FlashcardsChapter13
(26 cards)
Term
Description
Behavioral approach system (BAS)
The brain system involved in the pursuit of incentives or rewards. (page 531)
Behavioral inhibition system (BIS)
The brain system that is sensitive to punishment and therefore inhibits behavior that might lead to danger or pain. (page 531)
Defense mechanisms
Unconscious mental strategies that the mind uses to protect itself from anxiety. (page 523)
Ego
In psychodynamic theory, the component of personality that tries to satisfy the wishes of the id while being responsive to the dictates of the superego. (page 523)
Five-factor theory
The idea that personality can be described using five factors: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. (page 528)
Humanistic approaches
Approaches to studying personality that emphasize how people seek to fulfill their potential through greater self-understanding. (page 526)
Id
In psychodynamic theory, the component of personality that is completely submerged in the unconscious and operates according to the pleasure principle. (page 522)
Idiographic approaches
Person-centered approaches to assessing personality; they focus on individual lives and how various characteristics are integrated into unique persons. (page 541)
Interactionism
The theory that behavior is determined jointly by situations and underlying dispositions. (page 533)
Locus of control
Personal beliefs about how much control people have over outcomes in their lives. (page 525)
Nomothetic approaches
Approaches to assessing personality that focus on how common characteristics vary from person to person. (page 541)
Personality
A person’s characteristic thoughts, emotional responses, and behaviors. (page 516)
Personality trait
A pattern of thought, emotion, and behavior that is relatively consistent over time and across situations. (page 516)
Projectivee measures
Personality tests that examine unconscious processes by having people interpret ambiguous stimuli. (page 541)
Psychodynamic theory
The Freudian theory that unconscious forces determine behavior. (page 522)
Psychosexual stages
According to Freud, developmental stages that correspond to distinct libidinal urges; progression through these stages profoundly affects personality. (page 524)
Reciprocal determinism
The theory that how personality is expressed can be explained by the interaction of environment, person factors, and behavior itself. (page 526)
Self-esteem
The evaluative aspect of the self-concept in which people feel worthy or unworthy. (page 549)
Self-serving bias
The tendency for people to take personal credit for success but blame failure on external factors. (page 553)
Situationism
The theory that behavior is determined more by situations than by personality traits. (page 532)
Social comparison
The tendency for people to evaluate their own actions, abilities, and beliefs by contrasting them with other people’s. (page 553)
Sociometer
An internal monitor of social acceptance or rejection. (page 550)
Superego
In psychodynamic theory, the internalization of societal and parental standards of conduct. (page 523)
