the characteristic thoughts, emotional responses, and behaviors that are relatively stable in an individual over time and across circumstances
personality trait
a characteristic; a dispositional tendency to act in a certain way over time and across circumstances
psychodynamic theory
Freudian theory that unconscious forces, such as wishes and motives, influence behavior
psychosexual stage
according to Freud, the developmental stages that correspond to the pursuit of satisfaction of libidinal urges
id
psychodynamic theory; the component of personality that is completely submerged in the unconscious and operates according ot the pleasure principle
superego
in psychodynamic theory; the internalization of societal and parental standards of conduct
ego
psychodynamic theory; the component of personality that tries to satisfy the wishes of the id while being responsive to the dictates of the superego
defense mechanisms
unconscious mental strategies the mind uses to protect itself from conflict and distress
humanistic approaches
approaches to studying personality that emphasize personal experience and belief systems; they propose that people seek perosnal growth to fulfill their human potential
personality types
discrete categories based on global personality characteristics
trait approach
an approach to studying personality that focuses on the extent to which individuals differ in personality dispositions
CAPS model
Mischel and Shoda believed personality traits alone could not predict behavior
idiographic approaches
person-centered approaches to studying personality that focus on individual lives and how various characteristics are integrated into unique persons
nomothetic approaches
approaches to studying personality that focus on how people vary across common traits
projective measures
personality tests that examine unconscious processes by having people interpret ambiguous stimuli
objective measures
relatively direct assessments of personality, usually based on information gathered through self-report questionaires or observer ratings
situationism
the theory that behavior is determined more by situations than by personality traits
interactionists
theorists who believe that behavior is determined jointly by underlying dispositions and situations
temperments
biologically based tendencies to feel or act in certain ways
behavioral approach system (BAS)
the brain system involved in the pursuit of incentives or rewards
behavioral inhibition system (BIS)
the brain system that is sensitive to punishment and therefore inhibits behavior that might lead to danger or pain
sociometer
an internal monitor of social acceptance or rejection
self-serving bias
the tendency for people to take personal credit for success but BLAME failure on external factors