Sigmund Freud's Defense Mechanisms

Improved Essays
There are a countless number of psychologists and their personality theories who believe that they have unlocked the door to the mysterious world of behaviors. But which ones can we believe? Amidst the vast expanse of the world’s capacity for knowledge, will we ever truly be able to decode personalities? Do we really have the capability to assess our own personality? Although these questions may not have definitive answers, and it may be hard to choose a personality type that fits you best, I do believe that the Trait Theory does a better job than most at explaining my personality and my behaviors. Even though the Humanistic, Social-Cognitive, and Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic theories may help to decode our behaviors, it is easier to point …show more content…
Freud’s Defense Mechanisms are an interesting way to look at personality, including my own. According to the defense mechanism quiz, I scored highest in Projection— with an 80 out of 100, second highest in Repression and Denial— a 70 out of 100, and lowest in Reaction formation— 20 out of 100. I believe that my scoring in these defense mechanisms accurately depict my personality. Projection is the process of disguising one’s own unacceptable impulses, thoughts, or desires by attributing them to others (notes). It is often found that people who use Projection as a defense use it to justify their feelings and reduce their anxiety. I think that this fits my personality because I am not a very trusting person, and because of this I think that people are not trustworthy. Because I do not make the best choices all the time, I assume that other people do the same thing, which can make me extremely paranoid when I believe that people 's actions mimic my worst thoughts. For instance, if I do something that my parents do not agree with, I will often justify my actions by listing times where my sister made the same mistake as me and did not get into the same amount of trouble. Although many psychologists do not believe in …show more content…
However, I do believe that your behavior and personality are a combo of your social and mental processes. The way that people interpret events differently emphasizes the idea that it is how we interact with the environment which shapes our personality. Although I believe this to be true, I do not agree with the idea of optimism versus pessimism as being the only outlook on life. Personally, I think that you can be a combo of these traits and that they can change with the environment. For example, I see myself to be a realist, borderline pessimistic. I try to interpret events how they really are, as stated earlier, I don’t see the need in “sugarcoating” the truth about something. I also find it silly when people are overly optimistic, because if you look at the world today, we have tremendous amount of work to do with equality, poverty, war, and the environment. To have a positive outlook on everything, in my mind, is borderline delusional. Some may see me as a pessimist because I see the way things are in negative ways, but in today’s society, many things are negative. I also do not support the Locus of Control Theory. Although I believe that every person has the power to make and choose their own path in life, I do hold true to the idea that everything happens for a reason. And although this fits into the theory, I think that saying that you either have an

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Ap Psychology Worksheet

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages

    D.Traits -is an approach to the study of human personality. Trait theorists are primarily intrigued with the quantification of traits, which can be defined as habitual patterns of demeanor,…

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The literature review was conducted using major perspectives of personality. The major perspectives are Psychodynamic, Behavioral, Traits, Learning/Social, and Humanistic. Within each theory, the major theoretical approaches, research methods, and assessment instruments will be included to give a better understand of the personality aspect within each theory.…

    • 1412 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Indeed, one acts the way one acts because of one’s personality traits or the situation one’s experience. The fundamental attribution error concept is evidence of how people’s behaviors are influenced by how the person view itself or the presence of…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Beck and Freeman (1990) provided a comprehensive analysis of the core beliefs that are likely to be characteristic of different personality disorders. For example, a paranoid person’s core belief is “Everyone is against me”; a narcissistic person’s core belief is “I am special.” In each personality disorder there would be related views of the self and of others. Thus, the dependent person (whose core belief is “I am helpless”) would have a view of him or herself as incompetent, needy, and weak and of others as superior and potentially nurturing. Beck (1996) argued that cognitive, affective, and behavioral schema seem to be organized into larger, integrated networks, it would be useful to introduce a new construct, that of the mode. Wherein,…

    • 143 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The GJP Responsiveness

    • 691 Words
    • 3 Pages

    According to Heider, we are all hobby psychologists and we tend to assign the actions of others to character or personality (internal), but when we examine our own behavior, we usually link it to some (external) environmental or situational factor. If someone cuts us off on the roadway, we tend to think that person is rude or stupid, but when we cut someone off, it´s because the sun was in our eyes or the other driver was in our blind spot. In essence, we usually think people who think and act differently have flawed characters, whereas we are simply responding to factors outside our…

    • 691 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Psychodynamic theories are personality theories that emphasize the interplay of mental forces. Personality differences lie in variation in people's unconscious motives, how the motives are manifested, and in the ways people defend themselves from anxiety. In this theory, people are often unconscious of their motives. Additionally, defense mechanisms work within the mind to keep unacceptable or anxiety-provoking thoughts out of consciousness.…

    • 219 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Id

    • 1814 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Freud discovered that we react differently, yet commonly using similar techniques that are now known as the Defense Mechanisms. Hall describes the defense mechanism as, “The ego [trying] to master danger by adopting realistic problem-solving methods, or [attempting] to alleviate anxiety by using methods that deny, falsify, or distort reality and that impede the development of personality” (85). These defense mechanisms work differently, but similarly as they attempt to help us cope with crises and distress. There are five defense mechanisms: repression, projection, reaction formation, fixation, and regression. Repression is the act of forcing some uncomfortable thought, image, or feeling out of the conscious. However, the effect of this lead to increasingly more dangerous unconscious mind, which become the “demons” that haunt and torture the person from the inside, even if the person may seem good on the surface. Hall states repression is seen in, “the taboo against incest is said to be based upon a strong desire for sexual relations with one’s father or mother” (85). Projection is the act of one perceiving a thought, image, or feeling in one’s own mind as if it were external in some other person or group. Though it is a defense mechanism it can be used to project positively, as seen in the formation of many religions. Hall states projections as, “It may take the form of exchanging the subject for the object. ‘I hate you’ is…

    • 1814 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Trait theorists focus on the measurement of traits and believe that to better understand personality we should focus on an individual’s traits and characteristic behaviour(Saul Kassin,; 2003). Using the five-factor model of personality, trait theorists can develop different kinds of questionnaires, such as the NEO Personality Inventory, to measure a person’s personality traits (Costa, P.T. Jr. and McCrae, R.R, 1992). With this data, researchers can describe a person’s personality using the 5 global factors of the five-factor model. The five-factor model helps trait theorists identify characteristics that individuals possess and to the extent of which they are present (Matthews, Gerald; Deary, Ian J.; Whiteman, Martha C, 2003). Freuds psychodynamic…

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Psychologists try to explain why people act the way that they do. They create theories to justify behaviors that they observe. One of these theories is the Psychodynamic Theory developed by Sigmund Freud. This theory states that one develops a subconscious personality during childhood and that this personality will influence their behaviors throughout their lifetime. The personality, according to Freud, consists of the ego, superego, and id. The super ego is the obedient one. It tries to obey rules and the commands of adults, while the id is pleasure seeking. It is driven by instinct and wants whatever will make it the happiest. The ego is the median between these two extremes; it works to decide between the two options based on reality. (“Freudian…

    • 197 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    4 Defense Mechanisms

    • 504 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Defense mechanisms are used when our ego is threatened; when a conflict between the superego and id cause the ego to be contradicted. These defense mechanisms allow us to redirect the negative emotions that stem from these situations, and allow us to escape from our failures. Sigmund Freud identified many defense mechanisms that we use, but the most common four are rationalization, displacement, repression, and projection. Rationalization is the use of excuses to divert our failures away from ourselves and create explanations for them. We deeply believe in these excuses, and they allow us to feel better about our losses. Displacement is the outburst of negative feelings towards a person that is unrelated to those thoughts. It is a way to get rid of built up anger when it is not possible to direct these feelings to the person who caused them. Repression is when negative thoughts or feelings are pushed back into the subconscious mind, to forget and escape from them. These may resurface at a later time, when a situation related to these feelings occurs.…

    • 504 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic theory, Psychic Determination is when we have no control over our actions because our unconscious mind chooses for us. Symbolic Meaning is when every single action we make has a meaning. Unconscious Motivation is when we rarely understand the reasons behind our behavior, and come up with reasons to explain our behavior. However, personality itself comes from interactions with id, ego, and superego. The id is where all the decisions are made using the pleasure principle. Th ego delays gratification using the reality principle so that decision making is appropriate, and when threated the ego uses defense mechanisms. The super ego is where we get our sense of right and wrong.…

    • 741 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Have you ever asked why you act in a particular manner? What causes you to be unlike others? Personality can be defined as characteristics that form a person’s character. The Underground Personality Theory tries to explain our personalities and the way in which they develop. The theory also focuses on the ability of certain characteristics to emerge gradually throughout one’s development.…

    • 1159 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the history of science, especially psychology, there have been many great minds that have shaped the theories we still use today; These people’s theories are usually still taught in classrooms around the world. However, it is not to often that you come across someone who can be extremely controversial, and still be regarded as noteworthy. Sigmund Freud, while in recent years has come to be somewhat infamous in psychological circles, was and still is, regarded as one of the first real psychologists. While, at the time of his work, he was met with little resistance, in more recent years, Freud’s works have come under intense scrutiny for the theories he held about women, religion, and the methods that he used in his psychoanalysis.…

    • 886 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Defined by Aristotle as the gateway to our wealth of wisdom, he substantiates that individuals are able to filter, analyse and make judgements of people through personal perception. This accentuates the notion of personality, the patterns of behavior and internal states of mind that explain a person 's behavioral tendencies. This is exemplified by Psychoanalytical theory, typified by unconscious desires and defence mechanisms created around the id, the ego and the superego. Essentially, they personify sociocognitive processes that drive an individual 's personality and thus, have a direct impact on the way in which they are perceived (Freud, S. & Riviere, J.1943). Furthermore, attribution theory highlights negative associations formulated by perception. This hypothesis concedes that individuals generally assign positive outcomes to internal factors being their direct involvement. Alternatively, the theory explores how negative outcomes are generally…

    • 859 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Through the different theories of personality, one can come to better understand who they are as an individual, and how they got to their current state. Personality is a complex variable which factors into our daily life. Personality has personally shaped us all as individuals, and will continue to be an apparent factor in our daily lives. Through the study of personality, we can better understand ourselves and our community. In this paper I will reflect on my own childhood experiences, the ways in which they shaped me, and the theory I find most relevant.…

    • 1353 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays