Defense mechanisms Flashcards
Repression
Painful feelings are conscious initially and then forgotten, but return occasionally
Example- forgetting the details of a really bad car accident.
Denial
Unpleasant reality is ignored and a realistic interpretation of potentially threatening events are replaced by benign but inaccurate one
Suppression
Unpleasant feelings are suppressed through a conscious effort to ignore then
Suppression differs from repression and denial in that the undesirable feelings are available but deliberated ignored
Projection
The undesirable feelings are attributed to another person or persons
Displacement
Anger or another emotion is initially felt toward a person against whom it is unsafe to express it
Reaction Formation
Involves behavior that is diametrically opposed to the impulses or feelings that one is repressing
Regression
When confronted by stressful events, people so,etimes abandon coping strategies and revert to patterns of behavior used earlier in development
Fixation
People with an oral fixation have problems with drinking smoking and nail biting when they are experiencing stressful events
Identification
Taking on the characteristics of someone else
Rationalization
Is an attempt to deny ones true motives by using a reason that is more logical or socially acceptable than ones own reason
Isolation
Compartmentalizations ones experience so that an event becomes separated from the feelings that associated with it, allowing to be part of your conscious mind without the threat of painful feelings
Sublimation
Involves rechanneling the energy connected with an unacceptable impulse into one that is more socially acceptable
Compensation
Devoting unusual efforts to achieve not in order to overcome feelings of inferiority
