In every human being, intrapsychic conflicts are bound to occur, usually because of sexual and aggressive impulses and tension. Usually, (or maybe hopefully), these conflicts are resolved by themselves in a short amount of time; however sometimes this is not the case. Every now and then, our internal conflicts can last for long periods of times, and can potentially cause us great harm. Oftentimes anxiety can wear and tear at us, and should not be underestimated. Fortunately, our body has defense mechanisms to defend us from unpleasant emotions and feelings, such as anxiety. These are 7 of them:
1. Rationalization
Rationalization is something that every human being does, probably on a daily basis. Rationalization is defined as “Creating false but plausible excuses to justify unacceptable behavior.” An example of this would be a student stealing money from a wealthy friend of his, telling himself “Well he is rich, he can afford to lose it.”
2. Identification
Identification is defined as “Bolstering self-esteem by forming an imaginary or real alliance with some person or group.” This is a fairly common method of attempting to forget about ones troubles, happens fairly often, especially in insecure people. A person joining a sports team, fraternity, social clique or even subcultures are all examples of this.
3. Displacement
Displacement is defined as “Diverting emotional feelings (usually anger) from their original source to a substitute target.” This frequently occurs in families, where we often see the father getting mad at the mother. The mother then takes her anger out on her son, the son in turn yells at his little sister, the little sister kicks the dog, and the dog bites the cat. Another example would obviously be a boxer taking out his frustration on a punching bag or an opponent.
4. Projection
Projection is defined as “Attributing one’s own thoughts, feelings, or motives to another.” This characteristic is not uncommon, and we have probably all witnessed it. An angry man might accuse others of being hostile and antagonistic. Another example might be a con-artist might be under the impression that everyone else is trying to con him or her.
5. Regression
Regression is defined as “A reversion to immature patterns of behavior.” There are plenty of examples of this (and we all know a couple we are guilty of). One of the more obvious examples might be a teenager not allowed to go on a trip for spring break, so he or she might throw a temper tantrum and scream and cry at his or her parents. Conversely, a teenager might revert back to infant behavior to receive sympathy from his or her parents.
6. Reaction Formation
Reaction formation is one of the odder defense mechanisms, as it entails behaving completely contrary to how one truly feels. It is defined as “Behaving in a way that is exactly the opposite of one’s true feelings.” We see this all the time in relationships, where “I despise him” becomes “I love him.” Similarly, a boss might give an employee who he is frustrated with a raise.
7. Repression
Repression underlies all the others, and it is possibly the oddest of them all. Repression is defined by “Keeping distressing thoughts and feelings buried in the unconscious.” There has been much controversy over repressed memories, and many court cases as a result of this. A little girl’s memory of being molested when she was a toddler might become a repressed memory. The little girl will completely forget about this experience, until the memory might resurface years later. The trouble is, there have been various accounts of memories resurfacing that have no truth or bearing to them. Repressed memories then are unreliable and oftentimes untrue. Conversely; there have been several cases of repressed memories being accurate; one must simply take an account of a repressed memory with a grain of salt.
Sources: Weiten, Wayne. Psychology: Themes and Variations. Thomson Wadsworth.
Contributor: GeorgeT
What about meditation?
‘Reaction formation’ seems completely rediculous to be honest. The other I can understand, but, to use your example, why would a boss give a frustrating guy a raise?
Maybe it’s just me, but I really dont get it…
it's like when you know you're going to break up with your boyfriend, but you can't muster up the strength to tell him. So, instead, you say you really really really love him when someone asks just to dispel any thoughts to the contrary. You exaggerate the emotion so no one thinks otherwise. It's like guys who can't admit they're gay so they act super macho and homophobic.
I think your example of a gay acting "macho" and homophobic is a very good example.
; )
That was just a poor example. Think about when someone tells a dead baby joke. People laugh. Why????
I have an example for you…. Me. I have a particularly stressful career; on a daily basis I am in constant contact with criticism, whether positive or negative. Inside I accept my criticism, realize the mistake made, appreciate the advice, and create solutions to fix the situation. But for some reason the emotion displayed is not a true representation of my feelings. I cry uncontrollably during the entire confrontation. I can’t even begin to explain how embarrassing and awkward this is. It could even be positive constructive criticism and I still well up with tears. ?? It is destructive to my career and my self esteem. I would do anything to change this “reaction”
I wonder if there is some childhood frustration from false accusations or if you were not allowed to express yourself? If so, there is a frustrated child that keeps showing up in the face of criticism.
Blech, these things were forcefed to me for a year in psychology class. I don’t want to hear the names Freud, Pavlov or Wundt ever again. However, I did get an A which was kinda cool since the average in our class was C+.
A good example to #6 can be ?? smiling while angry or telling yourself “everything is OK” while bleeding to death
dangorironhide think of it maybe like this, you’re having a bad day, not feeling good at all, but when someone askes you “how are you”, instead of telling your friend the truth, you just smile and say “couldnt be better”. You acting out in the opposite matter you truly feel.
evan: Aah, I get what you mean, thanks
. That example is a lot clearer to me than the ones on the last haha
Dangorironhide: Haven’t you ever acted happy when you felt that the world was crushing you into a pulp? Sometimes people do things like that to hide how they are really feeling, similarly to repression.
I think meditation or relaxation should have been on here. And procrastination! =p If that counts. I have absoultely no formal education whatsoever in psychology.
Oh, sorry, I guess I was too slow on my explanation and…4 people posted before me.
Love the photo for #3
I would add denial but overall a good list!
Excellent list. I’ve always been fascinated with the ways people react to stressful situations, and so mental defense mechanisms particularly interest me.
also
Paul: If I ever hear someone say that “meditation” is a defense mechanism again, I may just have to beat them. Meditation is NOT a defense mechanism, but rather a mentality or elevated state of awareness.
I don’t know if I really believe in ‘repression’. Not in the way it’s portrayed in the media anyway. The reason is that I have a couple of false memories…
When I was in the third grade, there was a kid in class who was my nemesis. I was friends with his twin sister, and for some reason he didn’t like me, so he would always make fun of the way I dressed, try to trip me up, whatever. I hated him, and I always dreamed of ways I could really get back at him. One day there was a fight. James (my enemy) got kicked in the face and his nose got broken. I was the one who did it…
I have a very vivid memory of kicking this kid in the face, on purpose, and breaking his nose.
Well, as it happens, that’s not what happened.
A friend of mine that I have kept in touch with through the years and I were talking about old times. I asked him if he remembered me kicking James in the face and breaking his nose. He looked at me funny and said, “Dude, you didn’t kick him. We were playing kickball and he was the pitcher. You kicked the ball and it hit him and made his nose bleed. You saw the blood and started crying. The teacher was right there. She saw that it was an accident and you didn’t get in trouble. And, his nose didn’t break, just bled a little.”
Once he told me this, I remembered the kickball game and what really happened. It was an accident…
Now I remember both versions. The ‘kick to the face’ version is as real as the ‘true’ version.
Now, it could be that my ninja-like kick to James’ face was so unbelievably awesome that my friend just couldn’t handle it and made up the story about the kickball game, but it’s not likely. I think I created that memory because I really wanted to have hurt the kid.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that the mind can create situations and events that never happened. These bits of fiction can be stored as memories, but are not reliable as truth, even if the subject really truly believes them.
I would have sworn on a stack of bibles that I had kicked that kid, and I would have been telling what I believed to be the truth.
creating false memories does not mean that memories cannot be repressed.
which brings up a question, are you really telling a lie if you believe it to be true (even though it was in fact false)?
I wouldn’t consider meditation or relaxation as psychological defense mechanisms…perhaps abilities, things people can do with their minds, but not defense mechanisms that are usually involuntary.
evan: I would say it depends on whether you define ‘the truth’ as the absolute truth, or what someone beleives as the truth
We can call it honest mistake
Awesome example, Yarr!
And ‘reaction formation’ sounds a lot like what I call ‘being in denial’ (which is conspicuously absent from this list). Are they synonymous?
FekketCantenel: I though at first that they were the same, but my understanding is that with ‘reaction formation’, you know something is wrong, and you are just putting on a front, not actually denying it.
I like defense mechanisms.
Evan-
When I tell a lie, it’s generally true…
Dangorironhide: That is a good way of differentiating them. I’m in a psychology class right now and the example they gave for ‘Reaction Formation’ was with the people who are most vehement and outspoken against gays, are often times gay themselves. It is kind of an odd reaction.
And I’d never thought about Projection until we talked about it in our class, and now I can see it all the time in relationships. Think about it, how many times has someone accused their boyfriend/girlfriend of cheating on them, when they are the one’s cheating? I’ve seen that 4 times in my life, and it’s just bizarre to me.
Generally I just drink my problems away so these conditions don’t apply to me.
Thats okay because my new found group of bar buddies do it. It is tough because I know these guys are just trying to get me to pay thier tab. Man I love those manipulating guys, which is good because my wife is always on my back about going! What a booger head. Heck she can’t yell at me becuase I didn’t even go at all yesterday.
Yup I got them all covered!
I once talked about this kind of stuff with a friend of mine, who is a psyhology student, and he mentioned one that’s not listed above, but i can’t remember it’s name.
it was about rewarding or being rewarded is something good/bad happens to us. For exemple: is you find 100 bucks on the ground, you will feel bad if you don’t give the homeless guy 10 bucks, and you don’t buy yiur friends a couple of drinks. In the other case, if you fail a big exam, you will feel that you deserve that your family/friends bought you stuff, and they are all carefull with you. On this thing there was also an experiment made, by a professor, here in romania, he conducted the experiment on two clases of students. He gave tests to both of the classes, and the next day, the asistant came in both classes and told one class the the proffesor was very angry, all of them got low grades, and the other class the opposite. And a few minutes later actors came in both classes claiming they raise money for homeless children, in the class with “Low grades” only 10% gave money, but in the other everyone payed.
Yarr-i have a memory like that too! it’s a little bit weirder though. see, i have three step-siblings two older brothers and a slightly older sister. when i was a child of only 4 or 5 my brothers used to pit me and my sister in battles against one another… yeah. anywho, in one perticularly fierce bout i had knocked her to the ground and jumped on her torso knees first… it was just as bad as it sounds now i’m sure. but a few months ago our battles were brought up in conversation, and she remembers being the jumper instead of the jumpee, yet i distinctly remember feeling guilty as she lie there crying while our brothers ran off to hide from any blame… furthermore i doubt it would’ve hurt that bad if she had jumped on me being that she was pretty small for her age… damn i feel the guilt all over again.
i wasn’t too big myself… i shouldn’t post this comment.
i didn’t know any better. my big brothers, in whom i trusted, made me do it… *whimper*
What about denial? I believe that and rationalization (sometimes coupled) to be the most dominant defense mechanisms used by modern man.
just a quick comment about “denial” in response to the dum guy..I believe denial and lying, generally stem from fear; and i def. agree it should be one of the 7 DEFENSE MECHANISMS..
ALSO..realistically i believe a GOOD example of #6 would be when a wife becomes angry at a husband and instead of arguing with him as she usually does, she tells him nothing is wrong and pretends to be content..[thats just what us females do sumtimez..] even though shes probably pretty *****ed off.
Social networking sites are full with number 2.
you are truly a walking dictionary…
could entitlement make the list i wonder…?
i always thought denial and laughter were good defense mechanisms.
meditation or relaxation are not listed as defense mechanisms. defense mechanisms are unconscious processes, and are proposed by Freud, who “is” the psycho*****ytical approach. In fact, according to any other approach in psychology, there may not be any defense mechanisms at all. But for this case, basing our ground on Freud, this list is good, but I would probably add “passive aggression” in this top 7.
my text lists 8 defence mechanisms – repression, projection, reaction formation, sublimation, rationalisation, displacement, passive aggression and denial. im surprised denial didnt make the list; the reaction of “oh, that growth.. thats nothing” seems to be all too common in this day and age. although i suppose it is very similar to repression, so perhaps thats why..
I’m guilty of most of these…..
Identification sounds like one everybody does a lot. Nationalism and the arrogance of organized religion are ways to belong to something larger than youself, exclusive though they are.
The best thing–perhaps the only good thing–that Freud ever did was systematically describe the defense mechanisms.
Good Point, Alex; Denial. So pervasive, so myriad in its forms. Really. Why only seven Dr. Frater? Were you pressed for time? (insert too easy joke here).
Denial good. “If I don’t remember, it didn’t happen.”
20Fan20 That was funny. Thanks
#11 Yarr I have a similar story. I remember lifting a car off a child at the airport. My adrenalin kicked in and I lifted the car. I’m quite strong any how and combined with the adrenalin it was easy. Never happened. But I completely remember doing it.
Number 7 is definitely true. I saw a picture of a baby with harlequin type ictyhosis 4 or 5 times (once here, in fact! darn you, jfrater!), and everytime I saw that accursed image my brain instantly repressed, and now only a faint, vague impression is left of that image. Same thing happened with tubgirl (don’t look that up).
I don’t know if anyone else mentioned it, but what about compartmentalization? Where you stuff different types of thought to different parts of your mind, so you can only think of one problem at a time, and go though them one by one?
used dem all already, need new ones
Hi!!its nice that i have read your site and i have refresh what i have learned during my colleg years….but what made me think and really crossed my mind is that why gays are so many now a days and what would be the possible explanation why gays are everywhere….pls send me the answers thankyou…..
Darwin
..regression were i hate about them cozy why do this might regret ehheheheheh f you did it already?
They are all true, each applie’s to a certain group of people, but there is something I beleive was left out. And that is the fact that many people will used 2 or more at a time, infact the last 2 are the only on the list I could see being possible by themselves. There are many groups of people, and within those groups are are more groups. Infact almost everybody can be catergoized as a few different types of people, depending on the situation and setting they are in at any given time. But only the purely ‘flawed’(sorry guys/gals) are even capable, of #6 or #7 on terms reletive to the points above. Completely insecure people, people with no faith in them selve’s to get things done, or people that have been hurt, and aren’t experienced enough or mentally capable to realise/make that/the problem goes/go away. Yes… I did just make 2 sentences into 1. Get used to it, you’ll see it alot. It’s the new thing I started about 30 seconds ago. But it’s mine! And whoever wrote this, there is even flaws in your work… Just because you can see the triggers of what makes people act, and how so, doe’s not mean your capable of seeing your own flaws. I bet I could GUESS afew of them. Possibly not, anyways I’m out. Hope you liked what I had to say!
What ever happened to good ol fashioned denial.
The reaction formation one is utter bollocks, but the rest are fairly accurate. While it’s true that emotionally confused biatches “love” their abusive *****nigga boyfriends that they, in fact, hate, it is another thing entirely to say that employers give their staff raises because they are annoying. That, my friends, is a false logical syllogism.
Horrible list. Wrong information (the body doesn’t have these “defense mechanisms;” the mind, however, does), and one of them isn’t even a defense mechanism (“identification”).
These aren’t the “top 7″ either; it’s just a random list of 6 of them pulled from the larger list, with pretty graphics to go along with each. Wish we could rate it — I’d give it a 1. Next time, do some actual research before writing tripe like this!
so what you're saying is that defence mechanisms directly taken from Freud's psycho*****ytic approach are simply wrong without giving reason? sounds like you're going to be doing a lot of rationalisation in the future. next time, do some actual research before writing tripe like this!
i am very much intrigued by this theory…not just because it is part of my course but also because i need it to understand people around me…especially my clients…
Any use of Defense Mechanism can both be useful(for the injured self esteem) and harmful(for the inner self)… Yet it merely tackles the truth of what the person truly feels or think, most commonly a negative one… its like wearing a mask and letting others believe what u personally don’t or doing things that surely you’ll eventually regret…
in short “a total lie not to others but to your own self”…
You forgot the scariest of all,derealization. For me it was like an alice in wonderland effect. Terrifying really.
the displacement picture made me laugh to hard
though oddest of them all, repressed memory appears most in movies…
if this is a top 10 site and it only comes up with 7… its not a top # list but a list of 7 items; but anyway good list
nakakalito
1. it is IRRATIONALIZATION not Rationalization
2. I can identify with reaction formation. I do it all the time.
I have lately recovered from anxiety and derealization, and really want to spread the word on how I got well again. Derealization is a symptom of anxiety and can be very frightening to some . The combination of supplements and the right mindset was the key to my recovery, so be sure to visit my blog on derealization to learn more!
Looking forward to help you get better again.
People basically have to fool themselves to cope mentally in modern society. Otherwise they would just collapse.
Alex mentioned “passive aggressive”…. which I’m not sure I really understand. Is it when the person just goes about looking like they’re going along with things, but then they have all these reasons for why such-and-such can’t get done right now. For example, there’s this arcane complexity that no-one really understands which is making it impossible for them to do what you need them to do right now…” Is that it? You know, the sort of thing that clerks do when they don’t want to do something?
Oh… and what about this other defense mechanism: a belief that some greater power will resolve the conflict (invariably to ones advantage)….?
@Retroman [55]: Passive aggression is implied hostility. Example: You go to a bureau with some urgent matter, something your entire future depends on, and the official that is in charge of these matters doesn’t like you and so refuses to help you on the basis of some minor technicality, all the while being outwardly polite. That is an expression of aggression without the usual signs of aggressive behavior, like violence and verbal abuse. Modern life provides many opportunities for passive-aggressive behavior because it allows people to be terribly cruel to one another without actually breaking any laws or even social etiquette.
for all those claiming reaction formation doesn’t make sense or isn’t real, just think of hey arnold! helga would always act as though she hated arnold and would call him names and whatnot, when in reality she was in love with him, but would act that way to protect herself from feeling vulnerable. it’s legit guys, c’mon.
A couple of comments here say that Reaction Formation is “utter bollocks” or words to that effect. But I have seen this happen. More than 20 years ago, I was working in a university department that employed some part-time teachers. Part of my job was to maintain the budget for the part-time teachers. At the end of term, I had to tell the head of department that one part-time teacher had claimed for all his lectures but in fact had not turned up to give two of them. Guess what the head of department did? Instead of docking the part-time teacher’s pay by two lectures, he wrote on the budget that he should be paid XXX which was MORE than the outside teacher was entitled to, even if he had fulfilled all his teaching commitments, ie more than was allocated to him in the budget as remuneration for his series of lectures. Completely mad.
compensation?
psychology 101…