Ego Defense Mechanisms Flashcards
What do Defense Mechanisms
Defense mechanisms protect the person from anxiety. They distort, substitute something else for, or completely block out the source of the conflict. They are usually initiated unconsciously.
Repression
Repression (Motivated Forgetting)- Forcing a dangerous/threatening memory/idea/feeling/
wish etc. out of consciousness and making it unconscious. Often used in conjunction with one or more other defenses; one of the first used by children (Example ) A 5 to 6-year old child repressing its incestuous desire for the opposite-sex parent as part of the Oedipus Complex
Displacement
Choosing a substitute object for the expression of your feelings because you cannot express them openly towards their real target. You transfer your feeling onto something quite innocent, or harmless, because it is convenient in some way. (Example)
Anger with your boy/girl friend is taken out on your mother/father
Brother/sister or you slam the door or kick the dog or cat.
Denial
Refusing to acknowledge certain aspects of reality, refusing to perceive something because it is so painful or distressing (Example) Refusing to accept that you have a serious illness or that a relationship is on the rocks or that you have an exam tomorrow. Common component of the grieving process
Rationalization
Finding an acceptable excuse for something that is quite unacceptable, a cover story which preserves your self-image or that of someone close to you. Justifying your own and others’ actions to yourself - and believing it! (Example) Being cruel to be kind.’ ‘I only did it for you.’ ‘It was in your best interest.’ ‘I did so badly because I did not revise properly
Reaction- formation
Consciously feeling or thinking the very opposite of what you(truly) unconsciously feel or think. The conscious thoughts or feelings are experienced as quite real (Example) Being considerate/polite to someone you cannot stand, even going out of your way to be nice to them. This display may be quite suspicious to an observer. Obsessive-compulsive neurosis, eg. Compulsive cleanliness as an attempt to cancel out an obsession with dirt.
Sublimation
A form of displacement where a substitute activity is found to express an unacceptable impulse. The activity is usually socially acceptable-if not desirable. One of the most positive/constructive of all defenses.
(Example) Playing sport to re-channel aggressive impulses. Doing sculpture or pottery or gardening to re-channel the desire to play with faeces. All artistic and cultural activities
Identification
A young boy’s assumption of the male role and acquisition of a conscience in order to avoid castration (Identification with the aggressor) A common component of grieving
Projection
Attributing your own unwanted feelings and characteristics onto someone else. The reverse of identification (Example) Suspecting or accusing someone of dishonourable motives based on your own (unconscious) dishonourable motives. ‘I hate you because you hate me.’ The basis of paranoia.
Regression
Engaging in behavior characteristic of an earlier developmental stage. We normally regress to the point of fixation. (Example) Taking to your bed when upset. Crying, losing your temper, eating when depressed, wetting yourself when extremely frightened
Isolation
Separating contradictory thought or feelings into ‘logic-right’ compartments so that no conflict is experienced. Separating thoughts and emotions which usually go together. A form of dissociation.
(Example) Calmly and clinically talking about a very traumatic experience without showing any emotion (or even giggling about it, as in schizophrenia)
Freud Theory
Freud’s psychoanalytic psychosexual theory focuses on the development of an individual’s emotional and social life. Although much of his theory has been revised, refuted, or repressed (many contributions of psychosexual theory continue to influence contemporary personality theories and the study of human development.
Freud focused on the impact of sexual and aggressive drives on the individual’s psychological functioning, distinguishing between the impact of sexual drives on mental activity and their effect on reproductive functions.
Based largely on material from therapeutic sessions with his patients.
Freud’s theory recognized the profound influence of sexuality on mental activity. In addition, he came to believe that very young children have strong sexual drives.
Continuation of Freud Theory
He argued that, although children are incapable of reproduction, their sexual drives operate to direct aspects of their fantasies, problem solving, and social interactions.
Freud suggested that all behavior (except that resulting from fatigue) is motivated. This is a profound assumption.
It carries with it an implicit need for a psychology of behavior. Behavior has meaning; it does not occur randomly or without purpose
Much of Freud’s work was an attempt to describe the processes by which motives, especially sexual and aggressive motives, prompt behavior.
His interpretation of all psychological events is based on this hypothesis.
A second hypothesis of psychoanalytic theory is that there is an area of the psyche called the unconscious, which is a storehouse of powerful, primitive motives of which the person is unaware.
Four basic contributions of psychosexual theory
Thus, behavior that may appear to be somewhat unusual or extremely intense is described as multiple determined, that is, this single behavior expresses many motives, some of which the person can recognize and control and others of which operate unguided by conscious thought.
Four basic contributions of psychosexual theory are discussed in the following sections: 1. Domains of Consciousness, Three basic structures of personality, Defense mechanisms, and Five Stages of Psychosexual Development.
Domains of Consciousness
One of Freud’s most enduring contributions was his analysis of the topography of mental activity. In Freud’s theory, the human mind is like an iceberg. Conscious processes are like the tip that protrudes out of the water; they make up only a small part of the mind. Our conscious thoughts are fleeting. We can have only a few of them at any one time, and as soon as energy is diverted from a thought or image, it disappears from consciousness.
Preconscious thoughts are readily accessible to consciousness through focused attention. You may not be thinking about your hometown or your favorite desserts right now, but if someone were to ask you about either of them, you could readily recall and discuss them.
The unconscious, like the rest of the iceberg, is hidden from view. It is a vast network of content and processes that are actively barred from consciousness.
Freud hypothesized that the content of the unconscious, a storehouse of wishes, fears, impulses, and repressed memories, plays a major role in guiding behavior even though we cannot account for it consciously.
Behaviors that are unusual or extremely intense may not make sense if they are explained only in terms of conscious motives.
Three Structures of Personality
Psychosexual Development
Freud described three components of personality: the Id, the ego, and the superego.
Although it sometimes seems as if these structures are like three little cartoon characters battling things out inside the mind, they are actually more accurately, components of a general process of adaptation very similar to the process of adaptation described in evolutionary theory.
The Id
is the source of instincts and impulses. It is the primary source of psychic energy, and it exists from birth. The id expresses its demands according to the pleasure principle.
We are motivated to seek pleasure and avoid pain. The pleasure principle does not take into account the feelings of others, society’s norms, or agreements between people. Its rule is to achieve the immediate discharge of impulses. When you lie to a friend to protect your own image, or when you cut ahead of people in line so you won’t have to wait, you are operating according to the pleasure principle.
Continuation of this id thing
The logic of the id is also the logic of dreams.
This kind of thinking is called primary process thought. It is characterized by a lack of concern about the constraints of reality.
In primary process thought there are no negatives. Everything is yes. There is no time. Nothing happens in the past or in the future. Everything is now. Symbolism becomes flexible. One object may symbolize many things, and many different objects may mean the same thing.
Ego is the term for all mental functions that have to do with a person’s relation to the environment.
When you read the term ego, you should think of it as shorthand for a multitude of cognitive processes, such as perception, learning, memory, judgment, self awareness and language skills.
More on the ego i swear
Freud thought the ego begins to develop in the first six or eight months of life and is well established by the age of 2 or 3. Of course, much change and growth occur after this time as well.
The ego responds to the demands of the environment and helps a person function effectively in the world.
The ego also responds to the demands of the id and the superego and helps the person satisfy needs, live up to ideals and standards, and establish a healthy emotional balance
The ego operates according to the reality principle
Under this principle the ego protects the person by waiting to gratify id impulses until a socially acceptable form of expression or gratification can be found. In the ego, primary process thought becomes subordinated to a more reality-oriented process called secondary process thought, which begins to dominate as the ego matures.
Secondary process thought, is the kind of logical, sequential thinking that we usually mean when we discuss thinking.
It allows people to plan and act in order to engage the world and achieve gratification in personally and socially acceptable ways.
It enables people to delay gratification. It helps people test plans by examining whether they will really work. This last process is called reality testing.
Superego
The superego includes moral precepts (the conscience) and one’s ideals about being a moral person (the ego ideal).
Freud’s work led him to conclude that the superego does not begin to develop until the age of 5 or 6 and probably is not firmly established until several years later.
The superego determines many of one’s ideas about which behaviors are proper, acceptable, and admirable, and which behaviors are improper and unacceptable. It also defines one’s aspirations and goals as a “good” person. The superego psychologically punishes a person for unacceptable behavior and rewards a person for acceptable behavior.
Because it is formed during early childhood, the superego tends to be harsh and unrealistic in its demands.
It is often just as illogical and unrelenting in its search for proper behavior as the id is in its search for pleasure.
When a child thinks about behaving in a morally unacceptable way, the superego sends a warning by producing feelings of anxiety and guilt
The superego is developed through a process called identification, motivated by love, fear, and admiration.
Children actively imitate characteristics of their parents and internalize their parents’ values.
Through identification, the parents’ values become the ideals and aspirations of their children.
Parents and others in the environment may, however, make demands that a child does not internalize as part of the superego.
The ego deals with these demands as well as with the superego’s internalized demands.
Ego processes
Ego processes work toward satisfying id impulses through thoughts and actions without generating strong feelings of guilt in the superego.
In one sense, the ego processes serve both the id and the superego, striving to provide gratification, but in morally and socially acceptable ways.
In another sense, the ego is the executive of the personality.
The strength of the ego determines the person’s effectiveness in meeting his or her needs, in handling the demands of the superego, and in dealing with the demands of reality.
If the ego is strong and can establish a good balance among the id, the superego, and the environmental demands, the person is satisfied and free of immobilizing guilt and feelings of worthlessness.
even more ego things
When the id and the superego are stronger than the ego, the person may be tossed and turned psychologically by strong desires for pleasure and strong constraints against attaining those desires.
When environmental demands are strong and the ego is weak—for example, when an adolescent is confronted by strong pressures for peer conformity and the threat of peer rejection—a person may also be overwhelmed.
In Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, it is the breakdown of the ego that leads to mental disorder.
Much of the relationship of the id, the ego, and the superego is played out at an unconscious level. In the early years, aspects of basic drives and primary process thought are noticeable in a child’s consciousness, indicating the conscious presence of the id.
As the ego grows stronger, it is able to push the id’s desires and fantasies into the unconscious, so that the person can attend to the exploration and demands of the external world.
Freud thought that the superego also operated mostly at the unconscious level. He thought the ego, however, functioned at both the conscious and the unconscious levels.
Defense Mechanisms
Much of the ego’s work involves mediating the conflicts between the id’s demands for gratification and the superego’s demands for good behavior. This work is conducted outside the person’s awareness.
When unconscious conflicts threaten to break through into consciousness, the person experiences anxiety.
If the ego functions effectively, it pushes these conflicts into the unconscious and thereby protects the person from unpleasant emotions.
The ego proceeds to satisfy desires in acceptable ways by directing behavior and social interaction.
Strong un-resolvable conflicts may cause constant anxiety, and symptoms may emerge.
A person who desires what she or he feels to be very “bad,” such as an unconscious wish to harm a parent or to be sexually intimate with a sibling, may experience anxiety without recognizing its source.
The ungratified impulse continues to seek gratification, the superego continues to find the impulse unacceptable, and the conflict continues to produce anxiety in the person’s conscious experience.
The unpleasant emotional state may preoccupy the person and make it difficult to handle normal day-to-day demands.
Defense mechanisms
Defense mechanisms protect the person from anxiety. They distort, substitute something else for, or completely block out the source of the conflict. They are usually initiated unconsciously.
Often, the defense mechanism used depends on a person’s age and the intensity of the perceived threat. Young children tend to use denial and repression (pushing thoughts from awareness).
A more diverse set of defenses, requiring greater cognitive complexity, becomes available in the course of development. In situations of the greatest threat, denial is often the initial defense used, regardless of age.
Freud thought the basic defense mechanism was repression, a process that pushes unacceptable impulses into the unconscious.
It is as if a wall were constructed between the unconscious and the conscious mind so that anxiety- provoking thoughts and feelings cannot enter consciousness.
With unacceptable thoughts and impulses far from awareness, the person is protected from uncomfortable feelings of anxiety and may devote his or her remaining psychic energy to interchange with the interpersonal and physical environments.
This defensive strategy has two major costs.
Defense mechanisms
- First, the energy required to continue to protect the conscious mind from these thoughts reduces the amount of mental energy available to cope with other daily demands.
- Second, if too many thoughts and feelings are relegated to repression, the person loses the use of his or her emotional system to monitor and evaluate reality.
The following are defense mechanisms:
Repression: Unacceptable wishes are barred from conscious thought.
Projection: Unacceptable wishes are attributed to someone else.
According to Freud, all normal people resort to defense mechanisms at various times in their lives. These mechanisms not only reduce anxiety but also may lead to positive social outcomes.
Physicians who use isolation may be able to function effectively because they can use their knowledge without being hindered by their feelings. Children who rationalize defeat may be able to protect their self esteem by viewing themselves favorably. The child who projects angry feelings onto someone else may find that this technique stimulates a competitive orientation that enhances his or her performance.
Energy and defensive strategies
Some people rely more on one or two defensive techniques than on the others. The resultant defensive style becomes part of an overall personality pattern that permits one to regulate the impact of the environment and to perceive experiences in ways that are compatible with one’s needs. The excessive use of defense mechanisms, however, may indicate a deeper psychological problem. Defense mechanisms draw psychological energy from the ego.
Energy that is used to prevent certain wishes from entering conscious thought is not available for other life activities. A person whose energy is devoted to defensive strategies may be unable to develop other ego functions and to use those functions adequately.
Psychosexual Stages
Freud assumed that the most significant developments in personality take place during five life stages from infancy through adolescence, the primary emphasis being given to the first five or six years of life. After that, according to Freud, the essential pattern for expressing and controlling impulses has been established.
Later life serves only to uncover new modes of gratification and new sources of frustration.
The stages Freud described reflect his emphasis on sexuality as a driving force. Freud used the term sexuality quite broadly, referring to the full range of physical pleasure, from sucking to sexual intercourse.
Freud stages of body maturation
He also attached a positive life-force symbolism to the concept of sexuality, suggesting that sexual impulses provide a thrust toward growth and renewal. At each stage of development, a particular body zone is of heightened sexual importance. The shift in focus from one body zone to the next is due largely to the biologically based unfolding of physical maturation.
The five stages Freud identified are the oral, the anal, the phallic, the latent, and the genital.
During the oral stage, in the first year of life, the mouth is the site of sexual and aggressive gratification.
Freud characterized infants as dependent, incorporative, and little able to differentiate themselves from others. As infants learn to delay gratification, the ego becomes more clearly differentiated, and they become aware of the distinction between themselves and others.
Anal/ Phallic Stages
- In the anal stage, during the second year of life, the anus is the most sexualized body part. With the development of the sphincter muscles, a child learns to expel or withhold feces at will.
The conflict at this stage focuses on the subordination of the child’s will to the demands of the culture (via the parents) for appropriate toilet habits. - The phallic stage begins during the third year of life and may last until the child is 6. It is a period of heightened genital sensitivity, but without the hormonal changes that accompany puberty.
Freud described the behavior of children at this stage as bisexual: They direct sexualized activity toward both sexes and engage in self-stimulation. This is the stage during which the Oedipal or Electra complex is observed.
The Oedipal Complex
The Oedipal complex in boys and the Electra complex in girls result from ambivalence surrounding their heightened sexuality.
The child has a strong, sexualized attraction to the parent of the opposite sex, may desire to have the exclusive attention of that parent, and may fantasize that the other parent will leave, or perhaps die.
At the same time, the child fears that amorous overtures to the desired parent may result in hostility or retribution by the parent of the same sex, or in the withdrawal of that parent’s love.
Parental threats intended to prevent the child from masturbating add to the child’s fears that sexualized fantasies will result in punishment or the withdrawal of love.
Genital Stage
It begins with the onset of puberty, when the person directs her or his sexual impulses toward someone of the opposite sex.
Adolescence brings about a reawakening of the Oedipal or Electra conflicts and a reworking of earlier childhood identifications.
Freud explained the tension of adolescence as the result of the sexual threat that the mature adolescent poses to the family unit.
In an effort to avoid this threat, adolescents may withdraw from their families or temporarily devalue their parents.
With the selection of a permanent sex partner, the threat of intimacy between young people and their parents diminishes, and a more autonomous relationship with the parents becomes possible.
Freud believed that the psychological conflicts that arise during adolescence and adulthood result from a failure to satisfy or express specific childhood wishes.
At any of the childhood stages, the sexualized impulses may have been so frustrated or overindulged that the person continues to seek their gratification at later stages of life.
Fixation
Freud used the term fixation to refer to continued use of pleasure seeking or anxiety-reducing behavior appropriate to an earlier stage of development.
Since no person can possibly satisfy all wishes at every life stage, normal development depends on the ability to channel the energy from those impulses into activities that either symbolize the impulses or express them in a socially acceptable form. This process is called sublimation.
During adolescence and early adulthood, patterns of impulse expression, fixation, and sublimation crystallize into a life orientation.
From this point on, the content of the id, the regulating functions of the superego, and the executive functions of the ego rework the struggles of childhood through repeated episodes of engagement, conflict, and impulse gratification or frustration.
Implications for Human Development
Freud’s psychoanalytic theory places an emphasis on early childhood and it gave an enormous boost to the study of young children.
Unfortunately, this much-needed focus on the early years of development may have distracted psychoanalytically oriented psychologists from considering the relevance of later development.
Implications for Human Development
Psychoanalytic theory emphasizes the tension between interpersonal demands and intra–psychic demands in the shaping of personality.
The ego develops skills for dealing with the realities of the interpersonal world and for satisfying personal needs
