GLOSSARY
ADRENAL CORTICAL STEROIDS -- hormones from the adrenal gland which regulate the body's use of sugar, water and minerals.
ALARM REACTION -- the initial portion of the general adaptation syndrome to which the organism reacts vigorously to stress. .
ANXIETY -- an emotion characterized by a vague fear or premonition that something bad is about to happen; a frequent consequence of conflicts among motives and frustration.
APPROACH-APPROACH CONFLICT -- a conflict stemming from aroused motives which have as their objective two desirable but incompatible goals.
APPROACH-AVOIDANCE CONFLICT -- a conf lict arising when an individu- al has tendencies both to approach and to avoid the same goal object. -
AVOIDANCE-AVOIDANCE CONFLICT -- a conflict resulting from the simultaneous arousal of motives to avoid two alternative goals, both of which are unpleasant. (The conflict arising from having to choose be- tween two unpleasant alternative goals.)
COGNITIVE NARROWING -- the tendency, arising from frustration, to limit attention to a small range and thus be blind to alternative paths.
COMPENSATION -- the individual faced with a barrier increases his striving . behavior or selects an alternate goal.
CONFLICT SITUATION -- a situation simultaneously arousing motives that lead to incompatible goals. .'
DEFENSE MECHANISM -- those behaviors which tend to reduce or avoid anxiety.
DOUBLE APPROACH-AVOIDANCE CONFLICT -- a conflict arising from . having to choose between two goals, each of which has both attracting and repelling aspects.
EXHAUSTION -- the third stage of the general adaptation syndrome in which the person is no longer able to endure stress.
FEAR -- an emotion associated with a situation in which the individual perceives threat or danger which he lacks the power or capability to handle.
FRUSTRATION -- any object or state of affairs which prevents a person from obtaining a desired goal or object.
FRUSTRATION-AGGRESSION HYPOTHESIS -- the proposition that the occurrence of aggressive behavior always presupposes the existence of frustration.
GENERAL ADAPTATION SYNDROME -- the sequence of physiological reactions produced by protracted periods of stress; consists of three stages: the alarm reaction, resistance to stress, and exhaustion.
GRADIENT OF APPROACH -- the curve relating the tendency to approach a positive goal with the distance to that goal.
GRADIENT OF AVOIDANCE -- the curve relating the tendency to avoid a negative goal with the distance to that goal.
POINT OF EOUILIBRIUM -- the point where the approach and avoidance tendencies are exactly balanced and where the action stops.
PROJECTION -- a defense mechanism by which the individual protects himself from his undesirable traits by attributing them to others.
PSYCHOSOMATIC ILLNESS -- an illness in which the physical symptoms seem to have mental and emotional causes.
RATIONALIZATION -- faced with a barrier, the individual substitutes good but false reasons for his failure.
REACTION FORMATION -- the individual strengthens his defenses against an unacceptable thought or desire by imagining that his motive is the opposite from his real motive.
REGRESSION -- a return to more primitive or childlike responses.
REPRESSION -- defense mechanism by which the individual excludes an experience or impulse from his awareness without being conscious of doing so.
RIGIDITY -- the lack of flexibility in responses.
STIMULUS GENERALIZATION -- the tendency of an organism that has learned to associate a stimulus with a certain kind of behavior to display this behavior toward stimuli that are similar though not exactly identical to the original stimulus.
SUBLIMATION -- the unconscious process of redirecting or modifying an instinct or impulse so as to meet the conventional standards of society.
Psych 200 Home Page
May 15, 2004