Behavioral Defense Mechanisms

Defense mechanisms protect us from being consciously aware of a thought or feeling which we cannot tolerate. The defense only allows the unconscious thought or feeling to be expressed indirectly in a disguised form. Let's say you are angry with a professor because he is very critical of you. Here's how the various defenses might hide and/or transform that anger:

Denial

You completely reject the thought or feeling.

"I'm not angry with him!"

Suppression

You are vaguely aware of the thought or feeling, but try to hide it.

"I'm going to try to be nice to him."

Reaction Formation

You turn the feeling into its opposite.

"I think he's really great!"

Projection

You think someone else has your thought or feeling.

"That professor hates me." "That student hates the prof."

Displacement

You redirect your feelings to another target..

"I hate that secretary."

Rationalization

You come up with various explanations to justify the situation (while denying your feelings).

"He's so critical because he's trying to help us do our best."

Intellectualization

A type of rationalization, only more intellectualized.

"This situation reminds me of how Nietzsche said that anger is ontological despair."

Undoing

You try to reverse or undo your feeling by DOING something that indicates the opposite feeling. It may be an "apology" for the feeling you find unacceptable within yourself.

"I think I'll give that professor an apple."

Isolation of affect

You "think" the feeling but don't really feel it.

"I guess I'm angry with him, sort of."

Regression

You revert to an old, usually immature behavior to ventilate your feeling.

"Let's shoot spitballs at people!"

Sublimation

You redirect the feeling into a socially productive activity.

"I'm going to write a poem about anger."

** Defenses may hide any of a variety of thoughts or feelings: anger, fear, sadness, depression, greed, envy, competitiveness, love, passion, admiration, criticalness, dependency, selfishness, grandiosity, helplessness.