external locus of control - people who feel that their lives are controlled by powerful others, luck, or fate are considered


internal locus of control - people who assume that they have control over what happens in their lives


self-efficacy - individual’s expectancy of how effective their efforts are to accomplish a goal


reciprocal determinism - explanation of how the factors of environment, personal characteristics, and behavior can interact to determine future behavior


expectancy - a person’s subjective feeling that a particular behavior will lead to a reinforcing consequence


preconscious mind - available information that is not conscious

conscious mind - part of the mind which is aware of surroundings and perceptions

unconscious mind - thoughts, feelings, memories, and other information that are not easily brought into consciousness


id - part of the personality present at birth and is completely unconscious


superego - moral center of the personality

ego - part of the personality that develops to deal with reality which is generally conscious, rational, and logical


projection - placing one's own unacceptable thoughts onto others, as if the thoughts belonged to them and not to oneself


reaction formation - forming an emotional reaction or attitude that is the opposite of one's threatening or unacceptable actual thoughts

displacement - expressing feelings that would be threatening if directed at the real target onto a less threatening substitute target


sublimation - turning socially unacceptable urges into socially acceptable behavior


fixations - disorder where a person does not fully resolve a conflict in one of the psychosexual stage, which causes personality traits and behavior associated with that earlier stage

genital stage - the final stage in Freud’s psychosexual stages/from puberty and so forth, sexual urges are allowed back into consciousness and the individual moves toward adult social and sexual behavior


castration anxiety - anxiety occurring in the phallic stage in boys


Oedipus / Elektra complex - situation occurring in the phallic stage in which a child develops a sexual attraction to the opposite-sex parent and jealousy of the same-sex parent. Males develop an Oedipus complex whereas females develop an Electra complex.


penis envy - envy occurring in the phallic stage in girls


womb envy - the idea that men feel the need to compensate for their lack of child-bearing ability by striving for success in other areas by Karen Horney



basic anxiety - anxiety created when a child is born into the bigger and more powerful world of older children and adults


self-actualization - the striving to fulfill one’s innate capacities and capabilities


real self - the characteristic, traits, and abilities of a person


ideal self - view of what one wishes to be like

unconditional positive regard - positive regard that is given without conditions or strings attached

conditional positive regard - positive regard that is given only when the person is doing what the providers of positive regard wish


fully functioning person - a person who is in touch with and trusting of the deepest, innermost urges, and feelings


personal unconscious - Jung’s description for the unconscious mind described by Freud


archetypes - Jung’s collective and universal human memories

agreeableness - basic emotional style of a person/generally easy-going and friendly 


conscientiousness - a person’s organization and motivation 


openness - a person’s willingness to try new things and be open to new experiences

neuroticism - a person’s emotional instability or stability


extraversion - being classified as outgoing or sociable


source traits - the more basic traits that underlie the surface traits, forming the core of personality


surface traits - aspects of personality that can easily be seen by other people in the outward actions of a person

repression - "pushing" threatening or conflicting events or situations out of conscious memory


Rorschach inkblot test - test which uses 10 inkblots as stimuli


Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) - projective test that uses 20 pictures of people as visual stimuli

interviews - method of personality assessment in which the professional asks questions of the client and allows the client to answer


NEO-PI-R - personality test based off of the five-factor model

MMPI-2-RF - personality test designed to detect unusual behavior or thinking patterns

Costa, Paul - proposed that the big five traits are not independent with Robert McCrae