The Basics
A person’s typical thoughts, emotional responses, and behaviors that are relatively stable over time and across circumstances.
Personality.
Describes three negative personality traits including narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism.
Dark triad.
Level of our mental activity consists of the thoughts that we are aware of.
Conscious.
In psychodynamic theory, the component of personality that tries to satisfy the wishes of the id while being responsive to the superego.
Ego.
Ways of studying personality that emphasize self-
actualization, where people seek to fulfill their potential through greater self-understanding.
Humanistic approaches.
Everything an individual thinks, believes, and feels about him/herself. It includes an individual’s physical body and conscious awareness of being unique and separate from others.
Self-concept.
Revolves around a general lack of caring for the welfare of others.
Psychopathy.
This level consists of content that is not currently
in our awareness but that could be brought to awareness.
Preconscious.
In psychodynamic theory, unconscious mental strategies that the mind uses to protect itself from distress; for instance, rationalize your behavior by blaming the situation.
Defense mechanisms.
Ways of studying personality that recognize the influence of how people think.
Social cognitive approaches.
An integrated set of memories, beliefs, and generalizations about the self.
Self-schema.
Describes traits of those who manipulate others for their own gain and who lack conventional morality.
Machiavellianism.
This level contains material that the mind cannot easily retrieve.
Unconscious.
This principle involves rational thought and problem-solving.
Reality principle.
Refers to people’s perception of whether they control the rewards and punishments they experience.
Locus of control.
The immediate experience of the self in the here and now.
Working self-concept.
Comparing oneself with another person who is seen as less competent or in a worse situation, which tends to protect a person’s high self-esteem; makes a person feels good with increased self-esteem.
Downward comparisons.
The component of personality that is completely submerged in the unconscious and operates according to the pleasure principle.
Id.
The force that drives the pleasure principle.
Libido.
Ways of studying personality that are based on people’s characteristics—their tendencies to act in a certain way over time and across most situations.
Trait approaches.
How you feel about your sense of self.
Self-esteem.
Comparing oneself with another person who is seen as more competent or in a better situation, which tends to confirm a person’s low self-esteem and thus feel bad about self.
Upward comparisons.
In psychodynamic theory, the component of personality that reflects the internalization of societal and parental standards of conduct.
Superego.
Our mind and sense of self develop in relation to others (“objects”) in our environment, and how we relate to these others shapes our personality.
Object relations theory.