Psychology Vocabulary: Personality And Social Psychology

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Personality

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An individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.

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Psychodynamic theories

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View personality with a focus on the unconscious and the importance of childhood experiences

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Psychoanalysis

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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

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Free association

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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.

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Unconscious

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According to Freud, a reservoir of socially unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. According to contemporary psychologists, information processing of which we are unaware.

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Id

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A 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.

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Ego

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The largely unconscious "executive" part of the brain 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 bring pleasure rather than pain.

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Superego

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The part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards of judgment (the conscience) and for future aspirations.

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Oedipus Complex

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According to Freud, a boy's sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of hatred and jealousy toward his rival father.

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Defense mechanisms

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In psychoanalytic theory, the ego's protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality.

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Repression

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In psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from unconsciousness.

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Projection

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The belief, especially in children, that others share one's subjective mental life.

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Collective unconscious

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Carl Jung's concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our specie's history

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Humanistic theories

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View personality with a focus on the potential for healthy personal growth.

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Rorschach inkblot test

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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 bias.

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Learned helplessness

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The hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events.

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Unconditional positive regard

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According to Rogers, an attitude of total acceptance toward another person.

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External locus of control

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The perception that chance or outside forces beyond our personal control determine our fate

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Internal locus of control

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The perception that you control your own fate.

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Self control

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The ability to control impulses and delay short term gratification for greater long term rewards.

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Social psychology

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The scientific study of how we think and relate to one another.

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Fundamental attribution error

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The tendency for observers, when analyzing another's behavior to underestimate the impact of the situation and to overestimate the impact of personal disposition

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Attitude

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Feelings, often influenced by our beliefs, that predispose us to respond in a particular way to objects, people, and events.

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Foot-in-the-door phenomenon

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The tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request to comply later with a larger request.

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Cognitive dissonance theory

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The theory that we act to reduce the discomfort (dissonance) we feel when two of our thoughts (cognitions) are inconsistent. For example, when we become aware that our attitudes and our actions clash, we reduce the resulting dissonance by changing our attitudes.

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Conformity

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Adjusting our behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard

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Social facilitation

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Stronger responses on simple or well-learned tasks in the presence of others.

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Social loafing

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The tendency for people in a group to exert less effort toward attaining a common goal than when individually accountable.

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Deindividualization

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The loss of self-awareness and self-restraint occurring in group situations that foster arousal and anonymity.

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Group polarization

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The enhancement of a group's prevailing inclinations through discussion within the group.

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Groupthink

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The mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives.

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Prejudice

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An unjustifiable (and usually negative) attitude toward a group and its members. Prejudice generally involves stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings, and a predisposition to discriminatory action.

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Stereotype

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A generalized (sometimes accurate but often overgeneralized) belief about a group of people.

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Discrimination

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Unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and its members.

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Just-world phenomenon

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The tendency for people to believe the world is just and that people therefore get what they deserve and deserve what they get.

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Ingroup

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"Us" - people with whom we share a common identity

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Outgroup

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"Them" - those who we perceive as different or apart from our ingroup.

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Bystander effect

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The tendency for any given bystander to be less likely to give aid if other bystanders are present.

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Self-disclosure

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Revealing intimate aspects of oneself to others.

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Altruism

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Unselfish regard for the welfare of others