CC2413 Fundamental Psychology for Health Studies

Tutorial 13: Stress & Defense Mechanisms

Exercise:
i) An enormous variety of events can be stressful for one person or another. Although they are not
entirely independent, can you identify the type(s) of stress, such as frustration, conflict
(approach-approach, avoidance-avoidance, approach-avoidance), change, and pressure involved in the
cases provided?

1. Mary is late for appointment but is stuck in line at the bank.

2. Denise wants to apply to a famous law school, but she hates to risk the possibility of rejection.

3. Terry decides that she won’t be satisfied unless she gets straight A’s this year.

4. Joe has just graduated from business school and has taken an exciting new job.

5. John can’t decide to take an extremely low-pay job or to go on welfare.

6. Donald has just been fired from his job and needs to find another.

ii) Sigmund Freud proposed a list of defense mechanisms that individuals used to defend against the
emotional discomfort that’s elicited by stress or anxiety.
Denial: Refusing to face or admit that something unpleasant is happening, or that a negative emotion is being
experienced. Denial blocks or distorts perception; repression blocks or distorts memory.

Projection: Attributing one’s own unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or motives to someone else.

Repression: Blocking a threatening idea, memory, or emotion from consciousness.

Displacement: Diverting emotional feelings (usually anger) from their original source to a substitute target.

Regression: Returning to immature patterns/primitive levels of behavior in defense against anxiety or

frustration.

Fantasy: Daydreaming or imagining oneself engaging in some unusual behavior as a result of frustration or
anxiety.

Reaction Formation: Behaving in a way that is exactly opposite of one’s true feelings. Transforming
anxiety-producing thoughts or feelings into their opposites in consciousness.

Rationalization: Justifying one’s unacceptable behavior or failures by offering false but plausible excuses or
socially acceptable reasons in place of the real reason.

Sublimation: Channeling unacceptable motives or impulses (usually sexual) into some creative or acceptable,
perhaps even admired, social behaviors.
1 updated on 14/04/2009 by May Poon
Which defense mechanism is MOST appropriate to describe the given behavior in the following examples?
Some behaviors do not typify defense mechanisms and should be noted NA (not applicable)

1. After Maggie rejected him, Philip told his friends that he didn’t think she was very attractive or
interesting, and that he really wasn’t all that crazy about her.

2. Mary wears those cute and youthful clothes. She apparently can’t see that she doesn’t look 30, or
even 40 anymore.

3. Although well prepared for the exam, Jane was so nervous that she couldn’t remember the answers.

4. After an unsuccessful attempt at a sexual relationship, Tim began devoting most of his energies
toward writing.

5. Whenever Ann and Tim have an argument, Ann goes to her parents’ house and tearfully tell them how
mean Tim is to her. Her parents comfort her and assure her that they know the problem is not the
fault of “their little girl”.

6. Lucy dresses in provocative clothes and uses suggestive language although she fears that she is
unattractive, and she really isn’t very interested in sex.

7. Mark slams the door to the classroom after failing the exam.

8. Two years after breaking off his relationship with Julie, Rick fails to even recognize her at a party.

9. Tommy imagined himself making fun of his stupid boss when his boss was scolding him for failing to
meet his sales target.

10. Michael is probably the biggest gossip in the office, but he frequently accuses others of talking too
much and spreading rumors.

***Defense mechanisms are common and become a problem only when they are the typical mode of behavior.

Sources & References:

Coastline Community College et al. (Producers). (1989). Health, stress and coping [videorecording]. NY: Insight Media.

Cramer, P. (1987). The development of defense mechanisms. Journal of Personality, 55, 597-614.

Gardner, R. M. (1980). Exercises for general psychology. Minneapolis: Burgess.

Kantola Productions. (2001). Preventing and managing stress [videorecording] Mill Valley, CA: Stanford Video.

Students’ Stress Management Platform http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~stress/

Weiten, W. (2004). Psychology: Themes and variations (6th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.

Zimbardo, P. G., Weber, A. L., & Johnson, R. L. (2000). Psychology (3rd ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

香港電台電視部 (2001). 如何面對逆境帶來的壓力? [videorecording] 香港:香港電台電視部.

2 updated on 14/04/2009 by May Poon