Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

Control

Part 3, Chapter 10 - Vocabulary

These flashcards have been designed as a study tool to assist in your mastery of each chapter’s vocabulary and accompanying concepts.

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For use in conjunction with: Personality: A Systems Approach, By John D. Mayer

Copyright © 2007 Allyn & Bacon  Mayer’s Personality: A Systems ApproachFlashcards by Rebecca Disbrow

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

Control

Conscious Self, Conscious Executive,

Ego The conscious, aware part of the

self. Note: The “ego” was also used by

Sigmund Freud as part of the id/ego/superego division of the mind. Freud’s ego was defined differently than it is here.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Totalitarian Ego Characterization of the ego as an

entity that carefully controls information so as to promote its own positive image.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Egocentric The quality of constructing mental

models with one’s own interests and perspectives at their center.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Beneffectance In Greenwald’s theory of the

totalitarian ego, taking credit for causing good outcomes to happen while avoiding accepting blame for bad outcomes.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Confirmation Bias The tendency of people to search

for information that supports their point of view in preference to challenging information.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Feedback Information about how closely an

ongoing process is to meeting a standard.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Feedback Loop A mechanism for controlling the

action of a system that involves feedback as to whether or not it is meeting its goals.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Cybernetics A field of study that focuses on

communication and control in systems, particularly in relation to the system’s self-governance.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Negative Feedback Loop A mechanism for controlling the

action of a system in which the discrepancy between a goal and its attainment is reduced (negated) through feedback.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Comparator A portion of a feedback loop that

judges the difference between the current state of affairs and the desired goal.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Circumspection-Preemption-Control

Cycle A mental process described by the

social-cognitive psychologist George Kelly, in which a person thinks about a problem (circumspects), decides enough time has been spent on it (preemption), and makes a decision about how to act (control).

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Dilated Constructs In terms of social-cognitive theory,

a concept or idea, such as trusting others, which is applied in too many cases or to too many situations.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Constricted Constructs In terms of social-cognitive theory,

a concept or idea, such as trusting others, which is applied in too many cases or to too many situations.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Tight Constructs A type of mental model, in Kelly’s

theoretical system, that is rigid and is not easily changed.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Loose Constructs A type of mental model, in George

Kelly’s theoretical system, that is like a “first draft,” and may be readily revised in the future.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Self-Monitoring A state within a person, or a long-

term trait, that describes a condition in which the individual closely observes his or her own mental processes or behaviors.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Defensive Pessimism An adaptive type of pessimism in

which a person imagines bad outcomes in order to motivate herself or himself toward higher achievement.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Personal Control High-level control by the

personality system in general, some of which involves conscious self-control, and other portions of which involve unconscious mechanisms.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Dissociated A state in which concepts that are

naturally associated in memory are divided from one another through the establishment of mental barriers and the ideas then operate independently of the ideas to which they had been related previously.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Neo-Dissociationism A theory proposed by Ernest

Hilgard in the 1970’s to re-explain earlier ideas of dissociation and automatism – dating from the 1890’s – in more contemporary psychological language.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Classic Suggestion Effect

An introspective feeling that one has involuntarily responded to an instruction, such as hearing the direction to move one’s head, and then having it move without willing it to do so.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Hypnotic Virtuoso A hypnotic participant who is

especially able to enter into the trance state and is especially talented at carrying out mental tasks under hypnosis.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Defense Mechanisms Mental processes that are in place

to protect the conscious self (ego) from psychic pain.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Suppression A defense mechanism that

involves the conscious blocking out or expelling thoughts that one wishes to avoid thinking about.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Micro-Expressions Full facial expressions of basic

emotions that occur in roughly a quarter of a second or less and then disappear.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Repression The unconscious forgetting or

blocking out of unpleasant or threatening ideas that one wishes to avoid thinking about.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Denial A defense mechanism in which the

individual maintains a claim in the face of obvious information to the contrary.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Projection A defense mechanism in which the

individual sees his or her own unpleasant attributes in another person while being unable to see them in him or herself.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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False Consensus Effect A research finding that people

often believe more others agree with them than is actually the case.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Rationalization A defense mechanism in which a

person employs a plausible, but false, reason for explaining her or his behavior that covers up a real but more unpleasant or threatening reason.

Part 3 – Personality OrganizationChapter 10 – Dynamics of Self

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Reaction Formation A defense mechanism in which

someone acts opposite to their real inclinations in order to hide them. For example, someone is intentionally

generous in order to mask feelings of stinginess.