25 Terms You Should Know in Psychology

English was my second language. Naturally in college I had to take a reading class for reading college textbooks. It was very helpful. I compiled a list from my textbook of the vocabulary words I enjoyed reading the most. They are essentially 25 terms you should really know in psychology. My favorite word is number 17 because I believe all of us Steemians are currently working on this on here.

1. Personality: An individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting.
2. Free Association: A method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how embarrassing.
3. Unconscious: According to Freud, a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. According to contemporary psychologists, information processing which one is unaware of.
4. Psychoanalysis: Freud’s theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to the unconscious motives and conflicts; the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions.
5. id: contains a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that, according to Freud, strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives. The id operates on the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification.
6. ego: the largely conscious “executive” part of personality that, according to Freud, mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality. The ego operates on the reality principle, satisfying the id’s desires in ways that will realistically bring pleasure rather than pain.
7. superego: the part of personality that, according to Freud, represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgement (the conscience) and for future aspirations.
8. Psychosexual Stages: the childhood stages of development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) during which, according to Freud, the id’s pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones.
9. Oedipus complex: according to Freud, a boy’s sexual desires towards his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father.
10. Identification: the process by which, according to Freud, children incorporate their parents’ values into their developing superegos.
11. Fixation: according to Freud, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved.
12. Defense mechanisms: in psychoanalytic theory, the ego’s protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality.
13. Repression: in psychoanalytic theory, the basic defense mechanisms that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from the consciousness.
14. Collective unconscious: Carl Jung’s concept of a share, inherited reservoir of memory traces from our species’ history.
15. Projection test: a personality test, such as the Rorschach inkblot test, that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one’s inner dynamics.
16. Rorschach inkblot test: the most widely used projection test, a set of 10 inkblots, designed by Hermann Rorschach; seeks to identify people’s inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots.
17. Self-actualization: according to Maslow, one of the ultimate psychological needs that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met and self-esteem is achieved, the motivation to fulfill one’s potential.
18. Unconditional positive regard: according to Rogers, an attitude of total acceptance toward another person.
19. Self-Concept: All our thoughts and feelings, in answer to the question, “Who am I?”
20. Trait: a characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act, as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports.
21. Personality inventory: a questionnaire (often with true-false of agree-disagree items) on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors; used to assess selected personality traits.
22. Empirically derived test: a test (such as the MMPI) developed by testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminate between groups.
23. Social-cognitive perspective: views behavior as influenced by the interaction between people’s traits (including their thinking) and their social context.
24. Reciprocal determinism: the interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment.
25. Personal Control: the extent to which people perceive control over their environment rather than feeling helpless.

Bibliography

Mcwhorter, Kathleen T. Reading across the Disciplines: College Reading and Beyond, Books a La Carte Edition. Place of Publication Not Identified: Longman, 2014. Print.