Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
Edition(^610) Back Matter Glossary © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2009
introversion (Jung) An attitude or type characterized
by the turning inward of psychic energy with an
orientation toward the subjective.
intuition (Jung) An irrational function that involves
perception of elementary data that are beyond our
awareness. Intuitive people “know” something without
understanding how they know.
isolation (Erikson) The inability to share true
intimacy or to take chances with one’s identity. The
dystonic element of young adulthood.
J
Jonah complex The fear of being or doing one’s best.
L
latency (Erikson) The psychosexual mode of the
school-age child. A period of little sexual development.
latency stage (Freud) The time between infancy and
puberty when psychosexual growth is at a standstill.
latent dream content (Freud) The underlying,
unconscious meaning of a dream. Freud held that the
latent content, which can be revealed only through
dream interpretation, was more important than the
surface or manifest content.
law of effect Thorndike’s principle that responses to
stimuli followed immediately by a satisfier tend to
strengthen the connection between those responses and
stimuli; that is, they tend to be learned.
libido (Freud) Psychic energy of the life instinct;
sexual drive or energy.
life instinct (Freud) One of two primary drives or
impulses; the life instinct is also called Eros or sex.
locus of control (Rotter) The belief people have that
their attempts to reach a goal are within their control
(internal locus of control) or are primarily due to
powerful events such as fate, chance, or other people
(external locus of control). Locus of control is measured
by the Internal-External Control Scale.
love (Erikson) The basic strength of young adulthood
that emerges from the crisis of intimacy versus isolation.
love (Fromm) A union with another person in which a
person retains separateness and integrity of self.
love (May) To delight in the presence of the other
person and to affirm that person’s value and development
as much as one’s own.
love and belongingness needs The third level on
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs; they include both the need
to give love and the need to receive love.
lust (Sullivan) Isolating dynamism in which one
person has an impersonal sexual interest in another.
M
maintenance needs (Rogers) Those basic needs that
protect the status quo. They may be either physiological
(e.g., food) or interpersonal (e.g., the need to maintain
the current self-concept).
malevolence Sullivan’s term for those destructive
behavior patterns dominated by the attitude that people are
evil and harmful and that the world is a bad place to live.
malignant aggression (Fromm) The destruction of
life for reasons other than survival.
mandala (Jung) Symbol representing the striving for
unity and completion. It is often seen as a circle within a
square or a square within a circle.
manifest dream content (Freud) The surface or
conscious level of a dream. Freud believed that the
manifest level of a dream has no deep psychological
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.
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.
moral anxiety (Freud) Anxiety that results from the
ego’s conflict with the superego.
G-8 Glossary