Vocal Ch 13

Question 1

personality

Answer 1

a persons characteristic thoughts, emotional responses, and behaviors

Question 2

Personality trait

Answer 2

a pattern of thought, emotion, and behavior that is relatively consistent over time and across situations

Question 3

temperaments

Answer 3

Biologically based tendencies to feel or act in certain ways

Question 4

psychodynamic theory

Answer 4

the freudian theory that unconscious forces determine behavior

Question 5

id

Answer 5

in psychodynamic theory, the component of personality that is completely submerged in the unconscious and operates according to the pleasure principle

Question 6

superego

Answer 6

in psychodynamic theory, the internalization of societal and parental standards of conduct

Question 7

ego

Answer 7

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.

Question 8

defense mechanisms

Answer 8

unconscious mental strategies that the mind uses to protect itself from anxiety

Question 9

psychosexual stages

Answer 9

according to freud, developmental stages that correspond to distance libidinal urges; progression through these stages profoundly affects personality

Question 10

locus of control

Answer 10

personal beliefs about how much control people have over outcomes in their lives

Question 11

reciprocal determinism

Answer 11

the theory that how personality is expressed can be explained by the interaction of environment, person factors, and behavior itself.

Question 12

humanistic approaches

Answer 12

approaches to studying personality that emphasize how people seek to fulfill their potential through greater self understanding.

Question 13

trait approach

Answer 13

an approach to studying personality that focuses on how individuals differ in personality dispositions

Question 14

five-factor theory

Answer 14

the idea that personality can be described using five factors: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. OCEAN

Question 15

behavioral approach system (BAS)

Answer 15

the brain system involved in the pursuit of incentives or rewards.

Question 16

behavioral inhibition system (BIS)

Answer 16

The brain system that is sensitive to punishment and therefore inhibits behavior that might lead to danger or pain.

Question 17

situationism

Answer 17

The theory that behavior is determined more by situations than by personality traits.

Question 18

interactionism

Answer 18

the theory that behavior is determined jointly by situations and underlying dispositions.

Question 19

idiographic approaches

Answer 19

person-centered approaches to assessing personality; they focus on individual lives and how various characteristics are integrated into unique persons.

Question 20

Nomethetic approaches

Answer 20

approaches to assessing personality that focus on how common characteristics vary from person to person

Question 21

projective measures

Answer 21

personality tests that examine unconscious processes by having people interpret ambiguous stimuli.

Question 22

self-esteem

Answer 22

The evaluative aspect of the self concept in which people feel worthy or unworthy.

Question 23

sociometer

Answer 23

an internal monitor of social acceptance or rejection

Question 24

social comparison

Answer 24

the tendency for people to evaluate their own actions, abilities, and beliefs by contrasting them with other people’s.

Question 25

self serving bias

Answer 25

the tendency for people to take personal credit for success but blame failure on external factors