Real Life Examples of Defense Mechanisms

📚 Quick Study Guide

• 🛡️ Defense mechanisms are unconscious psychological strategies used to protect a person from anxiety arising from unacceptable thoughts or feelings.
• 😠 Repression: Unconsciously blocking unacceptable thoughts and impulses from awareness. Example: Forgetting a traumatic childhood event.
• 😇 Denial: Refusing to accept reality or facts. Example: A person with a serious illness refusing to acknowledge it.
• 🤥 Projection: Attributing one's own unacceptable thoughts or feelings to another person. Example: Accusing your partner of being angry when you are the one who is angry.
• rationalization: Creating false but believable justifications to explain unacceptable behavior. example: a student blaming a poor grade on the teacher's teaching style, rather than their lack of studying.
• 🤯 Displacement: Redirecting emotions from a dangerous object to a safe one. Example: Yelling at your family after a bad day at work.
• 💪 Sublimation: Channeling unacceptable impulses into socially acceptable behaviors. Example: A person with aggressive tendencies becoming a boxer.
• 🔙 Regression: Reverting to immature behaviors. Example: An adult throwing a tantrum when they don't get their way.
• 🤝 Reaction Formation: Behaving in the opposite way to one's true feelings. Example: Being excessively nice to someone you dislike.

Practice Quiz

1. What defense mechanism is being used when someone blames their poor performance on external factors instead of admitting their own shortcomings?
   1. Rationalization
   2. Denial
   3. Projection
   4. Repression
2. A person who is angry with their boss comes home and yells at their spouse. This is an example of which defense mechanism?
   1. Repression
   2. Displacement
   3. Sublimation
   4. Reaction Formation
3. Which of the following best describes the defense mechanism of sublimation?
   1. Attributing one's own unacceptable thoughts to others.
   2. Channeling unacceptable impulses into socially acceptable behaviors.
   3. Refusing to accept reality.
   4. Reverting to childlike behaviors.
4. Forgetting a traumatic childhood event is an example of which defense mechanism?
   1. Denial
   2. Repression
   3. Projection
   4. Displacement
5. If someone is excessively kind to a person they secretly dislike, which defense mechanism are they likely using?
   1. Displacement
   2. Sublimation
   3. Reaction Formation
   4. Regression
6. A person who refuses to believe they have a serious medical condition is using which defense mechanism?
   1. Rationalization
   2. Repression
   3. Denial
   4. Sublimation
7. An adult throwing a temper tantrum is an example of:
   1. Regression
   2. Sublimation
   3. Displacement
   4. Reaction Formation