Defense Mechanisms in Psychology

Defense Mechanisms

• Repression: Keeping distressing thoughts and feelings buried in the unconscious, e.g. a traumatized soldier having no recollection of a close brush with death.
• Projection: Attributing one's own thoughts, feelings, or motives to another, e.g. a woman who dislikes her boss thinks she likes her boss but feels that the boss doesn't like her.
• Displacement: Diverting emotional feelings (usually anger) from their original source to a substitute target, e.g. a young girl taking her anger out on her little brother after parental scolding.
• Reaction Formation: Behaving in a way that is exactly the opposite of one's true feelings, e.g. a parent who unconsciously resents a child spoiling the child with outrageous gifts.
• Regression: A reversion to immature patterns of behavior, e.g. an adult having a temper tantrum when they don't get their way.
• Rationalization: Creating false but plausible excuses to justify unacceptable behavior, e.g. a student watching TV instead of studying, saying that "additional study wouldn't do any good anyway".
• Identification: Bolstering self-esteem by forming an imaginary or real alliance with some person or group, e.g. an insecure young man joining a fraternity to boost his self-esteem.