personal narratives Assessment
procedure that asks individuals to
provide autobiographical descriptions
of important events in their lives.
personality Consistent behavior patterns
and intrapersonal processes originating
within the individual.
person-by-situation approach An
approach to understanding behavior
that maintains behavior is a function of
the person as well as the situation.
phallic stage The psychosexual stage
of development in which the genital
region is the primary erogenous zone
and in which the Oedipus complexdevelops.
possible selves Cognitive representations
of the kind of people we think we might
become some day.
preconscious In Freud ’s topographic
model, the part of personality that
contains thoughts that can be broughtinto awareness with little difficulty.
primordial images The images that make
up the collective unconscious.problem-focused strategies Coping
strategies directed at taking care of the
problem causing the anxiety.
projection A defense mechanism in
which one ’s own unconscious thoughts
and impulses are attributed to other
people.
projective tests Tests designed to assess
unconscious material by asking test
takers to respond to ambiguous stimuli.
psychoanalysis The system of
psychotherapy developed by Freud that
focuses on uncovering the unconscious
material responsible for a patient ’s
disorder.
psychogenic need In Murray ’s theory, a
relatively stable predisposition toward
a type of action.
psychosexual stages of development The
innate sequence of development made
up of stages characterized by primaryerogenous zones and sexual desires.
Q-Sort An assessment procedure in
which test takers distribute personal
descriptions along a continuum.
rational emotive therapy A
psychotherapy procedure introduced byEllis that examines the irrational
reasoning causing emotional problems.
reaction formation A defense
mechanism in which people act in a
manner opposite to their unconscious
desires.
reciprocal determinism The notion that
external determinants of behavior,
internal determinants of behavior, and
behavior all influence one another.
reliability The extent to which a test
measures consistently.
repression A defense mechanism in
which the ego pushes threatening
material out of awareness and into the
unconscious.
Rorschach inkblot test A projective test
in which test takers are asked to describe
what they see in a series of inkblots.
schema A hypothetical cognitive
structure used to process information.
self-actualization A state of personal
growth in which people fulfill their true
potential.
self-disclosure The act of revealing
intimate information about oneself to
another
person.
self-efficacy A person’ s expectancy that
he or she can successfully perform a
given behavior.
self-esteem Evaluation of one ’s self-
concept, usually measured in terms of a
relatively stable and global assessment
of how a person feels about him- or
herself.
self-regulation The ability to develop
and apply rewards and punishments for
internal standards of behavior.
self-schema A schema consisting of
aspects of a person ’s life most important
to him or her.
shadow The archetype that contains the
evil side of humanity.
social anxiety A trait dimension
indicating the extent to which people
experience anxiety during socialencounters or when anticipating socialencounters.
social desirability The extent to which
test takers tend to respond to items in a
manner that presents them in a positivelight.statistical significance The likelihood
that a research finding represents a
genuine effect rather than a chance
fluctuation of measurement.
striving for superiority The primary
motivational force in Adler ’s theory,
which is the person’ s effort to overcome
feelings of inferiority.structural model Freud ’s model of
personality that divides personality into
the id, the ego, and the superego.
subception The perception of information
at a less-than-conscious level.
sublimation A defense mechanism in
which threatening unconscious impulses
are channeled into socially acceptable
behaviors.
superego In Freud ’s structural model,
the part of personality that represents
society ’s values.
temperaments General behavioral
predispositions present in infancy andassumed to be inherited.
Thanatos The self-destructive (death)
instinct, which is often turned outward
in the form of aggression.
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) A
projective test in which test takers are
asked to tell stories about a series ofambiguous pictures.
theory A general statement about the
relationship between constructs or
events.
topographic model Freud ’s original
model of personality structure, in which
personality is divided into three differentlevels of awareness.
trait A dimension of personality used to
categorize people according to the
degree to which they manifest aparticular characteristic.
twin-study method A procedure for
examining the role of genetics on
personality in which pairs of
monozygotic and dizygotic twins are
compared.
unconscious In Freud ’s topographic
model, the part of personality that
contains material that cannot easily be
brought into awareness.
validity The
extent to which a test
measures what it is designed to measure.GLOSSARY 455