| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Psychodynamic Approach | Psychological approach developed by Sigmund Freud. Emphasizes the interplay of unconscious psychological processes in determining human thoughts, feelings, and behavior. |
| Id | Primitive instincts and energies underlying all psychological activity. |
| Pleasure Principle | The governing principle of the id. |
| Libido | Psychic energy or desire. |
| Ego | The conscious mind that attempts to satisfy the Id's impulses while obeying society's rules. |
| Reality Principle | The governing principle of the ego |
| Superego | Part of the unconscious mind that determines what is right and what is wrong. |
| Defense Mechanisms | Unconscious mental operations, used by the Ego, that distort reality in order to reduce anxiety. |
| Psychosexual Stages | Stages in which a part of the body becomes a child's main source of pleasure. |
| Oral Stage | Psychosexual stage in the first year of life, in which the mouth is the center of pleasure. |
| Anal Stage | Psychosexual Stage during the second year of life, where the ego begins to evolve. |
| Phallic Stage | Psychosexual Stage from lasting from age 3 to 5. Boys develop the Oedipus Complex and girls develop the Electra Complex. |
| Oedipus Complex | A young boy's sexual desire for his mother, and desire to kill his father. |
| Electra Complex | A young girl's sexual desire for her father and hatred for her mother. |
| Latency Period | Psychosexual Stage at age 5, when sexual impulses are dormant. |
| Genital Stage | Psychosexual Stage that lasts from adolescence until death, in which sexual desires reappear. |
| Womb Envy | A man's envy towards women for their ability to carry and give birth to a child. |
| Object Relations | Theory that states an infant's early relationships with significant objects shape its personality. |
| Trait Approach | States that personality is the combination of stable internal characteristics that an individual display constantly throughout his or her life. |
| Central Traits | Allport's term to describe the 7 basic descriptive traits of a person. |
| Secondary Traits | The less obvious characteristics of an individual's personality. |
| Big-Five Model | The model contains the five factors that make up personality; Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism |
| Openness to Experiences | Part of the Big-Five Model, the tendency to have a wide variety of interests. |
| Conscientiousness | Part of the Big-Five Model, the trait of being painstaking and careful. |
| Extraversion | Part of the Big-Five Model, the tendency to be outgoing and confident. |
| Agreeableness | Part of the Big-Five model, the trait of being warm and cooperative. |
| Neuroticism | Part of the Big-Five model, the trait of being self-conscious and anxious. |
| Introversion-Extraversion | According to Hans Eysenck, one of the basic personality factors. Specifically, whether or not a person is shy and reserved or confident and outgoing. |
| Emotionality-Stability | One of Hans Eysenck's factors of personality. Specifically, the degree of how anxious and neurotic and anxious a person is. |
| Behavioral Approach Systems | The brain structures that lead an organism to approach stimuli in pursuit of rewards |
| Behavioral Inhibition Systems | The brain structures that are sensitive to punishment and discourages behavior that might lead to danger or pain |
| Social-Cognitive Approach | Approach to personality that equates personality with behavior. |
| Functional Analysis | Employed by B.F Skinner to understand behavior in terms of its functions to achieve rewards and avoid punishment. |
| Reciprocal Determinism | The mutual influences between personality and environmental factors. |
| Self-Efficacy | A person's belief that they will succeed. |
| Cognitive Person Variables | According to Walter Mischel, traits that are important in explaining behavior. |
| Encoding | One of the Cognitive Person Variables;Mental representations of information that is seen and heard. |
| Expectancies | One of the Cognitive Person Variables; Personal predictions about the outcomes of behavior |
| Affects | One of the Cognitive Person Variables; Influences on the word around you. |
| Goals | One of the Cognitive Person Variables; The objectives a person would like to achieve. |
| Values | One of the Cognitive Person Variables; The morals and beliefs of a person. |
| Competencies | One of the Cognitive Person Variables; Special capabilities of a person. |
| Humanistic Approach | Approach that defines personality as how each individual perceives and interprets the world. |
| Actualizing Tendency | Carl Roger's concept; The innate inclination toward growth that motivates all human behavior. |
| Self-Concept | How a person identifies and views themselves. |
| Positive Regard | Positive feelings of others that shape the development of a person's self-concept. |
| Conditions of Worth | Believing you are only worth something under if certain condition. (EX: Mom won't love me unless I take out the trash.) |
| Deficiency Orientation | According to Maslow, a preoccupation with perceived needs for things a person does not have. |
| Growth Orientation | According to Maslow, a tendency to draw satisfaction from what is available in life, rather than to focus on what is missing. |
| Objective Test | Personality test that contains clear, specific questions with specific answers. |
| Projective Personality Tests | Type of personality test that is unstructured stimuli that can be perceived and responded to in many ways, |
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