Question

Instructions: Each of the following scenarios illustrates one of Freud’s defense mechanisms from the list below. Read each case, identify the defense mechanism, and explain how it is illustrated by the example.

Displacement
Regression

projection
Repression

Rationalization
Sublimation

Reaction Formation
Denial

1. After losing the soccer game by failing to stop a goal, Hester explains to her older brother, “Winning is really quite meaningless and unimportant. It has little to do with true happiness.” What defense is Hester using?

2. Angela really likes her older sister’s boyfriend and wants him to ask her out despite the fact that he only has eyes for her older sister. On a conscious level, she knows her feelings are unacceptable, so she turns it around. Angela tells her best friend, “I think Roberto dates my sister to be nearer to me.” What defense is Angela using?

3. Jack is in love with his teacher but feels guilty about it. In class, he acts like a horrible, disrespectful brat. What defense is Jack using?

4. Secretly, Amanda likes reading sexually explicit materials but she struggles because she feels it is morally wrong. She takes a job at the local library screening books for obscenity in order to protect the public. What defense is Amanda using?

5. Serika notices that her 7-year-old son likes to pull wings off flies, jab pins in the cat, and trap mice so he can cut off their tails. Serika tells herself that her son has a great future in medicine. What defense is Serika using?

6. Eric received a “fair” grade on a paper he worked very hard to complete and was quite proud of. After school, he picks a fight with his sister, calls her a jerk, and tells her she’s “stupid.” What defense is Eric using?

7. Emmanuel’s mother has been very busy taking on extra projects a t work. She frequently works late or brings the projects home to complete at night. Despite the fact that he is 8-years-old, Emmanuel has bee sucking his thumb and wetting the bed. What defense is Emmanuel using?

8. Georgia was extremely close to her grandfather. He died unexpectedly last year and though Georgia attended all the funeral services, she does not remember any of events that took place for those three days. What defense is Georgia using?

Answer 1

In the given cases, each situation has been marked by the use of a defense mechanism as highlighted by Freud. The following are the defense mechanisms used in the provided cases above:

1. The defense mechanism used in the given case is rationalization wherein an individual attempts to find explanations or logic to support an unacceptable behavior, action, thought or feeling with the intent of making it seem acceptable or even admirable.

2. She uses projection in the case since she knows the feelings are wrong and the fact is that he likes her sister, but she still projects her own feelings onto the guy in order to maintain her own psychic equilibrium.

3. Sublimation is being used in the given case wherein the individual involved is attempting to vent feelings and feel more at ease on a psychological level.

4. Amanda uses reaction formation wherein she decides to compensate for the guilt she experiences through working in an opposite direction so as to maintain her psychological equilibrium.

5. She is in fact using denial as a defense mechanism wherein she ignores all the harm that her son is doing and instead creates a convenient mental picture of him as a successful doctor.

6. He is using displacement wherein he is venting against the discomfort causing situation through a more safer outlet.

7. Emmanuel uses regression wherein he regresses into a an earlier phase of life in order to disconnect with the present in order to maintain a psychic balance.

8. Georgia uses denial in order to cope with her situation wherein she completely disconnects herself from the reality to save herself from the pain and suffering.