Glossary G-13resistance A variety of unconscious responses by
patients, designed to block therapeutic progress.
role (Kelly) A pattern of behavior that results from
people’s understanding of the constructs of others with
whom they are engaged in some task.
role repudiation (Erikson) The inability to synthesize
different self-images and values into a workable identity.
rootedness (Fromm) The human need to establish
roots, that is, to find a home again in the world.S
sadism A condition in which a person receives sexual
pleasure by inflicting pain or humiliation on another person.
safeguarding tendencies (Adler) Protective
mechanisms such as aggression, withdrawal, and the like
that maintain exaggerated feelings of superiority.
safety needs The second level on Maslow’s hierarchy
of needs; they include physical security, protection, and
freedom from danger.
school age (Erikson) The fourth stage of psychosocial
development; covers the period from about ages 6 to 12
or 13 and is characterized by psychosexual latency and
the psychosocial crisis of industry versus inferiority.
science A branch of study concerned with observation
and classification of data and with the verification of
general laws through the testing of hypotheses.
secondary dispositions (Allport) The least
characteristic and reliable personal dispositions that
appear with some regularity in a person’s life.
secondary narcissism (Freud) Self-love or autoerotic
behavior in an adolescent. (See narcissism)
secondary process (Freud) A reference to the ego,
which chronologically is the second region of the mind
(after the id or primary process). Secondary process
thinking is in contact with reality.
selective activation Bandura’s belief that self-
regulatory influences are not automatic but rather operate
only if they are activated.
self (Jung) The most comprehensive of all archetypes,
the self includes the whole of personality, although it is
mostly unconscious. The self is often symbolized by the
mandala motif.
self-accusation Adlerian safeguarding tendency
whereby a person aggresses indirectly against others
through self-torture and guilt.
self-actualization needs (Maslow) The highest level
of human motivation; they include the need to fully
develop all of one’s psychological capacities.
self-actualization (Rogers) A subsystem of the
actualizing tendency; the tendency to actualize the self as
perceived.reaction formation A defense mechanism in which a
person represses one impulse and adopts the exact
opposite form of behavior, which ordinarily is
exaggerated and ostentatious.
reactive (Allport) Term for those theories that view
people as being motivated by tension reduction and by
the desire to return to a state of equilibrium.
realistic anxiety (Freud) An unpleasant, nonspecific
feeling resulting from the ego’s relationship with the
external world.
reality principle (Freud) A reference to the ego,
which must realistically arbitrate the conflicting demands
of the id, the superego, and the external world.
receptive characters (Fromm) People who relate to
the world through receiving love, knowledge, and
material possessions.
reciprocal causation (Bandura) Scheme that includes
environment, behavior, and person as mutually interacting
to determine personal conduct.
regression (Freud) A defense mechanism whereby a
person returns to an earlier stage in order to protect the
ego against anxiety.
regression (Jung) The backward flow of psychic
energy; regression involves the introverted attitude and
movement toward adaptation to the internal world.
reinforcement (Skinner) Any condition within the
environment that strengthens a behavior. (See also
negative reinforcer and positive reinforcer)
reinforcement-reinforcement sequences Rotter’s
term indicating that the value of an event is a function of
one’s expectation that a reinforcement will lead to future
reinforcements.
reinforcement value (Rotter) The preference a person
attaches to any reinforcement when the probabilities are
equal for the occurrence of a number of different
reinforcements.
relatedness (Fromm) The need for union with another
person or persons. Expressed through submission, power,
or love.
reliability The extent to which a test or other
measuring instrument yields consistent results.
repetition compulsion (Freud) The tendency of an
instinct, especially the death instinct, to repeat or recreate
an earlier condition, particularly one that was frightening
or anxiety arousing.
repression (Freud) The forcing of unwanted, anxiety-
laden experiences into the unconscious as a defense
against the pain of that anxiety.
resacralization (Maslow) The process of returning
respect, joy, awe, and rapture to an experience in order to
make that experience more subjective and personal.