Defense Mechanisms Flashcards
Defense mechanisms refer to
cognitive processes that influence the ways individuals PERCIEVE, INTERPRET, and RESPOND to situations that challenge cognitive, psychological, or biological homeostasis.
Denial
Incoming info that is threatening or contradictory to stored memory is refuted
OR…avoidance of some awareness of some painful reality
Repression
Perceptions of events that are threatening or contradictory to past experiences are neither recognized nor retrievable
Intellectualization
an idea or memory is reconceptualized in sufficiently abstract terms to distance it from its original referent and associated conditioned emotional response
Projection
an idea, feeling, or behavior inconsistent with ones self concept is attributed to another person
Regression
stress is responded to using cognitive processes from earlier developmental stages associated with periods of less than stressful coping
Acting out
unacceptable feelings and thoughts are expressed through actions
Dissociation
Temporary, drastic change in personality, memory, consciousness, or motor behavior
Displacement
Process whereby avoided ideas and feelings are transferred to some neutral person or object
Fixation
Partially remaining at a more childish level of development
Identification
Modeling behavior after another person who is more powerful though not necessarily admired (an abuser for instance)
Isolation
Separation of feelings from ideas and events
Projection
An unnacceptable internal impulse is attributed to an external source
Rationalization
Proclaiming logical reasons for actions actually performed for other reasons, usually to avoid self-blame
Reaction formation
Process whereby a warded-off idea or feeling is replaced by an emphasis on its opposite
