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Harris / Exam #4 Vocab Part 1
I broke the flash-cards into smaller sets to make them less overwhelming
42
Psychology
Undergraduate 1
12/15/2009

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Term
Personality
Definition
An individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting
Term
Free association
Definition
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.
Term
Psychoanalysis
Definition
Freud's theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts; the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions.
Term
Unconscious
Definition
According to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. According to contemporary psychologists, information processing of which we are unaware.
Term
Id
Definition
Contains an 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.
Term
Ego
Definition
The largely conscious, "executive" parts of the personality that, according to Freud, mediates 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 being pleasure rather than pain.
Term
Superego
Definition
The part of the personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgement (the conscience) and for future aspirations.
Term
Psychosexual Stages
Definition
The childhood stages of development(oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital) during which, according to Freud, the id's pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones.
Term
Oedipus complex
Definition
According to Freud, a boy's sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father.
Term
Identification
Definition
The process by which, according to Freud, children incorporate their parent's values into their developing superegos.
Term
Fixation
Definition
According to Freud, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved.
Term
Defense Mechanisms
Definition
In psychoanalytic theory, the ego's protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality.
Term
Regression
Definition
Psychoanalytic defense mechanism in which an individual faced with anxiety retreats to a more infantile psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated.
Term
Repression
Definition
In psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness.
Term
Reaction formation
Definition
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.
Term
Projection
Definition
Psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others.
Term
Rationalization
Definition
Defense mechanisms that offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one's actions.
Term
Displacement
Definition
Psychoanalytic 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.
Term
Collective unconscious
Definition
Carl Jung's concept of shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species' history.
Term
Projective test
Definition
A personality test, such as the Rorschach or TAT, that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one's inner dynamics.
Term
Thematic Appreciation Test (TAT)
Definition
A projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes.
Term
Rorschach inkblot test
Definition
The most widely used prjective test, a set of ten inkblots, designed by Hermann Rorschach; seeks to identify people's inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots.
Term
Terror-management theory
Definition
Proposes that faith in one's world view and the pursuit of self-esteem provide protection against a deeply rooted fear of death.
Term
Self-actualization
Definition
According to Maslow, the ultimate psychological need that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved; the motivation to fulfill one's potential.
Term
Unconditional positive regard
Definition
According to Rogers, an attitude of total acceptance toward another person.
Term
Self-concept
Definition
All our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question, "who am I?"
Term
Trait
Definition
A characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act, as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports
Term
Personality inventory
Definition
A questionnaire, 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.
Term
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
Definition
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.
Term
Empirically derived test
Definition
A test (such as the MMPI) developed by testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminate between groups.
Term
Social-cognitive perspective
Definition
Views behaviors as influenced by the interaction between persons (and their thinking) and their social context.
Term
Reciprocal Determinism
Definition
The interacting influences between personality and environmental factors
Term
Personal Control
Definition
Our sense of controlling our environment rather than feeling helpless.
Term
External Locus of control
Definition
The perception that chance or outside forces beyond one;s personal control determine one's fate.
Term
Internal locus of control
Definition
The perception that one controls one's own fate.
Term
Learned helplessness
Definition
The hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events.
Term
Postitive psychology
Definition
The scientific study of optimal human functioning; aims to discover and promote strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive.
Term
Spotlight effect
Definition
Overestimating others' noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunders (as we presume a spotlight shines on us).
Term
Self-esteem
Definition
One's feelings of high or low self-worth.
Term
Self-serving Bias
Definition
A readiness to perceive oneself favorably.
Term
Psychological disorder
Definition
Deviant, distressful, and dysfunctional behavior patterns.
Term
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Definition
A psychological disorder marked by the appearance by age 7 of one or more of three key symptoms: extreme inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.
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