Chapter 5: Defense Mechanisms

Question 1

Describe the id.

Answer 1

The id controls primitive instincts and drives

Question 2

Describe the superego. What stage in life does it develop?

Answer 2

determines our conscience or moral compass (what we ought to do)

Begins at 5

Question 3

Describe what the ego is.

Answer 3

Ego attempts to accommodate reality.

rational

resolves conflicts between id and superego

Question 4

What is the one defense mechanism that is conscious?

Answer 4

suppression

Question 5

What are examples of narcissistic defenses?

Answer 5

• projection
• denial
• splitting

Question 6

What is projection?

Answer 6

when a person attributes his own wishes, desires, thoughts emotions to someone else

(Ex: cheating spouse accuses partner of cheating)

Question 7

What is the main defense mechanism seen in paranoid personality disorder?

Answer 7

projection

Question 8

What is denial? (Also give an example.)

Answer 8

not allowing reality to penetrate to avoid acknowledgment of a painful aspect of reality

(ex. after surviving a heart attack a patient insists on continuing his lifestyle as if nothing had happened))

Question 9

What is splitting?

Answer 9

when people and things in the world are idealized (all good) or devalued (all bad)

Question 10

What is the main defense mechanisms seen in BPD?

Answer 10

splitting
passive aggression

Question 11

What is blocking?

Answer 11

temporary, or transient block in thinking or an inability to remember (often accompanies an embarrassing situation)

(ex. student unable to recall the fact needed to answer the exam question, although he recalls it as he walks out of the exam)

Question 12

Example of immature defense mechanisms.

Answer 12

blocking
regression
somatization
introjection (identification)

Question 13

What is regression?

Answer 13

returning to an earlier stage of development you have already completed (unconscious childish behavior in an adult)

Question 14

What is somatization?

Answer 14

when psychological conflict is converted into bodily symptoms

(i.e. a student gets a headache while taking an exam)

Question 15

What is introjection?

Answer 15

when we acquire characteristics of others as our own. The unconscious form of imitation

Question 16

Which defense mechanism is used in psychotherapy?

Answer 16

introjection

Question 17

What are some anxiety defense mechanisms? (Name 4)

Answer 17

• displacement
• repression
• isolation of affect
• intellectualization
• acting out
• rationalization
• reaction formation
• undoing
• passive aggression
• dissociation

Question 18

What are some mature defense mechanisms?

Answer 18

• humor
• sublimation
• suppression

Question 19

Describe displacement.

Answer 19

target of an emotion or drive changes to a substitute target

(i.e. a recently disciplined employee yells at his wife instead of his boss)

Question 20

Describe repression.

Answer 20

when an idea or feeling is withheld from consciousness. It is also called unconscious forgetting

Question 21

What is one of the most basic defense mechanisms?

Answer 21

repression

Question 22

Describe isolation of affect? (Also give an example.)

Answer 22

separation of an idea or event from the emotions (affect) that accompany it

(i.e a child who has been beaten discusses the beatings without any display of emotion

Question 23

What is an important adaptive defense mechanism for self-preservation?

Answer 23

isolation of affect

Question 24

What is intellectualization?

Answer 24

when facts and logic are used to avoid confronting emotions

(i.e. a patient with a bone protruding from his leg focuses on the physics that allow such an event to occur)

Question 25

Describe acting out?

Answer 25

when an emotional or behavioral outburst masks underlying feelings or ideas

(i.e. a child throws temper tantrum when abandoned)

Question 26

Describe rationalization. (Also give example)

Answer 26

when rational explanations are used to justify attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors that are unacceptable

(i.e A murderer saying “yes, I believe killing is wrong but I killed him because he really deserved it)

Question 27

What type of defense mechanism is seen in substance use disorders?

Answer 27

rationalization

Question 28

What is reaction formation? (Also give an example)

Answer 28

when an unacceptable impulse is transformed into its opposite. Excessive overreaction can be a sign of reaction formation.

(i.e a teenage boy intrigued by “dirty pictures” organizes an anti-pornography campaign)

Question 29

What is undoing?

Answer 29

performing an act to undo a previous unacceptable act or thought

(i.e a man who is sexually aroused by a woman he meets immediately leaves and buys his wife flowers)

Question 30

Which defense mechanism is seen in OCD?

Answer 30

both reaction formation and undoing

Question 31

Reaction formation can be seen in what type of disorders?

Answer 31

OCD and anxiety disorder

Question 32

What is passive aggression?

Answer 32

when hostility is expressed covertly (must be unconscious)

(Patient angry with her physician shows up late for appointments)

Question 33

What is dissociation? (Also give an example.)

Answer 33

separates the self from one’s experience to avoid emotional distress

(i.e. A woman who was raped reports that she felt “as if she was floating on the ceiling” watching it happen)

Question 34

What is the primary mode of defense in dissociative disorders?

Answer 34

dissociation

Question 35

Describe using humor as a defense mechanism? (Also give an example.)

Answer 35

permits the overt expression of feelings and thoughts without personal discomfort

(i.e. a student smiles when he realizes that a particularly intimidating professor looks like a penguin)

Question 36

What is sublimation?

Answer 36

when impulse gratification is achieved by channeling the unacceptable or unattainable impulse into a socially acceptable direction

(i.e Jack the Ripper becomes a surgeon)

Question 37

What is considered to be the most mature defense mechanism?

Answer 37

sublimation

Question 38

What is suppression?

Answer 38

conscious decision to forget or ignore

(i.e. a student with a pending exam decided to forget about it and go out for the evening)