Psychology Chapter 15

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lexical hypothesis

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holds that the words we use to dscribe people have been shaped by a kind of linguistic natural selction. words that are useful have stopped being used and become "extinct." This hpothesis has provided justification for using te dictionary as a source of trait terms.

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big Five

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a nickname often used to refer to five apparently crucial dimensions of personality: extroversion, neuroticism (or emotional stability), agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience. these five traits oftnen emerge from factor analyses of trait terms.

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self-report measures

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measures derived by asking participants questions, usually in the form of questionnaires.

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informant data

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data about a person derived from others who know the person well.

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personality paradox

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the idea that people seem to behave much less consistently than a trait conception would predict

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weak situations

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situations that allow for a wide range of behaviors.

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strong situations

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situations that procue near uniformity to behavior.

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behavioral data

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about a person based on direct observatoin of that person.

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trait

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friendly, helpful, formal.

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states

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traits like frienldy that are only temporary.

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monitering scale

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developed by Mark Snyder and designed to assess the degree to which people ar esensitie to their surroundings and likely to adjust their behaviors to fit in.

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temperament

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in modern usage, a characteristic level of reactivity and energy, often throught to be constitutional.

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physiological data

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a exploration of how people with different personality traits differ in their biological functioning.

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sensation seeking

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a predisposition to seek novel experiences, look for thrills and adventure, and be highly susceptible to boredom.

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inhibited temperament

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a personality style characterized by a fear of nevelty that is evident early in life.

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national character

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the idea that people in different cultures have different personalities.

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psychodynamic perspective

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says there is an understanding that parallels a more modern approachto drama, in which nothing is quite what it seems.

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hysteria

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an older term for a group of presumably psychogenic disorders including conversion disorders and dissociative disorders. Since DSM-III, it is no longer used as a diagnostic category, n part because of an erroneous implicaiton that the condition is more prevalent in women.

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psychogenic disorders

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disorders whose origins are psychological rather than organic.

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glove anesthesia

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a condition sometimes seen in conversion disorders, in which there is an anesthesia of the entire hand with no loss of feeling above the wrist. This symptom makes no organic sense given the anatomical arrangement of the nerve truncks and indicaties that the condition has a psychological basis.

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free association

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method used in psychoanalytic therapy in which the patient is to say anthing that comes to her mind, no matter how apparently trivial, unrelated, or embarassing.

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resistance

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in psychoanalysis, a term describing the patient;s failure to associate freely and say whateve enters her head.

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repressed memories

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in psychoanalytic theory, a mechanism of defense by means of which thoughts, impulses, or memoriesthat give rise to anxiety are pushed out of consciousness where it may fester until it is "recovered."

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psychoanaylsis

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a theory of both normal nad abnormal human personality development, formlated by Freud, whose key assertins include unconscious conflict and early psychosexual development. A method of therapy that draws heavily on this theory of personality. Its main aim is to have the pateitn gain insight into her own unvonscious thoughts and feelings. Therapeutic tools employed toward this end include free associaitoin, interpretation, and the appropriate use of the trasference relationship betweeen patient and analyst.

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conscious level

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thoughts and feelings of which one is currently aware.

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preconscious

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mental processes that are not currently in focal awareness, but that could easily be brought to awareness.

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id

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In Freud's theory, a term for the mst primitive reactions of human personality, consisting of blind strivings for immediate biologicalsatisfactionregardless of cost.

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ego

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In Freud's theory, a set of reactions that try to reconcile the id's blind pleasure strivings with the demands of reality. these lead to the emergence of various skills and capacities that eventually become a system that can look at itself- an "I."

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unconscious level

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mental processes that are not-and cannot easily become-the object of focal awareness.

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superego

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In Freud's theory, reaction patterns that emerge from within the eo, represen the internalized rules of society, and come to control the ego by punishemnt with guilt.

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life instincts

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a motive postulated by Freud to explain eating, drinking, and sex.

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death instincts

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a motive postulated by freud to explain aggression, war, adn suicide.

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pleasure principle

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one of two major principles that freud held governed psychological life. The pleasure principle is thought to characterize the id, whihc seeks to reduce tensions generated by biological urges.

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reality principle

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one of two major principles that Freud held governed psychological life. te reality principle is thought to characterize the ego, which gains pleasure pragmatically by finding strategies that work int he real world.

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anxiety

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a global apprehensiveness related to uncertainty.

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repression

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In psychoanalytic theory, a mechanism of defense by means of which thought, impulses, or memories that give rise to anxiety are pusehd out of consciousness.

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defense mechanism

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in psychoanalytic theory, a collective term for a number of reactions that ry to ward off or lessen anxiety by various unconscious means.

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displacement

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in psychoanalytic theory, a redirection of an impulse form a channel tha tis blocked into another, more available outlet.

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reaction formation

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in psychoanalytic theory, a mechanism of defense in which a forbidden implulse is tured into its opposite.

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rationalization

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In psychoanalytic theory, a mechanism of defense by means of which unacceptable thooughts or impulses are reinterpreted in more acceptable and, thus, less anxiety-arousing terms.

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projection

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in psychoanalytic theory, a mechanism of defense in which various forbidden thoughts and impulses are attributed to another person rather than the self, thus warding off some anxiety.

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oral stage

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the earliest stage of psychosexual development during which the primary source of bodily pleasure is stimulation of the mouth an dlips, as in sucking at the breast.

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anal stage

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the stage of psychosexual development dring which the focus of pleasure is on activities related to elimination.

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phallic stage

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the stage of psychosexual developpment during which the child begins to regard his or her genitals as a major source of gratification.

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genital stage

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the stage of psychosexual development reached in adult sexuality in which sexual pleasrue involves not only one's own gratification but also the social and bodily satisfaction brought to another person.

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oral character

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according to Freud, a personality type based on a fixation at the oral stage of development and whose manifestations can include passive dependency or "biting" hostility.

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anal character

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an adult personality pattern alledgedly produced by a fixation on the anal stage. this character includes traits like orderliness and stinginess.

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Oedipus complex

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a general term fo rhte cluster of impulses and conflicts hypothesixed to occur during the phallic phase, at around age five. in boys, a fantasixed form of intense, possessive sexual love is directed at the mother, whihc is soon followed by hatred for and fear of the father. As the fear mounts, the sexual feelins are pushed underground and the boy identifies with the father. An equivalent process is hypothesized in girls an dis called the Electra complex.

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Electra Complex

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a general term for the cluster ofimpulses and conflicts hypothesized to occur during the phallic phase, at around age five. In girls, a fantasixed form of intense, possesive sexual love is directed at the father, which is soon followed by hatred for and fear of the mother. As the fear mounts, the sexual feelings are pushed underground and the boy identifies with the father.

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penis evny

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in psychoanalytic theory, the wish for a penis that is assumed to ensue normally in femalyes as part of the Electra complex.

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latent content

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in psychoanalytic interpretatioon, the actual wishes and concerns that a dream or behavior is intended to express; usually contrasted with manifest content.

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manifest content

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in psychoanalytic interpretation, the immediately visible, surface content of a dream of gehavior. This content is hypothesized to be a means of representing the latent content in disguised form, to protect the person from the anxiety associated with the latent content.

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collective unconscious

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a set of primordial stories and imaes, hypothesized by Carl Jung to be shared by all of humanity, and which he proosed underlie and shape our perceptions and desires.

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archetypes

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according to Carl Jung, the stories and images that constitute our collective unconscious.

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Thematic Apperception Test

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a projective technique in which persons are shown a set of pictures and asked to make up a story about each one.

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ego psychology

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a school of psychodynamic thought that emphasizes the skills and adaptive capacities of the ego.

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life data

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data about a person derived from public sources.

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objct relations

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a school of psychodynamic thought that emphasizes the real(as opposed to fantasy)relations an individual has with others.

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primary attachment figure

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the main person to whom an infant attaches psychologically.

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working models

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a part of the memory system that is currently activated but has relatively little cognitive capacity.

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humanistic approach

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asserts that what is most important about people is how they achieve their selfhood and actualize their potentialities.

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hierarcy of needs

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according to Maslow and other adherents of the humanistic approach, human needs are arranged in a hierarchy with physiological needs such as hunger at the bottom, safety needs further up, the need for attachemnt and love still hiher, and the desire for esteem yet higher. At the very top of the hierarchy is the striving for self-actualization. By and large, people will only strive for the higher-order needs when the lower ones are fulfilled.

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self-actualization

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according to Abraham Maslow and some other adherencts of the humanistic approch to personality, the full realization of one's potential.

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self-concept

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generally, the sum of one's beliefs aobut the attitudes toward oneself.

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positive psychology

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a movement within the field of psychology that seeks to emphasize in its research the factors that make eople healthy, happy, able to cope, or well adjusted to their life circumstances.

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adaptation

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the process by which the sensitivity to a stimulus declines if the stimulus is continually presented.

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outcome expectations

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a set of beliefs, drawn from experience, about what the consequesnces (rewards or punishments)of certain actions are likey to be.

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self-efficacy

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the sense a person has about what things he can plausibly accomplish.

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attributional style

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the way a person typically explains the things that happen in his or her life.

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attributional stlye questionaire

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a questionnaire designed to assess a person's habitual pattern of attributing events in a certain way. (ex: to internal forces or external ones, to forces that influence jsut that event or to boarder forces.

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self-control

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the ability to pursue a goal while adequately managing internal conflicts about it, or to delay pursuing a goal because of other considerations or constraints.