Part 3 – Personality Organization Chapter 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. Instructions: This is an animated PowerPoint slide show. To use it as intended, begin the slide show by clicking on "slide show" (above) and then "view show," or by clicking on the slide show icon below. For use in conjunction with: Personality: A Systems Approach, By John D. Mayer Copyright © 2007 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Flashcards by Rebecca Disbrow

Part 3 – Personality Organization Chapter 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 Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control Totalitarian Ego Characterization of the ego as an entity that carefully controls information so as to promote its own positive image.

Part 3 – Personality Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control Egocentric The quality of constructing mental models with one’s own interests and perspectives at their center.

Part 3 – Personality Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control 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 Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control Confirmation Bias The tendency of people to search for information that supports their point of view in preference to challenging information.

Part 3 – Personality Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control Feedback Information about how closely an ongoing process is to meeting a standard.

Part 3 – Personality Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control 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 Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control 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 Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control 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 Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control Comparator A portion of a feedback loop that judges the difference between the current state of affairs and the desired goal.

Part 3 – Personality Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control 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 Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control 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 Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control 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 Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control Tight Constructs A type of mental model, in Kelly’s theoretical system, that is rigid and is not easily changed.

Part 3 – Personality Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control 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 Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control 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 Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control 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 Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control 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 Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control 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 Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control 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 Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control 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 Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control 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 Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control Defense Mechanisms Mental processes that are in place to protect the conscious self (ego) from psychic pain.

Part 3 – Personality Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control Suppression A defense mechanism that involves the conscious blocking out or expelling thoughts that one wishes to avoid thinking about.

Part 3 – Personality Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control 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 Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control Repression The unconscious forgetting or blocking out of unpleasant or threatening ideas that one wishes to avoid thinking about.

Part 3 – Personality Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control Denial A defense mechanism in which the individual maintains a claim in the face of obvious information to the contrary.

Part 3 – Personality Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control 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 Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control False Consensus Effect A research finding that people often believe more others agree with them than is actually the case.

Part 3 – Personality Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control 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 Organization Chapter 10 – Dynamics of Self Control 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.