Name: _____________________

Date: ______________

Intro: While many of Freud's ideas concerning personality have been criticized and
largely dismissed, his concept of defense mechanisms, or "... technique[s] used to defend against anxiety and to maintain self-esteem..." (p. 433) is still helpful to many psychologists. The use of defense mechanisms can indicate problem areas for a person as a defense mechanism gives some relief from anxiety producing thoughts and actions at the expense of distorting the real world.

Your text identifies the following defense mechanisms:

repression, the removal of threatening thoughts from awareness; projection, the attribution of unacceptable impulses to others; denial, the refusal to recognize a threatening situation or thought; rationalization, giving a reasonable explanation for an event; regression, the return to a less mature, anxiety reducing behavior; reaction formation, the expression of the opposite of disturbing ideas; displacement, substituting a less threatening object for impulses; sublimation, the channeling of impulses to socially acceptable outlets.

Mark doesn't deal with his three pack/day cigarette habit, claiming that "I'll probably die from an accident before cancer gets me."
Answer:

After some especially frustrating and unfair criticism from her professor, Jan starts an argument with her roommate during lunch.
Answer:

Dave has no memory of his seventh grade class play which was marred by his forgetting his lines and leaving the stage in tears.
Answer:

Jack explains his bad grade on the final by noting that he had a long phone call from his parents the night before the exam.
Answer:

Sue, who was quite the "party animal" only a few months earlier, writes the university president arguing for the mandatory expulsion of alcohol-using students.
Answer:

Carol uses her anger over a disagreement with a friend to set a school record in the 100 meters.
Answer:

Bill, who ordinarily keeps his anger under wraps, sees every other driver's breach of automotive etiquette as a personal criticism.
Answer:

After an especially traumatic day, in which she failed three different exams, Lisa curls up in a blanket and rocks herself to sleep.
Answer: ____________________________________________________________________ _

After answering the questions above, write a short paragraph that includes which defensive mechanism you feel you may use on a consistent basis. Please include a specific, real life, example.
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