08.12.2016
Humans are great at deceiving each other, but perhaps even greater at deceiving themselves. It is self-deception that reveals the mechanisms of psychological defense according to Freud. Let's take a look at available examples.
Repression or forgetting
It's primary psychological mechanism. What is the easiest way to deal with anxiety? Forget her. Any number of examples. But we are using hyperbole. For example, a person does not like math. It is clear that there is no getting away from it at school, but after leaving school, that is, after finishing the last grade, he forgets everything, even the multiplication table.
We can easily imagine how a man or woman gets a nervous chill when they think about numbers. The same reaction can be to literature and Pushkin. But Freud warns and says that it takes great effort for the psyche to keep the repressed in the unconscious, and when control weakens, something breaks through to the surface in the form of slips of the tongue, slips of the tongue.
Projection
A defense mechanism in which a person refuses to recognize his shortcomings and bad traits and attributes them to those around him. Almost a textbook example: a student failed the exam. And everyone around him is to blame: other fellow students who were more fortunate, the professor, who was especially angry today and raged like a mad bull. The real reason is, as you understand, that the unlucky student simply did not prepare. But can this be recognized?
substitution
Substitution is the redirection of an impulse, usually aggressive, from a strong object to a weak one. Don't be afraid of wording. Many have experienced replacement. The child is punished by the parents, and he kicks his own or someone else's cat. Another example, the boss yelled at the man, and he, in turn, set all the dogs on his wife, because she somehow served dinner wrong. It's not about lunch, but about the fact that the subordinate cannot answer the boss, but really wants to. The psyche needs to vent steam.
Rationalization
A lot of people know her too. Remember the fable "The Fox and the Grapes". Rationalization is a way to find reasonable arguments for irrational or immoral behavior in order to calm oneself. For example, a boy beats someone who is weaker or smaller, and at the same time says that he asked for it himself. Or, for example, a woman cheats on her husband and tells everyone who is dedicated to it that, of course, the husband is to blame for everything. He is too cold, works hard and does not give her time at all. Girlfriends, as a rule, agree with such an argument, which does not make it more convincing.
Regression
This is the name of the defense mechanism when an adult behaves like a child in order to get rid of anxiety and longing. Any number of examples. When spouses do not talk to each other for two months, they behave like a child. When a man of fifty years old, to relieve tension at the festive table, begins to tell vulgar jokes, he regresses to a teenager.
Sublimation
Probably everyone knows this defense mechanism. Its meaning is to redirect "evil" impulses to creative or social activity. For example, hidden sadists become proctologists or surgeons. A person who feels serious aggressive impulses in himself writes action films or horror films and thereby satisfies his passion. Freud believed that sublimation is the basis of any creativity.
Negation
No further explanation is needed here. The person does not recognize the facts. For example, when her mother dies, the girl does not believe in her death and continues to talk to her, to wish her good night. If the father dies, then death is replaced by a business trip. In general, culture itself in every possible way denies the finiteness of human existence, and for many peoples this is fixed in the language. Think about how often you hear that someone has died? More often the word "died" is replaced by euphemisms.
You should not be afraid of protective mechanisms - this is how the psyche works. But you need to know them in order to catch yourself in a lie in time. And it does not matter when a person lies to others, the main thing is that he be honest with himself.
The human psyche is equipped with mechanisms that help us instinctively protect our own self. Using them helps to make our experience less traumatic, but at the same time reduces our chances of successfully interacting with reality. According to the author of the book "Psychology of the Self and Defense Mechanisms", the daughter of Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud, each of us uses about five such strategies daily. T&P explains why sublimation is not always associated with creativity, how projection causes us to criticize innocent people, and why auto-aggression is associated with family problems.
Denial: without acknowledging the problem
Denial is one of the simplest defense mechanisms of the psyche. This is a complete rejection of unpleasant information, which allows you to effectively fence yourself off from it. The classic example here is when you drink several glasses of wine or beer every day for a long time, but at the same time you remain confident that you can give up your habit at any time. Denial is characterized by an acute reaction to the problem statement: if someone then hints to you that you have become addicted to alcohol, this person is likely to suffer from your tantrum.
Denial is often the first reaction to the pain of loss and is the first "stage of grief" according to some experts (although in this case it is also called the "stage of distrust"). A person who unexpectedly loses his job will say: “It can’t be!” A witness to a car accident trying to help the victims may not immediately come to terms with the fact that one of them has stopped breathing. In this case, this mechanism does not protect anyone except the person who unconsciously uses it - however, in situations where a cold mind is needed, denial of danger or one's own shock can be very useful for all participants in the events.
Projection: take out
Projection allows us to project our destructive or unacceptable thoughts, desires, traits, opinions, and motives onto other people. The goal is to protect yourself from yourself or delay the solution of the problem. For example, a person may think that a partner is critical of his earnings - while in fact there is nothing like that from the partner's side. If such a person overcomes his projection and becomes aware of the situation, he will see that the criticism comes from himself, and it is based, say, on the negative opinion of his parents, who insisted on his failure.
A negative consequence of the projection may be the desire to "fix" the object that allegedly serves as a carrier of unpleasant traits, or to get rid of it altogether. Moreover, such an external "carrier" sometimes has nothing to do with what is projected onto it. At the same time, the projection mechanism underlies empathy - our ability to share their feelings with others, to delve deeply into what is happening not to us, and to reach mutual understanding with others.
Autoaggression: blame yourself
Auto-aggression, or turning against oneself, is a very destructive defense mechanism. It is often characteristic of children experiencing difficult moments in relations with their parents. It can be difficult for a person to admit that his parent is being dismissive or aggressive towards him, and instead he assumes that he himself is bad. Self-blame, self-humiliation, self-harm, self-destruction through drugs or alcohol, overindulgence in the dangerous aspects of extreme sports are all results of this mechanism.
Auto-aggression occurs most often when our survival or well-being depends on the external object that caused its appearance. But, despite the many negative consequences of this process, from an emotional point of view, it can be better tolerated than aggression directed at the original target: a parent, guardian, or other important figure.
Sublimation: the basis of pop culture
Sublimation is one of the most widely used defense mechanisms of the psyche. In this case, the energy of unwanted, traumatic or negative experiences is redirected to achieve socially approved constructive goals. It is often used by people of creative professions, including famous ones. Songs about unrequited love or books about dark periods of life often become the fruits of sublimation. This is what makes them understandable - and ultimately popular.
Nevertheless, sublimation can be not only literary or "pictorial". Sadistic desires can be sublimated in the course of surgical practice, and unwanted (for example, from the point of view of religion) sexual desire can be sublimated into the creation of brilliant works of architecture (as was the case with Antonio Gaudi, who led an extremely ascetic lifestyle). Sublimation can also be part of the psychotherapeutic process, when the client splashes out his internal conflicts through creativity: he creates texts, paintings, scripts and other works that allow him to bring the personality into balance.
Regression: return to childhood
The regression mechanism allows you to adapt to a traumatic situation of conflict, anxiety or pressure by returning to behavioral practices familiar from childhood: screaming, crying, whims, emotional requests, etc. This happens because, as a rule, we learn early that they guarantee support. and security. Demonstration of defenselessness, sickness, inferiority very often brings psychological "dividends" - after all, people, like other living beings, tend to protect the weak and small at the neurophysiological level - that is, offspring, and not only their own.
Regression allows you to throw off the burden of responsibility for what is happening: after all, in childhood, parents are responsible for a lot of things instead of us. This defense mechanism can be called very effective and quite problem-free. Difficulties arise when he works too long. The abuse of regression leads to the appearance of psychosomatic diseases, hypochondria, the lack of a successful life strategy, and the destruction of relationships with other people.
Rationalization: explanations for everything
Rationalization is the ability to carefully select appropriate reasonable causes for a negative situation. The goal here is self-belief that we are not to blame, that we are good enough or significant enough and that we are not the problem. A person who was rejected for an interview may convince himself and others that he did not need such a job or that the company was too “boring” - when in reality he experienced the strongest regret. “I didn’t really want to,” is a classic phrase for rationalization.
Passive behavior can be rationalized by caution, aggressive behavior by self-defense, and indifferent behavior by the desire to give others more independence. The main result of the operation of this mechanism is an imaginary restoration of a balance between the desired and real state of affairs and the degree of self-esteem. However, rationalization often does not completely remove the negative effects of the traumatic situation, so that it continues to hurt for a long time.
Intellectualization: theoretical feelings
Intellectualization allows us to neutralize anger, grief or pain by redirecting our attention to a completely foreign area. A man who has recently been abandoned by his wife can devote all his free time to studying the history of Ancient Rome - and this will allow him "not to think so much" about the loss. This psychological defense mechanism is based on the desire to abstract from feelings and intellectualize them, turning them into theoretical concepts.
The behavior of the intellectualizing person is often perceived as adult and mature, and this makes this form of defense socially attractive. It has another plus: intellectualization allows you to reduce dependence on your own emotions and “clear” behavior from them. Nevertheless, prolonged use of this mechanism is fraught with the destruction of emotional ties with the outside world, a decrease in the ability to understand and discuss feelings with other people.
Jet formation: fight instead of hugs
Jet formation is a kind of behavioral magic. This defense strategy allows you to turn the negative into the positive - and vice versa. We often encounter its effects, harmless and not so. The boys pull the braids of the girls they like; older people speak with disapproval of the promiscuity of youths and seek to humiliate them, when in reality revealing clothes and provocative style attract them. Reactive formation often betrays its inadequacy of the situation and periodic "breakthroughs" of true feelings through the mask.
Homophobia, anti-Semitism and other forms of rejection of social and national groups are also sometimes the result of reactive education. In this case, with the help of a defense mechanism, one's own attraction or one's own connection with a national group, which for some reason is considered unacceptable, is neutralized. This application of a defense mechanism harms other people, but it does not eliminate the internal conflict in the person who uses it, and does not increase his level of awareness.
Substitution: Transference of Anger
Substitution allows you to transfer unwanted feelings (especially anger and irritation) from one object to another for the purpose of self-defense. The person who was yelled at by the boss may not answer him, but yell at his child at home in the evening. He needs to vent the anger that has arisen, but doing this in communication with the boss is dangerous, but the child is unlikely to give a worthy rebuff.
A random object can also become an object of replacement. In this case, the result of this protection mechanism is, for example, rudeness in transport or rudeness at the workplace. An unfinished drawing torn in anger is also a form of substitution, however, much more harmless.
Fantasy: Brave New World
Fantasies allow you to temporarily improve the emotional state due to the work of the imagination. Dreaming, reading, playing computer games and even watching porn give us the opportunity to move from a difficult situation to where we will be more comfortable. From the point of view of psychoanalysis, the emergence of fantasies is due to the desire for the fulfillment, satisfaction and fulfillment of desires that cannot yet be satisfied in the real world.
Fantasies amortize suffering and help to calm the personality. Nevertheless, the psyche is not always able to fully recognize where reality ends and the imaginary world begins. In the era of information technology development, a person can enter into a relationship with a media image, dreaming of a favorite actress or interacting with a character they like. computer game. The destruction of such relationships due to unsuccessful contact with the real content of the image or unpleasant situations will be experienced as a real loss and will bring emotional pain. Fantasies can also distract a person from the real world. At the same time, they often become fertile ground for creativity and form the basis of successful works, bringing positive results in reality.
Protective mechanisms - internal fuse Freud identified several defense mechanisms, the main of which are repression or (compensation for the absence or weakness of any physical or mental qualities), regression (return to past stages of development), rationalization (justification of subconscious urges), identification of oneself with another person who has that a quality that the subject lacks, projection (attributing one's desires, fears, fears to others) and sublimation (switching energy). Repression is the most ineffective mechanism, since in this case the energy flowing through instinctive channels is not realized in activity, but remains in a person, causing an increase in tension. Desire is forced into the unconscious, a person completely forgets about it, but the remaining tension, penetrating through the unconscious, makes itself felt in the form of symbols that fill our dreams, in the form of errors, slips of the tongue, reservations. At the same time, the symbol, according to Freud, is not a direct reflection of the repressed desire, but its transformation. Therefore, he attached such importance to the "psychopathology of everyday life", that is, the interpretation of such phenomena as mistakes and dreams of a person, his associations. Freud's attitude to symbolism was one of the reasons for his disagreement with Jung, who believed that there is a direct and intimate connection between the symbol and human aspiration and objected to the interpretations invented by Freud. Regression and rationalization are more successful types of protection, since they allow at least a partial discharge of the energy contained in human desires. At the same time, regression is a more primitive way of realizing aspirations and getting out of a conflict situation. A person may start biting nails, ruining things, chewing gum or tobacco, believing in good or evil spirits, seeking risky situations, etc., and many of these regressions are so generally accepted that they are not even perceived as such. Rationalization is associated with the desire of the "Super-I" to somehow control the situation, giving it a respectable appearance. Therefore, a person, not realizing the real motives of his behavior, covers them up and explains them with invented, but morally acceptable motives. During projection, a person attributes to others those desires and feelings that he himself experiences. In the event that the subject to whom a feeling was attributed confirms the projection made by his behavior, this defense mechanism operates quite successfully, since a person can recognize these feelings as real, valid, but external to him and not be afraid of them. . However, the most effective mechanism is what Freud called sublimation. This mechanism helps to direct the energy that is associated with sexual or aggressive desires in a different direction, to realize it. particularly in the arts. The mechanism of sublimation is treated as the main source of creativity. In principle, Freud considered culture to be the product of sublimation, and from this point of view he considered works of art, scientific discoveries. This activity is the most successful because in it there is a complete realization of the accumulated energy, catharsis or purification of a person from it.
crowding out,
a protective mechanism of the psyche, which consists in expelling from consciousness unacceptable for the conscious "I" (Ego) experiences - drives and impulses, as well as their derivatives - emotions, memories, etc. The concept of V. is one of the main ones in psychoanalysis and beyond it has no special psychological significance.
What is repressed from consciousness is forgotten by the subject, but retains in the unconscious the inherent energy of attraction (the cathexis of psychic energy). In an effort to return to consciousness, the repressed can be associated with other repressed material, forming psychological complexes. On the part of the Ego, constant expenditures of energy are required to maintain V. Violation of the dynamic balance with a weakening of the protective mechanisms - anticathexes can lead to the return of the repressed: such cases are observed in diseases, intoxications (for example, alcohol), and also in sleep conditions. Direct V. associated with mental shock can lead to severe traumatic neuroses; incomplete or unsuccessful V. - to the formation of neurotic symptoms. On the contrary, complete dissolution, the disappearance of the repressed takes place only in rare cases of complete sublimation.
There is no consensus among psychoanalysts about V.'s place among other defense mechanisms. The original idea of V. as the main and universal mental mechanism is now giving way to the view that V. comes into action only after other mechanisms (projections, isolation, reactive formation, and many others) fail. Most modern psychoanalysts tend to consider the fear with which the Ego reacts in a situation of danger to be the cause of V..
The concept of V. was applied in the field of ethnology by B. Malinovsky (Great Britain).
Projection- according to Freud - the mechanism of psychological defense of the individual, which consists in the unconscious endowment of another individual with their own traits and properties. Projection- the perception of one's own mental processes as properties of an external object as a result of the unconscious transfer of one's internal impulses and feelings to it.
Rationalization- according to Freud - a defense mechanism, which consists in finding a reasonable basis for behavior, justifications for impulsive actions. Through rationalization the true motives of his actions, thoughts, feelings are hidden from the consciousness of the subject. Psychological defense mechanisms
Regression- according to Freud - a defense mechanism, which is a form of psychological adaptation in a situation of conflict or anxiety, when a person resorts to earlier, less mature and less adequate patterns of behavior that seem to him to guarantee protection and security.
lat.Regressus - reverse movement
Sublimation- in psychoanalytic theory - the direction of sexual energy (libido) to non-sexual spheres of human activity. Sublimation is a protective mechanism that promotes the release of social energy and prevents a person from serious neuroses associated with the impossibility of sexual activity.
Protective behavior allows a person to protect himself from those problems that he cannot solve yet, allows you to relieve anxiety from threatening events (loss of a loved one, favorite toy, loss of love from other people, loss of love for yourself, etc.), allows " get away from a threatening reality", sometimes transform this threat. For a while, a defense mechanism is necessary, because a person in this moment cannot solve the problem, but if time passes and the person does not solve the problem, then this defense mechanism can be an obstacle to personal growth, the person’s behavior becomes difficult to predict, he can harm himself, he moves away from reality and from those problems that he needs decide, i.e. the defense mechanisms themselves often give rise to more and more new problems, and a person hides his real problem, replacing it with new "pseudo-problems". Freud singled out seven defense mechanisms:
1. suppression of desires- removal of desires from consciousness, since it "cannot" be satisfied; suppression is not final, it is often the source of bodily diseases of a psychogenic nature (headaches, arthritis, ulcers, asthma, heart disease, hypertension, etc.). The psychic energy of repressed desires is present in the body of a person, regardless of his consciousness, finds its painful bodily expression. The result of suppression is a demonstrative indifference to this area, reality;
2. negation- retreat into fantasy, denial of any event as "untruth". "This cannot be" - a person shows a vivid indifference to logic, does not notice contradictions in his judgments;
3. rationalization- construction of acceptable moral, logical justifications, arguments for explaining and justifying unacceptable forms of behavior, thoughts, actions, desires;
4. inversion- substitution of actions, thoughts, feelings that meet a true desire with diametrically opposite behavior, thoughts, feelings (for example, a child initially wants to receive his mother's love for himself, but, not receiving this love, begins to experience the exact opposite desire to annoy, anger his mother, cause a quarrel and mother's self-hatred);
5. projection- attributing to another person one's own qualities, thoughts, feelings, i.e. "detachment of the threat from oneself." When something is condemned in others, it is precisely this that a person does not accept in himself, but he cannot recognize it, does not want to understand that these same qualities are inherent in him. For example, a person claims that "some Jews are deceivers", although in fact this may mean: "I sometimes deceive";
6. insulation- separation of the threatening part of the situation from the rest of the mental sphere, which can lead to separation, split personality, to an incomplete "I";
7. regression- a return to an earlier, primitive way of responding; stable regressions are manifested in the fact that a person justifies his actions from the position of a child’s thinking, does not recognize logic, defends his point of view, despite the correctness of the interlocutor’s arguments, the person does not develop mentally, and sometimes childhood habits return (nail biting, etc.) .
Behaviorism
Behaviorism defined the face of American psychology in the 20th century. Its founder John Watson (1878-1958) formulated the creed of behaviorism: "The subject of psychology is behavior." Hence the name - from the English behavior - "behavior" (behaviorism can be translated as behavioral psychology). The analysis of behavior should be strictly objective and limited to externally observable reactions (everything that cannot be objectively recorded is not subject to study, i.e. thoughts, human consciousness are not subject to study, they cannot be measured, registered). Everything that happens inside a person cannot be studied; the person acts as a "black box". It is possible to objectively study, register only reactions, external actions of a person and those stimuli, situations that these reactions cause. And the task of psychology is to determine the probable stimulus from the reaction, and to predict a certain reaction from the stimulus.
And the personality of a person, from the point of view of behaviorism, is nothing more than a set of behavioral reactions inherent in this person. This or that behavioral reaction arises on a certain stimulus, situation. The formula "stimulus - reaction" (S - R) was the leading one in behaviorism. Thorndike's Law of the Effect elaborates: the relationship between S and R is strengthened if there is a reinforcement. Reinforcement can be positive (praise, getting the desired result, material reward, etc.) or negative (pain, punishment, failure, criticism, etc.). Human behavior most often results from the expectation of positive reinforcement, but sometimes the desire to avoid negative reinforcement first of all prevails, i.e. punishment, pain, etc.
Thus, from the standpoint of behaviorism, a personality is everything that an individual possesses, and his possibilities in relation to the reaction (skills, consciously regulated instincts, socialized emotions + the ability of plasticity to form new skills + the ability to retain, save skills) to adapt to the environment, those. Personality is an organized and relatively stable system of skills. Skills form the basis of relatively stable behavior, skills are adapted to life situations, a change in the situation leads to the formation of new skills.
In the concept of behaviorism, a person is understood primarily as a reacting, acting, learning being, programmed for certain reactions, actions, behavior. By changing incentives and reinforcements, a person can be programmed for the desired behavior.
In the depths of behaviorism itself, the psychologist Tolman (1948) questioned the S-R scheme as too simplistic and introduced between these terms an important variable I - the mental processes of a given individual, depending on his heredity, physiological state, past experience and the nature of the S-I-R stimulus. In the 70s, behaviorism presented its concepts in a new light - in the theory of social learning. According to Bandura (1965), one of the main reasons that made us the way we are is related to our tendency to imitate the behavior of other people, given how favorable the results of such imitation can be for us. Thus, a person is influenced not only by external conditions: he also must constantly anticipate the consequences of his behavior through self-assessment.
Defense mechanisms (MP) of the psyche according to Freud
What for?
SP are used by the psyche in the face
internal
and external
threats.
In each case, psychological energy is expended to create a defense, as a result of which the flexibility and strength of the ego is limited.
Moreover, the more effective the defense mechanisms are, the more distorted the picture of our
needs,
fears
and aspirations
they create.
Freud noticed that we all use defense mechanisms to some extent, and this becomes undesirable only if we rely on them excessively.
The seeds of serious psychological problems fall on fertile ground only when our defenses, with the exception of sublimation, lead to a distortion of reality.
substitution
What?
this is the direction of the energy of attraction to a safer object
Example:
human,
who was yelled at by the boss,
At home, he lashes out with abuse at his wife and children, although they were not guilty of anything.
Or a man
very much in love beautiful woman,
but preferring sexual contacts with another, less beautiful, for fear that the first will refuse him.
Jet formation
What?
a complex defense mechanism that includes two stages:
1.
unacceptable experience is suppressed,
2.
and on the second, in its place, the exact opposite feeling is formed
Example:
woman,
not realizing their sexuality,
may well turn into a man-hater
Brother,
hating his sister
but unable to admit it to himself,
maybe
blaze with special love for your sister
and surround her with every care.
True, it will soon be seen that his concern
creates significant sister
difficulties
and problems
and clearly irritates her.
Compensation
What?
unconscious attempt to overcome
real
and imagined
shortcomings
How?
manifests itself in the form of additional efforts applied to activities,
as if "compensating" the shortcomings of a person
Example:
sports for a disabled person will be compensation
Hyper compensation
If the efforts expended on compensation turn out to be inadequately large
crowding out
What?
this is
suppression
subconscious
drives
and experiences
endangering
self-awareness
and pushing them into the sphere unconsciously.
How?
In this case, a person is forced to spend a significant amount of psychic energy,
but suppressed desires still periodically “break through” into reality through
reservations,
dreams, etc.
Example:
a respectable father of the family may not allow the thought that he wants to cheat on his wife
At the same time, every night he dreams of crazy orgies in which he takes part
Negation
How?
the person refuses to admit that an unpleasant event has occurred
Example:
The father who
refuses to believe that his daughter was raped and brutally murdered;
he acts as if nothing like this ever happened
Child,
denying the death of a beloved cat
and stubbornly continuing to believe that she is still alive
People say or insist:
“This just can’t happen to me,” despite clear evidence to the contrary.
this happens when a doctor tells a patient that he has a fatal disease
According to Freud, negation is most typical of
little children
and older individuals with reduced intelligence
(although mature and normally developed people can also sometimes use denial in highly traumatic situations).
Projection
What?
is attributing to others one's own unacceptable experiences
Example:
Let's say a hypocrite is a person,
hiding one's sexual desires
and looking for the slightest "dirty" intentions in the actions of others
Or persecution mania
when a person
attributes his aggressive impulses to others,
sincerely believing that they want to kill him.
Sublimation
What?
defense mechanism that enables a person
for adaptation
change your impulses so that they can be expressed through socially acceptable
thoughts
or action
regarded as the only
healthy
constructive
strategy for curbing unwanted impulses,
because
she lets her ego change
impulses without restraining their manifestation
purpose or/and
an object
The energy of instincts is diverted through other channels of expression
those that society considers acceptable.
Example:
if, over time, masturbation causes more and more anxiety in a young man,
he can sublimate his impulses into socially approved activities, such as
football,
hockey
or other sports.
Similarly, a woman
with strong unconscious sadistic tendencies
can be
surgeon
or an excellent novelist.
In these activities, she can demonstrate
their superiority over others,
but in a manner that will produce a socially useful result
Rationalization
What?
what in everyday life is called self-justification
How?
A person seeks to give a rational explanation for actions,
done under the influence of instinctive drives.
Example:
the boss yelled at his employees, only because he "got up on the wrong foot."
However, he explains this by the fact that the workers themselves are to blame - they performed their duties poorly.
Regression
What?
this is a return to childish, early forms of behavior
Who?
This type of defense mechanism is usually used
immature,
infantile personalities.
Examples:
are such reactions
on the
traumatic experiences
or the situations
how
cry,
"pout"
and not talk to anyone, etc.
