Defense Mechanisms

Question 1

Rationalization

Answer 1

• Plausible reasons justify an action or opinion

• Helps a person cope with disappointments by blaming
external circumstances

• EG: After not getting a jobs, a person things, “I’d be
better off with a different company.

• EG: After getting turned down for a date, a person says,
“that person is really snobby.”

• An abused spouse may rationalize hitting her children as
“punishment” after being hit by her spouse.

Question 2

Repression

Answer 2

• Refuses to let into awareness unacceptable impulses but remans unconsciously operative in behavior.
• A persons might feel sexually attracted to a person of the same sex, put pushes away this intolerable thought from consciousness only to lair dream about such sexual impulses.
• After years of celibacy, a person begins to eat copious amounts of food.
• A young boy exhibits repression when he has a phobia of dogs but can’t remember the first time he was afraid of them.

Question 3

Displacement

Answer 3

• Affect is transferred from one object to another.
• A person compulsively eats lollipops after having quit smoking.
• Compulsively washing hands after being shamed for masturbating.
• Yells at his spouse because he is unable to express anger towards his boss.

Question 4

Identification

Answer 4

• A process by which qualities of an external object are absorbed into one’s personality.
• A bruce lee fan is using identification when he biomes a disciplined martial art champion.
• A young person decides to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a lawyer.

Question 5

Intellectualization

Answer 5

• Content is serrated from repressed affect.
• A person speaks of his traumatic childhood as if reading scripted story.
• A victim of sexual assault may research factual PTSD criteria instead of addressing her emotional pain in therapy.

Question 6

Asceticism

Answer 6

• Characterized by rigor and self - denial
• An adult refuses to eat or sleep until a major work project is complete.
• An adolescent copes with sexual tension and desire by refusing to engage in all pleasurable activities.

Question 7

Reaction Formation: PRIMITIVE DEFENSE

Answer 7

• • PRIMITIVE DEFENSE * *
• Process by which unacceptable impulses are express as their opposites.
• Helps release anxiety and guilt associated with the true impulse.
• An angry supervises is overly nice to his supervisor.
• A parent with an unwanted child may become over overprotective.
• A man who’s is gay openly dates woman and criticizes gay men.

Question 8

Introjection and Internalization

Answer 8

• Introjection is the internalization of outside events or characteristics of other people.
• A victim may identify with the aggressors behaviors to help protect himself.
• A person uses introjection when putting on her seat belt before driving away in her car.

Question 9

Projection: PRIMITIVE DEFENSE

Answer 9

• • PRIMITIVE DEFENSE * *
• Places unacceptable feelings from the person feeling them onto another persons.
• A highly anxious colleague is projecting when complaining about another colleagues anxieties.
• A person is using projection when he complains that no one likes him but in reality he does not like himself or others.

Question 10

Denial: PRIMITIVE DEFENSE

Answer 10

• • PRIMITIVE DEFENSE * *
• Distorts reality and does not acknowledge emotion.
• uncommon in very young children because they are unable to distinguish between fantasy and reality.
• Continues to eat unhealthy foods despite his doctor’s orders to eat healthier.
• An alcoholic attends a recovery program but continues to drink alcohol.

Question 11

Sublimation

Answer 11

Displaces unacceptable instincts for constructive socially acceptable behaviors.

• A person with major depression may use professional dance to help sublimate suicidal thoughts.
• A person with aggressive impulses may use sublimation by becoming a kickboxing instructor.

Question 12

Undoing

Answer 12

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

Question 13

PSYCHOLOGICAL DEFENSE MECHANISMS

Answer 13

• Help the ego cope with anxiety, frustration, and unacceptable impulses
• Help relieve tension between inner psychological reality and the demand of the external world.
• Denial, reaction formation and projection are considered primitive defenses because why are more out of touch with reality.
• Sublimation, undoing rationalization, displacement, identification and intellectualization represent higher levels of functioning.
• Each person has their own unique set of psychological defense that make up their personality.