious

• Id, ego, superego

• Free association

• Humanistic psychologist

• Self-actualization

• Hierarchy of needs

• Humanistic psychologist

• Focused on growth and fulfillment

• Unconditional positive regard

• Psychologist

• Social learning theory

• Locus of control

Viewed behavior as influenced by the interaction between persons and their social context

Used two primary personality factors (neuroticism and extraversion) as axes for describing personality variation

• Psychologist

• Trait theory

• The big five traits

• OCEAN (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism)

• Psychologist

• 16 personality factors

• Fluid and crystalized intelligence

• Psychologist

• Positive psychology

• Learned helplessness