Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionBack Matter Glossary © The McGraw−Hill^613
Companies, 2009Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) Test designed
by E. L. Shostrom to measure Maslow’s concept of self-
actualizing tendencies in people.
personal unconscious Jung’s term for those
repressed experiences that pertain exclusively to one
particular individual; opposed to the collective
unconscious, which pertains to unconscious experiences
that originate with repeated experiences of our
ancestors.
personality A global concept referring to a relatively
permanent pattern of traits, dispositions, or
characteristics that give some degree of consistency
to a person’s behavior.
person-centered The theory of personality founded by
Carl Rogers as an outgrowth of his client-centered
psychotherapy.
personifications (Sullivan) Images a person has of
self or others, such as “good-mother,” “bad-mother,”
“good-me,” and “bad-me.”
phallic phase (Freud) The third and last stage of the
infantile period, the phallic phase is characterized by the
Oedipus complex. Although anatomical differences
between the sexes are responsible for important
differences in the male and female Oedipal periods,
Freud used the term “phallic phase” to signify both male
and female development.
phenomenology A philosophical position emphasizing
that behavior is caused by one’s perceptions rather than
by external reality.
physiological needs The most basic level on Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs; they include food, water, air, etc.
philia Brotherly or sisterly love; friendship.
phylogenetic endowment Unconscious inherited
images that have been passed down to us through many
generations of repetition. A concept used by both Freud
and Klein.
placebo effect Changes in behavior or functioning
brought about by one’s beliefs or expectations.
play age (Erikson) The third stage of psychosocial
development, encompassing the time from about ages 3
to 5 and characterized by the genital-locomotor
psychosexual mode and the crisis of initiative versus
guilt.
pleasure principle (Freud) A reference to the
motivation of the id to seek immediate reduction
of tension through the gratification of instinctual
drives.
positions (Klein) Ways in which an infant organizes
its experience in order to deal with its basic conflict of
love and hate. The two positions are the paranoid-
schizoid position and the depressive position.
positive freedom (Fromm) Spontaneous activity of
the whole, integrated personality; signals a reunification
with others and with the world.
positive psychology A relatively new field of
psychology that combines an emphasis on hope,
optimism, and well-being with an emphasis on research
and assessment.
positive regard (Rogers) The need to be loved, liked,
or accepted by another.
positive reinforcer Any stimulus that, when added to a
situation, increases the probability that a given behavior
will occur.
positive self-regard (Rogers) The experience of
valuing one’s self.
post-Freudian theory Erikson’s theory of personality
that extended Freud’s developmental stages into old age.
At each age, a specific psychosocial struggle contributes
to the formation of personality.
posttraumatic stress disorder A psychological
disorder resulting from extremely stressful experiences;
it includes nightmares and flashbacks of the traumatic
experience.
preconscious (Freud) Mental elements that are
currently not in awareness, but that can become
conscious with varying degrees of difficulty.
primary narcissism (Freud) An infant’s investment of
libido in its own ego; self-love or autoerotic behavior of
the infant (Seenarcissism)
primary process (Freud) A reference to the id, which
houses the primary motivators of behavior, called instincts.
proactive (Allport) Concept that presupposes that
people are capable of consciously acting upon their
environment in new and innovative ways, which then
feed new elements into the system and stimulate
psychological growth.
procreativity (Erikson) The drive to have children
and to care for them.
progression (Jung) The forward flow of psychic
energy; involves the extraverted attitude and movement
toward adaptation to the external world.
projection A defense mechanism whereby the ego
reduces anxiety by attributing an unwanted impulse to
another person.
projective identification (Klein) A psychic defense
mechanism in which infants split off unacceptable parts
of themselves, project them onto another object, and
then introject them in a distorted form.
propriate functional autonomy (Allport) Allport’s
concept of a master system of motivation that confers
unity on personality by relating self-sustaining motives
to the proprium.Glossary G-11