Key terms + definitions

• congruence


  when a persons ideal self and actual self are aligned
• defence mechanism


  strategies employed by the go to protect the mind feelings that might be too overwhelming
• denial


  a defence mechanism utilised by the unconscious mind. This is the complete defusal to acknowledge the occurrence of an event, in an attempt to prevent harm.
• displacement


  a defense mechanism utilised by the unconsious mind. Works by subsituting the real target of overwhelming emotions with a (usually) defenceless target. This allows for a cathrtic release of emotions that would not be possible with the original target.
• Ego


  One of three components of the personality according to the psychodynamic approach. Ego develops and is the decision making component.
• Free Will


  Idea that we are in full control of our behaviour and decisions
• Humanistic approach


  A learning approach which presumes all humans are fundamentally good, and encourages the holistic study of an entire individual
• Behaviourist Approach


  Suggests all children are born as blank states (tabulae rasare) learning through their interactions with their environment
• Biologist approach


  Views human behaviour as a result of genetics and proposes that individual psychology stems frim internal psychology.
• Classical conditioning


  A form of learning which occurs by associating naturally occurring instinct with new stimuli, thus creating a "conditioned response"
• Cognitive approach


  A learning approach which likens the human mind to a computer, with internal mental processes turning and input to an output. This approach suggests studying these internal processes by interference is the key to understanding human psychology
• Genotype


  genetic profile of an individual, ie, the genes they carry
• identification


  form of learing according to the social learning theory, which suggests humans can learn by observing role models who they percieve as similar to themselves. it suggests we internalise the belifs os someone we "identify" with, ie are similar to perhaps in gender or age.
• imitation


  a form of learning suggested by the social learning theory, proposes that people learn through copying behaviour of a role model they identify with
• modelling


  when a role model enacts a behaviour that can be imitated by an observer
• meditational process


  internal processes that contribute to producing certain behaviours, hence meditations between observations and imitations
• negative reinforcement

  a behaviour performed in response to a negative stimulus in the expectation that the negative stimulus will be removed, for example, a mother comforting a crying child. they learn to comfort their child again and again (reinforced behaviour) to avoid the crying child (negative stimulus)
• operant conditioning


  form of learning by direct consequences for behaviour, whether that be reinforcement (consequences that increase behaviour) or punishment (consequences that decreases behaviour)
• phenotype


  an organisms physical manifestation of their genotype.
• positive reinforcement


  administration of a positive stimulus that aims to increase a certain behaviour eg, giving a child a treat (pos stim) if they clean their room, so they clean their room more often (reinforced behaviour)
• Schema


  A mental framework based on previous information that allows to interoperate new information easily
• Social learning theory


  A learning approach that combines the behaviourist idea of learning through our environment and the cognitive ideas of involving mental processes. it proposed that new behaviours can be acquired by observing and imitating others.
• Vicarious reinforcement


  indirect encouragement of behaviour through observation of consequences for other peoples behaviour.