Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

The Psychoanalytic Perspective on Personality425Table 10.1The Major Ego Defense MechanismsDefense Description ExampleRepression The complete exclusion from consciousness of anxiety- Three years after being hospitalized for back surgery, aproducing thoughts, feelings, or impulses; most basic man can remember only vague details about the event.defense mechanism.Displacement The redirection of emotional impulses toward a Angered by a neighbor’s hateful comment, a mothersubstitute person or object, usually one less threatening spanks her daughter for accidentally spilling her milk.or dangerous than the original source of conflict.Sublimation A form of displacement in which sexual urges are A graduate student works on her thesis 14 hours a dayrechanneled into productive, nonsexual activities. while her husband is on an extended business trip.Rationalization Justifying one’s actions or feelings with socially After being rejected by a prestigious university, a studentacceptable explanations rather than consciouslyexplains that he is glad because he would be happier at aacknowledging one’s true motives or desires.smaller, less competitive college.Projection The attribution of one’s own unacceptable urges or A married woman who is sexually attracted to aqualities to others.co-worker accuses him of flirting with her.Reaction formation Thinking or behaving in a way that is the extreme Threatened by his awakening sexual attraction to girls,opposite of unacceptable urges or impulses.an adolescent boy goes out of his way to tease and tormentadolescent girls.Denial The failure to recognize or acknowledge the existence Despite having multiple drinks every night, a man says heof anxiety-provoking information.is not an alcoholic because he never drinks before 5 P.M.Undoing A form of unconscious repentance that involves A woman who gets a tax refund by cheating on her taxesneutralizing or atoning for an unacceptable action makes a larger-than-usual donation to the churchor thought with a second action or thought.collection on the following Sunday.Regression Retreating to a behavior pattern characteristic of After her parents’ bitter divorce, a 10-year-old girl refusesan earlier stage of development.to sleep alone in her room, crawling into bed with her mother.but rather demands “a continuous expenditure of effort.” Such effort depletes psychologicalenergy that is needed to cope effectively with the demands of daily life.The use of defense mechanisms is very common. Many psychologically healthypeople temporarily use ego defense mechanisms to deal with stressful events. Whenego defense mechanisms are used in limited areas and on a short-term basis, psychologicalenergy is not seriously depleted. Ideally, we strive to maintain realisticperceptions of the world and our motives, and search for workable solutions toconflicts and problems. Using ego defense mechanisms is often a way of buyingtime while we consciously or unconsciously wrestle with more realistic solutions forwhatever is troubling us. But when defense mechanisms delay or interfere with ouruse of more constructive coping strategies, they can be counterproductive.Personality DevelopmentThe Psychosexual StagesKey Theme• The psychosexual stages are age-related developmental periods, and eachstage represents a different focus of the id’s sexual energies.Key Questions• What are the five psychosexual stages, and what are the core conflicts ofeach stage?• What is the consequence of fixation?• What role does the Oedipus complex play in personality development?According to Freud (1905), people progress through five psychosexual stages ofdevelopment. The foundations of adult personality are established during thefirst five years of life, as the child progresses through the oral, anal, and phallicego defense mechanismsLargely unconscious distortions of thoughtsor perceptions that act to reduce anxiety.repressionThe unconscious exclusion of anxietyprovokingthoughts, feelings, and memoriesfrom conscious awareness; the mostfundamental ego defense mechanism.displacementThe ego defense mechanism that involvesunconsciously shifting the target of an emotionalurge to a substitute target that is lessthreatening or dangerous.sublimationAn ego defense mechanism that involvesredirecting sexual urges toward productive,socially acceptable, nonsexual activities; aform of displacement.