Chapter 13

Question 1

personality

Answer 1

the unique and relatively enduring set of behaviours, feelings, thoughts, and motives that characterize an individual

Question 2

trait

Answer 2

a disposition to behave consistently in a particular way

Question 3

behavioural thresholds

Answer 3

the point at which a person moves from not having a particular response to having one.

Question 4

quantitive trait loci (QTL) approach

Answer 4

a technique in behavioural genetics that looks for the location on genes that might be associated with particular behaviours

Question 5

unconscious

Answer 5

the level of consciousness containing all drives, urges, and instincts that are outside awareness but nonetheless motivate most behaviour

Question 6

id

Answer 6

freud’s term for the seat of impulse and desire; the pleasure-seeking part of our personality

Question 7

ego

Answer 7

freud’s term for the sense of self’ the part of the mind that operates on the “reality principle”

Question 8

superego

Answer 8

freud’s term for the part of the mind that monitors behaviour and evaluates it in terms of right and wrong; the conscious

Question 9

repression

Answer 9

defence mechanism for keeping unpleasant thoughts, feelings, or impulses out of consciousness

Question 10

sublimation

Answer 10

a defence mechanism in which a socially unacceptable impulse is expressed in a socially acceptable way

Question 11

defence mechanisms

Answer 11

unconscious strategies that the mind uses to protect itself from anxiety by denying and distorting reality in some way

Question 12

reaction formation

Answer 12

a defence mechanism that turns an unpleasant idea, feeling, or impulse into its opposite.

Question 13

projection

Answer 13

a defence mechanism in which people deny particular ideas, feelings, or impulses and project them onto others

Question 14

psychosexual stage theory

Answer 14

freud’s stage of personality development; in different stages a different region of the body is most erogenous

Question 15

fixation

Answer 15

a defence mechanism whereby a person continues to be concerned and even preoccupied with earlier stages of development

Question 16

inferiority complex

Answer 16

an unhealthy need to dominate or upstage others as a way of compensating for feelings of deficiency

Question 17

personal unconscious

Answer 17

according to Jung, all our repressed and hidden thoughts, feelings and motives

Question 18

collective unconscious

Answer 18

according to Jung, the shared experiences of our ancestors that have been passed down from generation to generation.

Question 19

archetypes

Answer 19

ancient or archaic images that result from common ancestral experiences

Question 20

anima

Answer 20

according to Jung, the female part of the male personality

Question 21

animus

Answer 21

according to Jung, the male part of the female personality

Question 22

striving for superiority

Answer 22

according to Adler, the major drive behind all behaviour, whereby humans naturally strive to overcome their physical and psychological deficiencies.

Question 23

unconditional positive regard

Answer 23

acceptance of another person regardless of his or her behaviour

Question 24

conditions of worth

Answer 24

the beliefs that a persons worth depends on displaying the “right” attitudes, behaviours, and values

Question 25

reciprocal determinism

Answer 25

the process by which personal factors, behaviours, and the environment all interact with one another to shape an individual’s personality.

Question 26

self-efficacy

Answer 26

peoples beliefs about their ability to perform the behaviours needed to achieve desired outcomes

Question 27

factor analysis

Answer 27

a statistical took used to identify clusters of traits that go together or are highly correlated with one another

Question 28

source traits

Answer 28

according to Cattell, the basic traits that underlie aspects of personality easily seen by others

Question 29

Big 5 / five-factor model

Answer 29

a theory of personality that includes five dimensions: Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism (OCEAN)

Question 30

basic tendencies

Answer 30

the essence of personality: the big five personality dimensions plus talents, aptitudes, and cognitive abilities.

Question 31

cortical arousal

Answer 31

level of activation in the brain

Question 32

inter-rater reliability

Answer 32

measure of how much agreement there is in ratings when using two or more raters or coders to rate personality or other behaviours

Question 33

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Answer 33

a projective test in which the participant is presented with a series of picture cards and asked to tell a story about what is going on in the scene

Question 34

Projective tests

Answer 34

personality assessment in which the participant is presented with a vague stimulus or situation and asked to interpret it or tell a story about what they see

Question 35

Rorschach Inkblot Test

Answer 35

a projective test in which the participant is asked to respond to a serious of ambiguous inkblots.

Question 36

personality questionnaires

Answer 36

self-report instruments on which respondents indicate the extent to which they agree or disagree with a series of statements as they apply to their personality

Question 37

rational (face valid) method

Answer 37

a method for developing questionnaire items that involves using reason or theory to come up with a question

Question 38

empirical method

Answer 38

a method for developing questionnaire items that focuses on including questions that characterize the group the questionnaire is intended to distinguish.