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Question: As you learned earlier in the course, the best way to remember something is to relate it to somet...

As you learned earlier in the course, the best way to remember something is to relate it to something that you already know.

Study the following 12 defense mechanisms and provide an example / illustration of each. Your examples can be real life, or they can come from a movie / show, or you can make them up:

Reaction formation

Regression

Repression

Sublimation

This resource may be helpful:

http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/ss/defensemech.htm

Explanation / Answer

Reaction Formation-When the insatiable desires of the id conflict with the ego and super ego, a person may formulate a reaction to those impulses. Often, this action is the direct opposite to the demans of the original desire, and helps to counteract impulses which may be unacceptable to act out or fulfill. For example, a man may experience feelings of love towards a married woman. The super ego recognises that the fulfillment of his desires would contradict social norms regarding acceptable behavior, and so a reaction formation would occur - the man may experience feelings of dislike towards her - the opposite of the original feelings. Repression is perhaps the most significant of defense mechanisms in that repressed feelings and impulses can lead to the use of many other mechanisms. According to Sigmund Freud’s psychodynamic theory, the impulsive desires of the psyche’s id are prevented by being fulfilled by the ego, which observes the Reality Principle - that our actions are restricted by our environment, including social etiquette. Moreover, the superego acts as our moral compass, inducing feelings of guilt at having experienced the irrational desires that the id creates. Tensions inevitably arise between the id, ego and super ego and the guilt induced by the latter can lead to feelings of anxiety and shame. In order to live with such feelings, Freud believed that our minds repress the thoughts at the source of our anxieties: instead of contemplating them consciously, they are ‘bottled up’ in the unconscious mind, emerging in symbolic dreams and unexplained patterns of behavior. Example;A child who is abused by a parent later has no recollection of the events, but has trouble forming relationships. Regression occurs when a person reverts to the types of behavior that they exhibited at an earlier age. Stress of adult life and the associated anxiety may lead to a person seeking comfort in things which they associate with more secure, happier times. They might regress by eating meals they were given as a child, watching old films or cartoons, acting without thought for the consequences of their actions. Examples;After the divorce of his parents, a 10-year-old begins wetting the bed. A college student adjusting to her new stressful life in the dorm may begin sleeping with a childhood stuffed animal. Sublimation is considered to be a more adaptive defence mechanism in that it can transform negative anxiety into a more positive energy. When the energy of the libido surfaces in the form of impulses in the psyche’s id, these desires are disabled by the ego, and the super ego may produce guilt at having experienced unacceptable feelings. Whilst these impulses may be repressed, the energy behind them remains. Instead of converting this energy into socially unacceptable behavior, a person may use sublimation to redirect this motivation into more acceptable, even productive, endeavours. Freud believed that artists’ creative energies were often a refocusing of carnal impulses or other anxieties, through sublimation, onto their work. Athletes may also use sublimation to concentrate their energy on productive activities such as training. For example, a person experiencing extreme anger might take up kick-boxing as a means of venting frustration.

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