Glossary G-9moving away from people One of Horney’s neurotic
trends in which neurotics protect themselves against
feelings of isolation by adopting a detached attitude.
moving backward (Adler) Safeguarding inflated
feelings of superiority by reverting to a more secure
period of life.
moving toward people One of Horney’s neurotic
trends in which neurotics develop a need for others as a
protection against feelings of helplessness.
myth (May) Belief system that provides explanations
for personal and social problems.N
narcissism Love of self or the attainment of erotic
pleasure from viewing one’s own body.
natural selection (Buss) The process by which evolution
happens and is simply a more general
form of artificial selection in which nature rather than
people select the traits.
necrophilia Love of death.
need potential (Rotter) A reference to the possible
occurrence of a set of functionally related behaviors
directed toward the satisfaction of the same goal or a
similar set of goals.
need value (Rotter) The degree to which a person
prefers one set of reinforcements to another.
negative reinforcer Any aversive stimulus that, when
removed from a situation, increases the probability that
the immediately preceding behavior will occur.
negative transference Strong, hostile, and undeserved
feelings that the patient develops toward the analyst
during the course of treatment.
neurosis Somewhat dated term signifying mild
personality disorders as opposed to the more severe
psychotic reactions. Neuroses are generally characterized
by one or more of the following: anxiety, hysteria,
phobias, obsessive-compulsive reactions, depression,
chronic fatigue, and hypochondriacal reactions.
neurotic anxiety (Freud) An apprehension about an
unknown danger facing the ego but originating from id
impulses.
neurotic anxiety (May) A reaction that is dispropor-
tionate to the threat and that leads to repression and
defensive behaviors.
neurotic claims (Horney) Unrealistic demands and
expectations of neurotics to be entitled to special privilege.
neurotic needs (Horney) Original 10 defenses against
basic anxiety.
neurotic needs (Maslow) Nonproductive needs that
are opposed to the basic needs and that block
psychological health whether or not they are satisfied.significance and that the unconscious or latent level
holds the key to the dream’s true meaning.
marketing characters (Fromm) People who see
themselves as commodities, with their personal value
dependent on their ability to sell themselves.
masculine protest Adler’s term for the neurotic and
erroneous belief held by some men and women that men
are superior to women.
masochism A condition characterized by the reception
of sexual pleasure from suffering pain and humiliation
inflicted either by self or by others.
maturity (Freud) The final psychosexual stage
following infancy, latency, and the genital period.
Hypothetically, maturity would be characterized by a
strong ego in control of the id and the superego and by
an ever-expanding realm of consciousness.
mechanisms (Buss) The process of evolution by
natural selection has produced solutions to the two basic
problems of life, survival, and reproduction.
metamotivation (Maslow) The motives of self-
actualizing people, including especially the B-values.
metapathology (Maslow) Illness, characterized by
absence of values, lack of fulfillment, and loss of meaning,
that results from deprivation of self-actualization needs.
Mitwelt An existentialist term meaning the world
of one’s relationship to other people. One of three
simultaneous modes of being-in-the-world.
modeling (Bandura) One of two basic sources of
learning; involves the observation of others and thus
learning from their actions. More than simple imitation,
modeling entails the addition and subtraction of specific
acts and the observation of consequences of others’
behavior.
modulation corollary (Kelly) Theory that states that
personal constructs are permeable (resilient), that they
are subject to change through experience.
monogenic transmission (Buss) When single genes
produce single traits (phenotypes).
moral anxiety (Freud) Anxiety that results from the
ego’s conflict with the superego.
moral hypochondriasis (Fromm) Preoccupation with
guilt about things one has done wrong.
moralistic principle (Freud) Reference to the
conscience, a subsystem of the supergo that tells people
what they should not do.
morphogenic science Allport’s concept of science,
which deals with various methods of gathering data on
patterns of behavior within a single individual.
moving against people One of Horney’s neurotic
trends in which neurotics protect themselves against the
hostility of others by adopting an aggressive strategy.