Defense Mechanisms

Question 1

Rationalization

Answer 1

• plausible reason justify an action or opinion
• helps the person cope with disappointments by blaming external circumstances
• ex: “I’ll be better off at a different company”

Question 2

Repression

Answer 2

• refuses to let into awareness unacceptable impulses but remains unconscious operative in behavior.
• ex: someone feels sexually attracted toward members of the same sex but pushes away this intolerable thought from consciousness only to later dream about such sexual impulses.
• a young boy exhibits this when he has a phobia of dogs but cannot remember the first time he was afraid of them.

Question 3

Displacement

Answer 3

• affect is transferred from one object to another
• ex: someone compulsively eating lollipops after quitting smoking.
• ex: a man yells at his spouse because he is unable to express anger toward his boss.

Question 4

Identification

Answer 4

• the process by which qualities of an external object are absorbed into one’s personality.
• A bruce Lee fan uses this when he becomes a disciplined martial art champion
• A young person is using this when deciding to follow in her father’s footsteps and becomes a lawyer

Question 5

Intellectualization

Answer 5

• a process by which content is separated from repressed affect
• A person uses this when speaking of his traumatic childhood as if reading a scripted story
• A victim of sexual assault may use this by researching factual PTSD criteria instead of addressing her emotional pain in therapy.

Question 6

Asceticism

Answer 6

• Charaterized by rigor and self-denial

- An adult business this when she refuses to each or sleep until a morjor work project is complete

Question 7

Reaction Formation

Answer 7

• A process by which unacceptale impulses are expressed as their opposites.
• Helps release anxiety and guilt associated with the true impulse
• An angry supervise uses this whenbeing overly nice to his supervisor.
• A parent with an unwanted child may demonstrate this by being very overprotective.
• A man who is gay uses this when he openy datess woment and critizes gay men

Question 8

Introjection and Internalization

Answer 8

• The internatization of outside events or characteristics of other people.
• A victim may use this to identify with the aggressor’s behavior to help protect himself
• A person uses this when putting on her seat belt before driving away in her car

Question 9

Projection

Answer 9

• Places unacceptable feelings from the person feeling them onto another person.
• A highly anxious colleague uses this when complaining about another colleague’s anxieties
• A person is using this when he complains that no one likes him but in reality he does like himself or others

Question 10

Denial

Answer 10

• Distorts reality and does not acknowledge emotion
• uncommon in very young children because they are unable to distinguish between fantasy and reality
• A person uses this when he continues to eat unhealthy foods despite his doctor’s orders to eat healthier
• An alchoholic does this when she attends a recovery program but continues to drink alcohol.

Question 11

Sublimation

Answer 11

• Uses this will displace unaxxeptable instincts for constructive and socially acceptable behaviors
• A person with major depression may use professional dance to help with suicidal thoughts
• A person with aggressive impulses may use this by becoming a kickboxing instructor.

Question 12

Undoing

Answer 12

• A process by ehich we avoid being punished for undesirable thoughts or actions.
• A spouse unconsciously does this with his many adulterous acts by buying his partner lavish gifts.
• A person is overly nice to a persons she had just insulted in her mind