1. Freud’s Defense
Mechanisms
By: Lorrie Burgess

2. Repression
 Explanation:
Unacceptable or
unpleasant impulses are
pushed back into the
unconscious.
 Example:
A person greets another
with pleased to beat you.

3. Regression
 Explanation:
People behave as if they
were at an earlier stage of
development.
 Example:
An individual fixated at
an earlier developmental
stage might cry or sulk upon
hearing unpleasant news.

4. Displacement
 Explanation:
When the expression of an
unwanted feeling or thought is
redirected from a more
threatening powerful person to a
weaker one.
 Example:
A man kicks his dog because
he is mad at his boss.

5. Rationalization
 Explanation:
People provide self-
justifying explanations in
place of the actual, but
threatening, reason for
their behavior.
 Example:
. A greedy man steals, but he
decides that the reason he is
stealing is because society is unjust-
-the rich did not deserve their
wealth, and stealing is correcting
an injustice

6. Denial
 Explanation:
People refuse to accept or
acknowledge an anxiety-
producing piece of
information.
 Example:
A man hears that his wife
has been killed, and yet refuses
to believe it, still setting the
table for her and keeping her
clothes and other
accoutrements in the
bedroom.

7. Projection
 Explanation:
People attribute
unwanted impulses and
feelings to someone else.
 Example:
If you have a
strong dislike for
someone, you
might instead
believe that he
or she does not
like you.

8. Sublimation
 Explanation:
People divert unwanted
impulses into socially
approved
thoughts, feelings, or
behaviors.
 Example:
A person who has an
obsessive need for control
and order becomes a
successful business
entrepreneur.

9. Reaction Formation
 Explanation:
Unconscious impulses are
expressed as their opposite in
consciousness.
 Example:
Treating someone you
strongly dislike in an
excessively friendly manner in
order to hide your true
feelings.

10. THE END(: