Midterm Possible Essay Question

Describe six different defense mechanism and give a situation of each.




Repression occurs when a threatening idea, memory, or emotion is blocked from consciousness. A person's memory can be repressed when the memory itself threatens the individual. For example, A woman has a frightening childhood experience that she cannot remember.Projection occurs when a person’s own unacceptable or threatening feelings are repressed and then attributed to someone else. A person who is embarrassed about having sexual feelings toward members of a different ethnic group, for example, may project this discomfort onto them, saying negative things about them. Displacement occurs when people direct their emotions toward things, animals, or other people that are not the real object of their feelings. When displacement serves a higher cultural or socially useful purpose, as in the creation of art or inventions, it is called sublimation. A boy who is not allow to be angry at his father may take out his anger on his toys or younger sister. Reaction formation occurs when a feeling that produces unconscious anxiety is transformed into its opposite in consciousness. A person who is aroused by erotic images may angrily assert that pornography is disgusting. Regression occurs when a person reverts to a previous phase of psychological development. A child who is anxious about his parents divorce may regress to earlier habits of thumb sucking or clinging. Denial occurs when people refuse to admit that something unpleasant is happening, such as mistreatment by a partner that they have a problem, such as drinking too much or that they are feeling a forbidden emotion, such as anger. Denial protects a person’s self-image and preserves the illusion of invulnerability.