Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionBack Matter Glossary © The McGraw−Hill^603
Companies, 2009A
accusation Adlerian safeguarding tendency whereby
one protects magnified feelings of self-esteem by
blaming others for one’s own failures.
active imagination Technique used by Jung to uncover
collective unconscious material. Patients are asked to
concentrate on an image until a series of fantasies are
produced.
actualizing tendency (Rogers) Tendency within all
people to move toward completion or fulfillment of
potentials.
adolescence (Erikson) An important psychosocial
stage when ego identity should be formed. Adolescence
is characterized by puberty and the crisis of identity
versus identity confusion.
adulthood (Erikson) The stage from about ages 31 to
60 that is characterized by the psychosexual mode of
procreativity and the crisis of generativity versus
stagnation.
aesthetic needs (Maslow) Needs for art, music,
beauty, and the like. Although they may be related
to the basic conative needs, aesthetic needs are a
separate dimension.
agape Altruistic love.
aggression (Adler) Safeguarding tendencies that may
include depreciation or accusation of others as well as
self-accusation, all designed to protect exaggerated
feelings of personal superiority by striking out against
other people.
aggression (Freud) One of two primary instincts or
drives that motivate people. Aggression is the outward
manifestation of the death instinct.
anal character Freudian term for a person who is
characterized by compulsive neatness, stubbornness, and
miserliness.
anal phase (Freud) Sometimes called the anal-sadistic
phase, this second stage of the infantile period is
characterized by a child’s attempts to gain pleasure from
the excretory function and by such related behaviors as
destroying or losing objects, stubbornness, neatness, and
miserliness. Corresponds roughly to the second year of
life.
anal triad (Freud) The three traits of compulsive
neatness, stubbornness, and miserliness that characterize
the anal character.
anal-urethral-muscular Erikson’s term for the young
child’s psychosexual mode of adapting.
analytical psychology Theory of personality and
approach to psychotherapy founded by Carl Jung.
anima Jungian archetype that represents the feminine
component in the personality of males and originates
from men’s inherited experiences with women.
animus Jungian archetype that represents the masculine
component in the personality of females and originates
from women’s inherited experiences with men.
anxiety A felt, affective, unpleasant state accompanied
by the physical sensation of uneasiness.
anxiety (Kelly) The recognition that the events with
which one is confronted lie outside the range of
convenience of one’s construct system.
anxiety (May) The experience of the threat of
imminent nonbeing.
anxiety (Rogers) Feelings of uneasiness or tension
with an unknown cause.
anxiety (Sullivan) Any tension that interferes with
satisfaction of needs.
apathy (Sullivan) Dynamism that reduces tensions of
needs through the adoption of an indifferent attitude.
archetypes Jung’s concept that refers to the contents
of the collective unconscious. Archetypes, also called
primordial images or collective symbols, represent
psychic patterns of inherited behavior and are thus
distinguished from instincts, which are physical
impulses toward action. Typical archetypes are the
anima, animus, and shadow.
attitude (Jung) A predisposition to act or react in a
characteristic manner, that is, in either an introverted or
an extraverted direction.
authoritarianism (Fromm) The tendency to give up
one’s independence and to unite with another person orGlossary
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