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Defense Mechanisms
• Processes that operate at unconscious levels that use self-deception or untrue explanations to protect the ego from being overwhelmed by anxiety
• Processes that operate at unconscious levels that use self-deception or untrue explanations to protect the ego from being overwhelmed by anxiety
1. Rationalization
• Covering up the true reasons for actions, thoughts, or feelings by making up excuses and incorrect explanations
• EX: After being turned down for a date to the prom, you realize that you would rather hang out with your friends anyway
2. Denial
• Refusing to recognize some anxiety-provoking event or piece of information that is clear to others
• EX: An alcoholic refuses to admit she has a problem
3. Repression
• Blocking and pushing unacceptable or threatening feelings, wishes, or experiences into the unconscious (could be temporary or long-term)
• “Forgetting” to go to a dentist appointment
• Not remembering abuse
& Repression
4. Projection
• Falsely and unconsciously attributing your own unacceptable feelings, traits, or thoughts to individuals or objects
• EX: An angry spouse accuses the other spouse of being hostile
• EX: A spouse who has a desire to cheat accuses the other spouse of having an affair
“
5. Reaction Formation
• Substituting behavior, thoughts, or feelings that are the direct opposite of unacceptable ones
• EX: A person with homosexual impulses claims to hate homosexuals
•EX: A mother who has an unwanted child becomes overly protective of that child
“
6. Displacement
• Transferring feelings about, or response to, an object that causes anxiety to another person or object that is less threatening
• EX: Angry at his mother, he picks a fight with his girlfriend
7. Sublimation
• Type of displacement involving redirecting a threatening or forbidden desire, usually sexual, into a socially acceptable one
• EX: After sexually frustrating experience you lift weights
• EX: A person with sadistic impulses becomes a dentist
8. Intellectualization
• Ignoring the emotional aspects of a painful experience by focusing on abstract concepts, thoughts, words, or ideas (form of rationalization)
• EX: A person told they have cancer asks for details on the probability of survival and the success rates of various drugs
• EX: A person who is dumped compares his or her situation to literary characters in a detached manner
9. Identification
• Bolstering self-esteem by forming and imaginary or real alliance with some person or group
• EX: Joining a fraternity to make up for insecurities
• EX: Unlucky with the ladies, Danny becomes an ardent Devil’s fan
10. Fantasy
• Gratifying frustrated desires by imaginary achievements
• EX: “The girlfriend in Canada”
• EX: Thinking of a great comeback after the person has left
11. Overcompensation
• Covering up felt weaknesses by emphasizing some desirable characteristic, or making up for frustration in one area by overgratification in another
• EX: A short person who picks fights with bigger people
• EX: Buying a large truck or sports car to cover insecurities
12. Regression
• Returning to an earlier stage of development
• EX: Acting like a child when upset
• EX: A school age child starts wetting the bed when the baby sibling is born