Unit 1 Ego Defense Mechanisms Flashcards
Repression
Involuntarily blocking unpleasant feelings and experiences from one’s awareness
Ex: An accident victim can remember nothing about the accdient
Denial
Refusing to acknowledge the existence of a real situation or the feelings associated with it
Ex. A woman drinks alcohol every day and cannot stop, failing to acknowledge that she has a problem.
Introjection
Integrating the beliefs and values of another individual into one’s own ego structure
Ex. Children integrate their parents’ value system into the process of conscience formation. A child says to a friend “Don’t Cheat; it’s wrong.”
Undoing
Symbolically negating or canceling out an experience that one finds intolerable
Ex. Joe is nervous about his job and yells at his wife. On his way home he stops and buys her some flowers
Isolation
Separating a thought or memory from the feeling tone or emotion associated with it.
Ex. Without showing any emotion, a young woman describes being attacked and raped.
Suppression
The voluntary blocking of unpleasant feelings and experiences from one’s awareness
Ex. “I don’t want to think about that now. I’ll think about that tomorrow.”
Projection
Attributing feelings or impulses unacceptable to one’s self to another person
Ex. Sue feels a strong sexual attraction to her track coach and tells her friend, “He’s coming on to me!”
Rationalization
Justification of unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or actions by acribing to them acceptable or worthwhile motives
Ex. One does something and unconsciously states or uses an acceptable reason for the action.
Conversion
The unconscious process in which a repressed conflict is manifested as a disguised and symbolic somatic symptom
Ex. Girl can suddenly not speak when asked about past abuse
Regression
The return to an earlier level of emotional adjustment, and the use of behaviors consistent with that level of development
Ex. Toilet trained child temporily loses the ability after his newborn brother is brought home from the hospital
Compensation
Attempting to make up for a real or imagined defect in the self by excelling in another area of life.
Ex. Short statue man behaving bold and aggressively
Reaction Formation
Development of overt behaviors or attitudes in precisely the opposite direction of the individual’s underlying unacceptable feelings, wishes, or desires
Ex. A mother who feels hostile and rejecting of her child may express overprotection of her child
Dissociation
A portion of the persnality that cannot be tolerated or accepted by the invidual’s conscious self is split off from awareness
Identification
Unconscious process of becoming like another person by taking on the characteristics of that person’s personality
Sublimation
Transformation of psychic energy associated with sexual and/or aggressive drives into conscious constructive or productive activities
Ex. Adolescent becomes a very competitive soccer player
