Lecture 2 - Personality Organisation and Defense Mechanisms

Question 1

Mature/Neurotic DMs

Answer 1

greater ability to adapt to reality, effectively distance threatening feelings without distorting the reality.

• Mature/Neurotic DMs

Question 2

Repression

Answer 2

an unpleasant or unacceptable feeling or thought is pushed out from consciousness. Differs from suppression in that the thought or feeling is unconsciously eliminated and the content can no longer be obtain

• Mature/Neurotic DMs

Question 3

Sublimation

Answer 3

expressing a personally unacceptable or unattainable feeling in a socially acceptable or useful way. Considered a more adaptive defense mechanism in that it can transform negative anxiety into positive energy.

• Mature/Neurotic DMs

Question 4

Humor

Answer 4

expressing uncomfortable feelings (in the form of jokes, for example) without causing oneself discomfort.

• Mature/Neurotic DMs

Question 5

Suppression

Answer 5

pushing the unpleasant or unacceptable feelings, thoughts, or desires deliberately out of consciousness. It is the only defense mechanism to have some sort of conscious effort, albeit partial. Suppression involves attempting not to think about a memory or feeling.

• Mature/Neurotic DMs

Question 6

Altruism

Answer 6

helping others to feel better about themselves, thereby avoiding negative personal feelings. Gratification is achieved from the response of others.

• Mature/Neurotic DMs

Question 7

Undoing

Answer 7

behaving or acting in a way as to reverse unacceptable behavior. “Correcting” a past mistake. May involve rituals to “un-do” a sinful thought or action.

• Mature/Neurotic DMs

Question 8

Reaction formation

Answer 8

a manifestation of a feeling and/or action that is diametrically opposed to that of the underlying unacceptable impulse. Thus, there is a transformation of the feeling to its exact opposite.

• Mature/Neurotic DMs

Question 9

Idealization

Answer 9

creating an ideal impression of a person, place, or object by empathizing with their positive qualities and neglecting the negative.

• Mature/Neurotic DMs

Question 10

Intellectualization

Answer 10

using higher functions (excessively) instead of affect to deal with unpleasant facts or situations. Dealing with emotions is avoided, and the intellectual content may be too academical in nature, drained of any affective content.

• Mature/Neurotic DMs

Question 11

Displacement

Answer 11

the emotion remains the same, the target of the emotion outlet is changed. This is different from acting out in that the primary emotions are not masked, only redirected.

• Mature/Neurotic DMs

Question 12

Immature DMs

Answer 12

characterized by the severe alternation of painful mental content and/or radical distortion of external reality, unacceptable feelings are kept outside of consciousness, feelings and impulses are not recognized as being one’s own

Question 13

Projection

Answer 13

attributing one’s own feelings, desires, or thoughts to someone else. This may be associated with or may lead to paranoia.

• Immature DM

Question 14

Acting out

Answer 14

a strong display of emotions/behavior in order to hide the unacceptable underlying feeling or ideas. May be socially inappropriate. The actual emotions being masked.

• Immature DM

Question 15

Denial

Answer 15

avoiding obvious aspects of reality by pretending that it is false or that it does not actually exist thus blocking the external events from awareness.

• Immature DM

Question 16

Dissociation

Answer 16

momentarily loss of the connection to the world around, feel separated from the outside world, as though one exists in another realm.

• Immature DM

Question 17

Regression

Answer 17

reverting to a behavior that is more childlike (or otherwise younger than age). Seen in people (also without a mental disability) who are sick or otherwise uncomfortable.

• Immature DM

Question 18

Passive aggression

Answer 18

a passive (indirect) way of expressing aggression. Manifested as setting up an expectation and then not meeting it. However, this feeling often operates at a subconscious level.

• Immature DM

Question 19

Isolation

Answer 19

(of affect) to separate ideas or feelings from the rest of your thoughts. In distinguished an emotion or impulse from others in this way, a person attempts to protect the ego from anxieties caused by a specific situation.

• Immature DM
• if you have a lecture but you don’t want to think about it for the weekend, so you isolate the feeling/thought from reality.

Question 20

Splitting

Answer 20

Splitting occurs when the ego attempts to reconcile multiple aspects or rationales but resorts to understanding the world in “black and white” terms. A person who experiences splitting may take an “either-or” approach when making evaluations of the world around them, including objects, situations, and people

• Immature DM

Question 21

Autistic fantasy

Answer 21

(autistic withdrawal) an autistic retreat into an imaginary life to avoid facing unacceptable feelings or the unpleasant reality.

• Immature DM

Question 22

Somatization

Answer 22

somatization defense mechanisms occur when the internal conflicts between the drivers of the id, ego, and superego take on physical characteristics.

• Immature DM

Question 23

ID

Answer 23

the part of the personality we are born with. It is the demanding part. The infant is all “I want” and dements to be satisfied. The id is in the unconscious in that the demands are not conscious – a baby knows what it wants, but unconsciously. The id works on the pleasure principle.

Question 24

EGO

Answer 24

the rational part of the personality. It works on reality principles and tries to obtain for the id what the id wants. The ego is the part of the personality that works out how to satisfy the person. The ego develops from the age of about 18 months.

Question 25

SUPER-EGO

Answer 25

develops during the phallic stage, at around 4 years of age. The superego work on the morality principle. It is made up of the conscience, given to individuals by the parents and by society indicating what is right and what is wrong, and the ego ideal. The ego-ideal is the idea that people have of what they should be like, again given by parents and society. The superego is the “you can’t have” part of the personality.

Question 26

Gender differences in DMs

Answer 26

• Women tend to use more introverted defense mechanisms - e.g., get a headache
• Men tend to use more extroverted defense mechanisms - e.g., be aggressive

Question 27

Defense Mechanisms (DM)

Answer 27

by Sigmund Freud

psychodynamic theory – psychological strategies that we tend to use unconsciously that help us to protect ourselves or cope with anxiety-related unwanted/unaccepted thoughts and emotions to protect our sense of self

Question 28

Personality Organization

Answer 28

by Otto Kernberg

the foundation of your house, your personality is the house, which you can color and shape and do everything you like, but you need a foundation (personality organization)