1. Personality is the unique characteristics of a person. Personality theories provide a way of organizing what you know about yourself and other, explain differences among individuals, explore how people conduct their lives, and determine how life can be improved.

2. Psychoanalytic Theory – Created by Sigmund Freud, emphasizes the importance of motives hidden in the unconscious

Behaviorist Theory – Created by B.F. Skinner, studies the way rewards and punishments shape our actions

Social Learning Theory – examines the impact observational learning has on personality

Cognitive Theory – focuses on how our thoughts, perceptions, and feelings shape our personalities

Humanistic Theory – Abraham Maslow, people strive for self-actualization, a person’s potential for growth, such as creativity and spontaneity

Trait Theory – emphasizes the importance of understanding basic personality characteristics (traits)

3. id – the part of the unconscious that drives our needs, wants, and instincts

ego – part of the unconscious that is in touch with reality

superego – source of conscious that tries to counteract the id

4. rationalization – making excuses for your actions

repression – pushing of urges out of consciousness

denial – refuse to accept reality

projection – believe impulses coming from within are coming from other people

reaction formation – replacing an unacceptable urge with an acceptable one

displacement – you cant confront the source of your frustration, so you take it out on something else

sublimation – redirecting a forbidden desire into a socially acceptable one

5. collective unconscious – the part of the mid that contains inherited instincts, urges, and memories common to all people

6. inferiority complex – pattern of avoiding feelings of inadequacy rather than trying to overcome their source

7. Abraham Maslow’s idea for realizing one’s unique potential

8. an individual whose person and self coincide

9. idea that our perceptions of ourselves and the environments we live in, shape who we are

10. the struggle of stability vs. instability, the struggle of extraversion vs. introversion, the suppression of psychoticism.

11. anxiety – a vague, generalized apprehension or feeling that one is in danger

12. phobia – intense and irrational fear of a particular object or situation

13. agoraphobia – fear of being in a public place

14. o – uncontrollable pattern of thoughts

c – repetitive performance of a coping behavior

15. post-traumatic stress disorder – victims of traumatic events continue to experience the event even after it is over.

16. somatoform disorder – formerly known as hysteria, shows symptoms for which there is no apparent physical cause

17. conversion disorder – emotional difficulties lead to a loss of body functions

hypochondriasis – a person in good health becomes preoccupied with imaginary ailments

18. dissociative disorder – person experiences alterations in memory, identity or consciousness

19. dissociative amnesia – loss of memory

dissociative fugue – person unexpectedly travels away and is unable to recall the past

dissociative identity disorder – a person exhibits two or more personality states

20. schizophrenia – a group of disorders characterized by confused and disconnected thoughts, emotions, and perceptions

21. delusions, hallucinations, incoherence, disturbances of affect, deterioration in normal movement, decline in previous levels of functioning, diverted attention

23. paranoid – involves hallucinations and delusions

catatonic – remain motionless for long periods for time

disorganized – incoherent language, inappropriate emotions, disorganized behavior

remission – currently showing no symptoms

23 (cont.) undifferentiated – encompasses many different symptoms

22. word salad – common name for incoherent patterns in schizophrenics

24. burn-out – caused by long-term hospitalization, patients can no longer function in society

25. major depressive disorder – severe form of lowered mood, where a person experiences feelings of worthlessness and diminished pleasure

Bipolar disorder – individual alternates between feelings of extreme happiness or joy and depression

Seasonal affective disorder – depression that comes and goes with the weather

26. psychological dependence – use of a drug to such an extent that a person feels anxious without it

27. addiction – persistent desire to obtain and use a certain drug

Tolerance – physical adaptation to a drug so a person needs an increased amount in order to produce the original effect

Withdrawal – occurs after a person stops using the drug, symptoms include mild nausea to death

28. psychotherapy – any treatment used by therapists to help troubled individuals overcome their problems

29. The primary goal of psychology is to strengthen the patient’s control over his or her life

30. psychoanalysis – therapy aimed at making the patient aware of their unconscious, based on the work of Freud

humanistic – focuses on the value, dignity, and worth of each person, and their desire to reach full potential

cognitive – using thoughts and behavior to control emotion

behavioral – changing undesirable behavior through conditioning techniques

biological – use of medication to balance illness

Eclectic approach – use of a combination of different methods to help patient

31. placebo effect – the influence that a patients hopes and expectations have on his or her improvement during therapy

32. 1. psychologically healthy

2. empathy – capacity for warmth and understanding

3. experience in dealing with people

33. insight – sudden realization of the solution to a problem

34. free association – method used to examine the unconscious by saying whatever comes to mind. Used by Freud

resistance – reluctance of a patient to reveal painful feelings

35. manifest content – actual contents of your dreams

latent content – what your dream mean

36. transference – feeling toward an analyst the way you feel toward some other figure in your life.

37. client-centered therapy – client and therapist are partners in therapy

38. nondirective therapy – free flow of images and ideas, with no particular direction

active listening – empathetic listening

unconditional positive regard – consistent expression of acceptance of the patient, no matter what they say or do

39. disconfirmation – clients are confronted with evidence that directly disproves their existing beliefs

reconceptualization – clients work toward an alternative belief system to explain their experiences or current observations

40. Rational-emotive Therapy – changing unrealistic assumptions about oneself and other people

41. counterconditioning – pairs the stimulus that causes unwanted behavior with a new, desired behavior

Operant conditioning – rewarding good behavior, to encourage its repetition

42. systematic desensitization – technique to help a patient overcome irrational fears and anxieties

flooding – therapist exposes the client to feared objects

modeling – watching someone else do feared behavior

aversive conditioning – linking two unwanted things to eliminate behavior

43. contingency management – undesirable behavior is not reinforced, while desirable behavior is reinforced

token economies – reinforcers are valueless objects that can be then traded in for various rewards

44. cognitive-behavior therapy – substituting healthy thoughts for negative thoughts and changing disruptive behaviors in favor of healthy ones.

45. antipsychotic drugs – medication to reduce agitation, by blocking activity of the brain

antidepressants – increases the amount of noradrenalin and/or serotonin in the brain

lithium carbonate – counteracts mood swings of bipolar disorder

antianxiety drugs – medication that depresses the activity of the central nervous system

46. electroconvulsive therapy – electrical shock sent through the brain to try to reduce symptoms of distrubance

47. psychosurgery – medical operation that destroys part of the brain to make the patient calmer and freer of symptoms

48. prefrontal lobotomy – radical form of psychosurgery that increases apathy while sacrificing creativity