Defense Mechanisms Flashcards
Psychological Defense Mechanisms:
Psychological defense mechanisms help the ego cope with anxiety, frustration, and unacceptable impulses.
Psychological defense mechanisms help relieve tension between inner psychological reality and the demands of the external world.
Denial, reaction formation, and projection are considered primitive defenses because they are more out of touch with reality.
Sublimation, undoing, rationalization, displacement, identification, and intellectualization represent higher levels of functioning.
Each person has their unique set of psychological defenses that make up their personality.
Rationalization:
Rationalization is a defense process by which plausible reasons justify an action or opinion.
Rationalization helps the person cope with disappointments by blaming external circumstances.
A person is using rationalization when, after not getting a job he applied for, he thinks, “I’ll be better off at a different company.
A person is using rationalization when, after getting turned down for a date, she says, “That person is really snobby.”
An abused spouse may rationalize hitting her children as ‘punishment’ after being hit by her spouse.
Repression:
Repression refuses to let into awareness unacceptable impulses but remains unconsciously operative in behavior.
A person using repression might feel 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 person is using repression when, after years of celibacy, the person begins to eat copious amounts of food.
A young boy exhibits repression when he has a phobia of dogs but cannot remember the first time he was afraid of them
Displacement:
Displacement is a defense mechanism in which affect is transferred from one object to another.
A person is using displacement when he compulsively eats lollipops after having quit smoking.
A person is using displacement when she begins to compulsively wash her hands after being shamed for masturbating.
A man is using displacement when he yells at his spouse because he is unable to express anger toward his boss.
Identification:
Identification is a process by which qualities of an external object are absorbed into one’s personality.
A Bruce Lee fan is using identification when he becomes a disciplined martial art champion.
A young person is using identification when deciding to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a lawyer.
Intellectualization:
Intellectualization is a process by which content is separated from repressed affect.
A person uses intellectualization when speaking of his traumatic childhood as if reading a scripted story.
A victim of sexual assault may use intellectualization by researching factual PTSD criteria instead of addressing her emotional pain in therapy.
Asceticism:
Asceticism is characterized by rigor and self-denial.
An adult uses asceticism when she refuses to eat or sleep until a major work project is complete.
An adolescent uses asceticism to cope with sexual tension and desire by refusing to engage in all pleasurable activities
Reaction Formation:
Reaction formation is a process by which unacceptable impulses are expressed as their opposites.
Reaction formation helps release anxiety and guilt associated with the true impulse.
An angry supervisee uses reaction formation when being overly nice to his supervisor.
A parent with an unwanted child may demonstrate reaction formation by being very overprotective.
A man who is gay uses reaction formation when he openly dates women and criticizes gay men.
Introjection and Internalization:
Introjection is the internalization of outside events or characteristics of other people.
A victim may use introjection to identify with the aggressor’s behaviors to help protect himself.
A person uses introjection when putting on her seat belt before driving away in her car.
Projection:
Projection places unacceptable feelings from the person feeling them onto another person.
A highly anxious colleague is projecting when complaining about another colleague’s anxieties.
A person is using projection when he complains that no one likes him but in reality he does not like himself or others.
Denial:
Denial distorts reality and does not acknowledge emotion.
Denial is uncommon in very young children because they are unable to distinguish between fantasy and reality.
A person is using denial when he continues to eat unhealthy foods despite his doctor’s orders to eat healthier.
An alcoholic is in denial when she attends a recovery program but continues to drink alcohol.
Sublimation:
A person using sublimation will displace unacceptable instincts for constructive and 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.
Undoing:
Undoing is a process by which we 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.
