RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PSYCHOLOGY AND SOCIAL WORK

Psychology is the study of the individual - and since the social context is inseparable
from the individual, there is a strong relationship between psychology and any field
pertaining to society.
Social work is a practical component of the principles of sociology - and sociology and
psychology have a strong bond. In fact, social psychology - an entire sub-field of
psychology - studies the exchange of individuals with society, while sociology studies the
dynamics within society. Individuals come together to form the society, and societies
exert great influence on the individual.

When it comes to social work, a lot of the work involves dealing with the existing
problems of a group or community. Examples of typical concerns include dealing with
problems of addiction, domestic abuse, unemployment, illiteracy, etc. Psychological
interventions form a vital component of the plan and procedure for dealing with such
problems. For instance, if all the men of a community are addicted to alcohol then group
therapies practiced in psychology can be applied in helping them exert their will power in
overcoming addiction, besides the social measures that would be taken, such as seeking
to ban alcohol in the region. If we take the example of unemployment, then providing
psychological workshops based on career counseling which includes making the youth
aware of career opportunities available with respect to their abilities, identifying
exceptionally talented individuals, etc. can be an important part of the process. Another
scenario would be in dealing with young girls who have undergone trauma; one-to-one
counseling would be indispensable in helping them recuperate. It is apparent that all
levels of psychological intervention - individual, group and community - can help in
strengthening individuals, who are the foundation of society. These empowered
individuals would then be ready to make a shift at the societal level for their betterment.
 DEBATES IN PSYCHOLOGY

The nature versus nurture debate is one of the oldest philosophical issues within
psychology. So what exactly is it all about?

 Nature refers to all of the genes and hereditary factors that influence who we
are—from our physical appearance to our personality characteristics.
 Nurture refers to all the environmental variables that impact that we are, including
our early childhood experiences, how we were raised, our social relationships, and
our surrounding culture.

Even today, different branches of psychology often take a one versus the other approach.
For example, biological psychology tends to stress the importance of genetics and
biological influences. Behaviorism, on the other hand, focuses on the impact that the
environment has on behavior.

In the past, debates over the relative contributions of nature versus nurture often took a
very one-sided approach, with one side arguing that nature played the most important role
and the other side suggesting that it was nurture that was the most significant. Today,
most experts recognize that both factors play a critical role. Not only that, they also
realize that nature and nurture interact in important ways all throughout life.

A Closer Look at the Nature vs. Nurture Debate

Do genetic or environmental factors have a greater influence on your behavior? Do

inherited traits or life experiences play a greater role in shaping your personality? The
nature versus nurture debate is one of the oldest issues in psychology. The debate centers
on the relative contributions of genetic inheritance and environmental factors to human
development.

Some philosophers such as Plato and Descartes suggested that certain things are inborn,
or that they occur naturally regardless of environmental influences. Nativist take the
position that all or most behaviors and characteristics are the results of inheritance.

Advocates of this point of view believe that all of our characteristics and behaviors are
the result of evolution. Genetic traits handed down from parents influence the individual
differences that make each person unique.

Other well-known thinkers such as John Locke believed in what is known as tabula rasa,
which suggests that the mind begins as a blank slate. According to this notion, everything
that we are and all of our knowledge is determined by our experience.

Empiricists take the position that all or most behaviors and characteristics result from
learning. Behaviorism is a good example of a theory rooted in empiricism. The
behaviorists believe that all actions and behaviors are the results of conditioning.
Theorists such as John B. Watson believed that people could be trained to do and become
anything, regardless of their genetic background.

Examples of Nature vs. Nurture

For example, when a person achieves tremendous academic success, did they do so
because they are genetically predisposed to be successful or is it a result of an enriched
environment? If a man abuses his wife and kids, is it because he was born with violent
tendencies or is it something he learned by observing his own parent's behavior?

A few examples of biologically determined characteristics (nature) include certain

genetic diseases, eye color, hair color, and skin color. Other things like life expectancy
and height have a strong biological component, but they are also influenced by
environmental factors and lifestyle.

An example of a nativist theory within psychology is Chomsky's concept of a language

acquisition device (or LAD). According to this theory, all children are born with an
instinctive mental capacity that allows them to both learn and produce language.

Some characteristics are tied to environmental influences. How a person behaves can be
linked to influences such as parenting styles and learned experiences. For example, a
child might learn through observation and reinforcement to say 'please' and 'thank you.'
Another child might learn to behave aggressively by observing older children engage in
violent behavior on the playground.

One example of an empiricist theory within psychology is Albert Bandura's social

learning theory. According to the theory, people learn by observing the behavior of
others. In his famous Bobo doll experiment, Bandura demonstrated that children could
learn aggressive behaviors simply by observing another person acting aggressively.

Even today, research in psychology often tends to emphasize one influence over the
other. In biopsychology, for example, researchers conduct studies exploring how
neurotransmitters influence behavior, which emphasizes the nature side of the debate. In
social psychology, researchers might conduct studies looking at how things such as peer
pressure and social media influence behaviors, stressing the importance of nurture.

How Nature and Nurture Interact

What researchers do know is that the interaction between heredity and environment is
often the most important factor of all. Kevin Davies of PBS's Nova described one
fascinating example of this phenomenon.

Perfect pitch is the ability to detect the pitch of a musical tone without any reference.
Researchers have found that this ability tends to run in families and believe that it might
be tied to a single gene. However, they've also discovered that possessing the gene alone
is not enough to develop this ability. Instead, musical training during early childhood is
necessary to allow this inherited ability to manifest itself.

Height is another example of a trait that is influenced by nature and nurture interaction. A
child might come from a family where everyone is tall, and he may have inherited these
genes for height. However, if he grows up in a deprived environment where he does not
receive proper nourishment, he might never attain the height he might have had he grown
up in a healthier environment.

Contemporary Views of Nature vs. Nurture

Throughout the history of psychology, however, this debate has continued to stir up
controversy. Eugenics, for example, was a movement heavily influenced by the nativist
approach. Psychologist Francis Galton, a cousin of the naturalist Charles Darwin, coined
both the terms nature versus nurture and eugenics and believed that intelligence was the
result of genetics. Galton believed that intelligent individuals should be encouraged to
marry and have many children, while less intelligent individuals should be discouraged
from reproducing.

Today, the majority of experts believe that both nature and nurture influence behavior
and development. However, the issue still rages on in many areas such as in the debate on
the origins of homosexuality and influences on intelligence. While few people take the
extreme nativist or radical empiricist approach, researchers and experts still debate the
degree to which biology and environment influence behavior.

Increasingly, people are beginning to realize that asking how much heredity or
environment influence a particular trait is not the right approach. The reality is that there
is not a simple way to disentangle the multitude of forces that exist. These influences
include genetic factors that interact with one another, environmental factors that interact
such as social experiences and overall culture, as well as how both hereditary and
environmental influences intermingle. Instead, many researchers today are interested in
seeing how genes modulate environmental influences and vice versa.

Stability-Change Debate
The stability-change debate describes the developmental psychology discussion about whether
personality traits that are present in an individual at birth remain constant or change throughout
the life span.

For example, does a naturally extroverted and talkative baby remain that way for their entire
life? The stability vs. change debate is one of the fundamental questions in developmental
psychology along with nature vs. nurture. Typically cross-sectional and longitudinal studies are
used in research concerning stability vs. change.

RATIONALITY VS IRRATIONALITY
Rationality is that which can be expressed through thought or ideas. It is that which is in the
physical world, what we can see, but not of the metaphysical (what we can't see, like ghosts and
other cool stuff). Irrationality is everything else. It is feeling, emotions, that based on senses that
fits neither in the physical or metaphysical reality. You can touch it, assuming you have all your
senses, but we can't pinpoint it like we can a country on a map.

Logic and reason is usually seen as rational. Empirical data, which scientists use, are not rational
despite scientists saying they are (irrationality has a negative tone to it and touchy-feely people
think it's a bad thing for all the wrong reasons). Existenialism is also irrational.

Then again, I'm just some rational philosopher stuck on myself. Some touchy-feely person will be
glad to "dumb me down" to their level or whatnot.

If you're worried you might be irrational, you're not based on that question. It had no emotion and
feeling. It was simple and to the point.
Lifespan Theories: Cognitive Development

LAWRENCE KOHLBERG: History of the Theory

How did Kohlberg come up with the theory of moral development? All his ideas started from the research he
performed with very young children as his subjects. He found out that children are faced with different moral
issues, and their judgments on whether they are to act positively or negatively over each dilemma are
heavily influenced by several factors. In each scenario that Kohlberg related to the children, he was not
really asking whether or not the person in the situation is morally right or wrong, but he wanted to find out
the reasons why these children think that the character is morally right or not.

Levels and Stages of Moral Development

Level 1: Pre conventional Morality

The first level of morality, pre conventional morality, can be further divided into two stages: obedience and
punishment, and individualism and exchange.

Stage 1: Punishment- Obedience Orientation

Related to Skinner’s Operational Conditioning, this stage includes the use of punishment so that the person
refrains from doing the action and continues to obey the rules. For example, we follow the law because we
do not want to go to jail.

Stage 2: Instrumental Relativist Orientation

In this stage, the person is said to judge the morality of an action based on how it satisfies the individual
needs of the doer. For instance, a person steals money from another person because he needs that money
to buy food for his hungry children. In Kohlberg’s theory, the children tend to say that this action is morally
right because of the serious need of the doer.

Level 2: Conventional Morality

The second level of morality involves the stages 3 and 4 of moral development. Conventional morality
includes the society and societal roles in judging the morality of an action.

Stage 3: Good Boy-Nice Girl Orientation

In this stage, a person judges an action based on the societal roles and social expectations before him. This
is also known as the “interpersonal relationships” phase. For example, a child gives away her lunch to a
street peasant because she thinks doing so means being nice.

Stage 4: Law and Order Orientation

This stage includes respecting the authorities and following the rules, as well as doing a person’s duty. The
society is the main consideration of a person at this stage. For instance, a policeman refuses the money
offered to him under the table and arrests the offender because he believes this is his duty as an officer of
peace and order.

Level 3: Post conventional Morality

The post-conventional morality includes stage 5 and stage 6. This is mainly concerned with the universal
principles that relation to the action done.

Stage 5 : Social Contract Orientation

In this stage, the person is look at various opinions and values of different people before coming up with the
decision on the morality of the action.

Stage 6 : Universal Ethical Principles Orientation

The final stage of moral reasoning, this orientation is when a person considers universally accepted ethical
principles. The judgment may become innate and may even violate the laws and rules as the person
becomes attached to his own principles of justice.

What is Personality & Its Meaning

Personality is the product of social interaction in group life. In society every person has different traits such
as skin, color, height and weight. They have different types of personalities because individuals are not alike. It
refers to the habits, attitudes as well as physical traits of a person which are not same but have vary from group
to group and society to society, everyone has personality, which may be good or bad, impressive or
unimpressive. It develops during the process of socialization in a culture of a specific group or society. One
cannot determine it of an individual exactly because it varies from culture to culture and time to time. For example,
a killer is considered criminal in peace time and hero in war. The feeling and actions of an individual during
interaction moulds the personality. It is the sum of total behaviors of the individual and covers both overt and
covert behaviors, interests, mentality and intelligence. It is the sum of physical and mental abilities and
capabilities.
Personality has been derived from the Latin word “persona” which means “mask” used by the actors to change
their appearance. It is the combination of an individual thoughts, characteristics, behaviors, attitude, idea and
habits.
Definition of Personality
Macionis define as “It is the constant pattern of thinking, feeling and acting.”

Ogburn and Nimkoff define it as the totality of sentiments, attitudes, idea, habits, skills and behaviors of an
individual.”

Types of Personality
Following are the three types of personality
1. Extrovert Personality
This type has the tendency to live mostly outside the like to live with others. Those individuals are highly
socialized and have contact with outside people in the society. They want to join other groups who are more in
number. These type of people are drivers, excessive drinkers, smokers, robbers, thieves, wicked persons etc.

2. Introvert Personality
Introvert is opposite to extrovert. Those people are always live alone in their rooms and do not want to go outside.
They have their own imaginary world. They are teachers, scientists, thinkers and philosophers.

3. Ambivert Personality
Between extrovert and introvert personalities there is a third one type called ambivert. People belonging to this
type enjoy both the groups and attend them. They have middle mind and want to live in both parties. Sometimes
they join outside people but sometimes they live in their own rooms.

Personality Development Tips

1. Should be a better listener
2. Good conversation
3. Be positive in outlook and attitude
4. More reading and building interest
5. Should be a good courteous
6. Interaction with new people
7. Helpful to other people
8. Give respect if you want respect
9. Confident about yourself
Five Personality Traits
1. Openness to experience
2. Conscientiousness
3. Extraversion
4. Agreeableness
5. Neuroticism

Sigmund Freud (1856 to 1939) was the founding father of psychoanalysis, a method for treating
mental illness and also a theory which explains human behavior.

Freud believed that events in our childhood have a great influence on our adult lives, shaping our
personality. For example, anxiety originating from traumatic experiences in a person's past is hidden
from consciousness, and may cause problems during adulthood (in the form of neuroses).
Thus, when we explain our behavior to us or others (conscious mental activity), us rarely give a true
account of our motivation. This is not because we are deliberately lying. While human beings are great
deceivers of others; they are even more adept at self-deception.

Freud's life work was dominated by his attempts to find ways of penetrating this often subtle and
elaborate camouflage that obscures the hidden structure and processes of personality.

His lexicon has become embedded within the vocabulary of Western society. Words he introduced
through his theories are now used by everyday people, such as anal (personality), libido, denial,
repression, cathartic, Freudian slip, and neurotic.

The Case of Anna O

The case of Anna O (real name Bertha Pappenheim) marked a turning point in the career of a young
Viennese neuropathologist by the name of Sigmund Freud. It even went on to influence the future
direction of psychology as a whole.

Anna O. suffered from hysteria, a condition in which the patient exhibits physical symptoms (e.g.,
paralysis, convulsions, hallucinations, loss of speech) without an apparent physical cause. Her doctor
(and Freud's teacher) Josef Breuer succeeded in treating Anna by helping her to recall forgotten
memories of traumatic events.

During discussions with her, it became apparent that she had developed a fear of drinking when a dog
she hated drank from her glass. Her other symptoms originated when caring for her sick father.

She would not express her anxiety for her his illness but did express it later, during psychoanalysis. As
soon as she had the opportunity to make these unconscious thoughts conscious her paralysis
disappeared.
Breuer discussed the case with his friend Freud. Out of these discussions came the germ of an idea that
Freud was to pursue for the rest of his life. In Studies in Hysteria (1895) Freud proposed that physical
symptoms are often the surface manifestations of deeply repressed conflicts.

However, Freud was not just advancing an explanation of a particular illness. Implicitly he was
proposing a revolutionary new theory of the human psyche itself.

This theory emerged “bit by bit” as a result of Freud’s clinical investigations, and it led him to propose
that there were at least three levels of the mind.

The Unconscious Mind : Freud (1900, 1905) developed a topographical model of the mind, whereby he
described the features of the mind’s structure and function. Freud used the analogy of an iceberg to
describe the three levels of the mind.

On the surface is consciousness, which consists of those thoughts that are the focus of our attention
now, and this is seen as the tip of the iceberg. The preconscious consists of all which can be retrieved
from memory.

The third and most significant region is the unconscious. Here lie the processes that are the real cause
of most behavior. Like an iceberg, the most important part of the mind is the part you cannot see.

The unconscious mind acts as a repository, a ‘cauldron’ of primitive wishes and impulse kept at bay and
mediated by the preconscious area.

For example, Freud (1915) found that some events and desires were often too frightening or painful
for his patients to acknowledge, and believed such information was locked away in the unconscious
mind. This can happen through the process of repression.
Sigmund Freud emphasized the importance of the unconscious mind, and a primary assumption of
Freudian theory is that the unconscious mind governs behavior to a greater degree than people
suspect. Indeed, the goal of psychoanalysis is to make the unconscious conscious.

The Psyche

Freud (1923) later developed a more structural model of the mind comprising the entities id, ego, and
superego (what Freud called “the psychic apparatus”). These are not physical areas within the brain,
but rather hypothetical conceptualizations of important mental functions.

The id, ego, and superego have most commonly been conceptualized as three essential parts of the
human personality.

Freud assumed the id operated at an unconscious level according to the pleasure principle
(gratification from satisfying basic instincts). The id comprises two kinds of biological instincts (or
drives) which Freud called Eros and Thanatos.

Eros, or life instinct, helps the individual to survive; it directs life-sustaining activities such as
respiration, eating, and sex (Freud, 1925). The energy created by the life instincts is known as libido.

In contrast, Thanatos or death instinct, is viewed as a set of destructive forces present in all human
beings (Freud, 1920). When this energy is directed outward onto others, it is expressed as aggression
and violence. Freud believed that Eros is stronger than Thanatos, thus enabling people to survive
rather than self-destruct.
The ego develops from the id during infancy. The ego's goal is to satisfy the demands of the id in a safe
a socially acceptable way. In contrast to the id, the ego follows the reality principle as it operates in
both the conscious and unconscious mind.

The superego develops during early childhood (when the child identifies with the same sex parent) and
is responsible for ensuring moral standards are followed. The superego operates on the morality
principle and motivates us to behave in a socially responsible and acceptable manner.

The basic dilemma of all human existence is that each element of the psychic apparatus makes
demands upon us that are incompatible with the other two. Inner conflict is inevitable.

For example, the superego can make a person feel guilty if rules are not followed. When there is a
conflict between the goals of the id and superego, the ego must act as a referee and mediate this
conflict. The ego can deploy various defense mechanisms (Freud, 1894, 1896) to prevent it from
becoming overwhelmed by anxiety

Defense Mechanisms
Psychosexual Stages

In the highly repressive “Victorian” society in which Freud lived and worked women, in particular, were
forced to repress their sexual needs. In many cases, the result was some form of neurotic illness.

Freud sought to understand the nature and variety of these illnesses by retracing the sexual history of
his patients. This was not primarily an investigation of sexual experiences as such. Far more important
were the patient’s wishes and desires, their experience of love, hate, shame, guilt and fear – and how
they handled these powerful emotions.

It was this that led to the most controversial part of Freud’s work – his theory of psychosexual
development and the Oedipus complex.

Freud believed that children are born with a libido – a sexual (pleasure) urge. There are a number of
stages of childhood, during which the child seeks pleasure from a different ‘object.’
To be psychologically healthy, we must successfully complete each stage. Mental abnormality can
occur if a stage is not completed successfully and the person becomes ‘fixated’ in a particular stage.
This particular theory shows how adult personality is determined by childhood experiences.
Trait Theory of Personality
Traits, in psychology, refer to the ways in which we generally describe a person. The descriptive
terms such as out-going, short tempered, generous are all traits. Trait approach is one of the
most vital areas of study in psychology that helps identify a person’s personality. Traits can be
defined as a stable characteristic that causes a person to depict a response to any situations in
certain ways. Trait theories indicate that the traits are always constant regardless of the
situations.

An individual, as a whole, doesn’t just have a single trait, but the variety of trait forms of
personality. These trait forms are unique from one individual to another. The theory designated
to identify and measure individual personality characteristics can be defined as trait theory.

Trait theory approach focuses on personality differences between individuals.

Gordon Allport’s Trait Theory

Psychologist Gordon Allport was among the firsts to come up with a personality trait theory. He
came about with an astounding discovery in 1936, which showed that more than 4000 words in
an English language dictionary described personality traits.

Allbort viewed traits as building blocks of personality. According to him, there are three classes
of traits.

Cardinal Traits
Cardinal traits are the traits around which a person organizes his whole life. Allport suggested
that these traits are developed later in life, and are in fact quite rare. But, these traits play such an
important role in a person’s life that they often become synonymous with the names of the
person. Meaning, a person might be specifically known for these traits. E.g.: greed, lust,
kindness, narcissism.

Central Traits
Traits representing major characteristics of a person are referred as central traits. These can also
be considered as the characteristics that lead to the foundation of an individual’s personality.
Example of central traits: shy, anxious, intelligent, dishonest.

Secondary traits
Secondary traits refer to the general behavior patterns that only appear under certain
circumstances. An example would be getting nervous to speak in public.
Hans Eysenck
Eysenck is the most famous British psychologist. He considered that there are two major
dimensions of personality which account for the many different types of person we encounter.
They are:

 Extroversion
 Introversion

He proposed a model of personality based on these two universal traits, and the third dimension
later added by the psychologist himself.

1. Introversion/Extroversion:
This dimension encompasses shyness to sociability. Introversion involves focusing energy on
inner experiences, while extroversion refers to focusing energy on environment and people. To
put it bluntly, introverts are shy and extroverts are sociable.

extrovert <—-> introvert

2. Neuroticism/Emotional Stability:
The dimension encompasses moodiness to even temperedness. Emotional stability refers to the
literal meaning of the term, the state of being emotionally stable or constant. And, neuroticism
refers to instability of emotions, causing a person to become upset or emotional.

neurotic <—-> normal (or stable)

3. Psychoticism
This dimension was included in Eysenck’s earlier model. He added this dimension after
conducting a study on mentally ill individuals. People high on this trait suggests that the
individual might not be normal and might have trouble dealing with reality. General
characteristics shown by these people are of being hostile, non-empathetic, manipulative and
antisocial.

Criticisms of Eysenck’s Theory

 The model was initially developed from a very small sample, which has led to
oversimplification.
 The testing is entirely based on self-reports, and therefore, it is likely to be heavily
influenced by the respondent’s mood at the time.
Raymond Cattell’s Trait Theory
Unlike Eysenck, Cattell based his theory on various sources rather than just self reporting.
Cattell’s trait theory has been built around the use of factor analysis, a mathematical technique
devised by Charles Spearman. With the use of factor analysis, Cattell reviewed and categorized
a large number of traits, seeking the most basic and useful ones, and developed a scheme for
classifying them.

This brought down the Allport’s initial list of over 4000 words to 171 different traits. He further
identified the closely related terms and the final list was prepared of 16 basic source traits.
According to him, these are the base of all human personality.

Cattell discovered that some traits are surface traits, easily visible to any observer, and others are
source traits, the underlying structures responsible for the surface traits.

 Surface Traits – clusters of related behaviors observed in a given situation.

 Source Traits – Sixteen basic dimensions of personality which are the roots of all
behavior.

Sixteen factors of Personality, all bipolar.

reserved outgoing

less intelligent more intelligent

affected by feelings emotionally stable

submissive dominant

serious happy-go-lucky
expedient conscientious

timid venturesome

tough-minded sensitive

trusting suspicious

practical imaginative

forthright shrewd

self-assured apprehensive

conservative experimenting

group dependent self-sufficient

uncontrolled controlled
relaxed tense

The Big Five Factors Theory of Personality

Lots of researchers and psychologists believed that Eysenck’s theory focused on too few traits
while Cattell’s theory focused on too many traits. As a result, a new theory was established,
namely “The Big Five Factor Theory of Personality”. Although researchers and related folks
often disagree about the terms assigned to these dimensions, the labels developed by Costa and
McCrae in 1985 are still in use today.

 Openness
 Conscientiousness
 Extraversion
 Agreeableness
 Neuroticism

Critical Evaluation of Trait Approach to Personality

No theory is full proof, and everything has a loophole. While the trait theories of personality
does cover some grounds that other personality theories lack, such as Psychoanalytic Theory of
Freud, there are weaknesses to this approach.

Major criticisms are:

 Trait theory approach fails to predict individual’s behavior. Even though an individual
might score high on a particular trait, he/she might differently.
 Another major weakness of these theories is their inability to explain the emergence of
differences between individual personalities.

Sigmund Freud (1894, 1896) noted a number of ego defenses which he refers to
throughout his written works. His daughter Anna (1936) developed these ideas and
elaborated on them, adding ten of her own. Many psychoanalysts have also added
further types of ego defenses.
Defense mechanisms are psychological strategies that are unconsciously used to
protect a person from anxiety arising from unacceptable thoughts or feelings.

We use defense mechanisms to protect ourselves from feelings of anxiety or guilt, which
arise because we feel threatened, or because our id or superego becomes too
demanding. They are not under our conscious control, and are non-voluntaristic.

Ego-defense mechanisms are natural and normal. When they get out of proportion
(i.e., used with frequency), neuroses develop, such as anxiety states, phobias,
obsessions, or hysteria.

Why do we need Ego defenses?

Freud once said, "Life is not easy!" The ego -- the "I" -- sits at the center of some pretty
powerful forces: reality; society, as represented by the superego; biology, as represented
by the Id.

When these make conflicting demands upon the poor ego, it is understandable if you
feel threatened, overwhelmed, as if it were about to collapse under the weight of it all.
This feeling is called anxiety, and it serves as a signal to the ego that its survival, and
with it the survival of the whole organism, is in jeopardy.

In order to deal with conflict and problems in life, Freud stated that the ego employs a
range of defense mechanisms. Defense mechanisms operate at an unconscious level
and help ward off unpleasant feelings (i.e., anxiety) or make good things feel better for
the individual.
Examples of Defenses Mechanisms

Examples of Defenses Mechanisms

There are a large number of defense mechanisms; the main ones are summarized
below.

Identification with the Aggressor

A focus on negative or feared traits. I.e., if you are afraid of someone, you can practically
conquer that fear by becoming more like them.
An extreme example of this is the Stockholm Syndrome, where hostages identify with
the terrorists. E.g., Patty Hearst and the Symbionese Liberation Army.

Patty was abused and raped by her captors, yet she joined their movement and even
took part in one of their bank robberies. At her trial, she was acquitted because she was
a victim suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.

Repression
This was the first defense mechanism that Freud discovered, and arguably the most
important. Repression is an unconscious mechanism employed by the ego to keep
disturbing or threatening thoughts from becoming conscious.

Thoughts that are often repressed are those that would result in feelings of guilt from
the superego. For example, in the Oedipus complex, aggressive thoughts about the
same sex parents are repressed.

This is not a very successful defense in the long term since it involves forcing disturbing
wishes, ideas or memories into the unconscious, where, although hidden, they will
create anxiety.

Projection
This involves individuals attributing their own thoughts, feeling, and motives to another
person (A. Freud, 1936). Thoughts most commonly projected onto another are the ones
that would cause guilt such as aggressive and sexual fantasies or thoughts.

For instance, you might hate someone, but your superego tells you that such hatred is
unacceptable. You can 'solve' the problem by believing that they hate you.

Displacement
Displacement is the redirection of an impulse (usually aggression) onto a powerless
substitute target (A. Freud, 1936). The target can be a person or an object that can serve
as a symbolic substitute. Someone who feels uncomfortable with their sexual desire for
a real person may substitute a fetish.
Someone who is frustrated by his or her superiors may go home and kick the dog, beat
up a family member, or engage in cross-burnings.

Sublimation
This is similar to displacement, but takes place when we manage to displace our
emotions into a constructive rather than destructive activity (A. Freud, 1936). This
might, for example, be artistic.

Many great artists and musicians have had unhappy lives and have used the medium of
art of music to express themselves. Sport is another example of putting our emotions
(e.g., aggression) into something constructive.

For example, fixation at the oral stage of development may later lead to seeking oral
pleasure as an adult through sucking one's thumb, pen or cigarette. Also, fixation
during the anal stage may cause a person to sublimate their desire to handle faeces with
an enjoyment of pottery.

Sublimation for Freud was the cornerstone of civilized life, arts and science are all
sublimated sexuality. (NB. this is a value-laden concept, based on the aspirations of a
European society at the end of the 1800 century).

Denial
Anna Freud (1936) proposed denial involves blocking external events from awareness.
If some situation is just too much to handle, the person just refuses to experience it.

As you might imagine, this is a primitive and dangerous defense - no one disregards
reality and gets away with it for long! It can operate by itself or, more commonly, in
combination with other, more subtle mechanisms that support it.

For example, smokers may refuse to admit to themselves that smoking is bad for their
health.
Regression
This is a movement back in psychological time when one is faced with stress (A. Freud,
1936). When we are troubled or frightened, our behaviors often become more childish
or primitive.

A child may begin to suck their thumb again or wet the bed when they need to spend
some time in the hospital. Teenagers may giggle uncontrollably when introduced into a
social situation involving the opposite sex.

Rationalization
Rationalization is the cognitive distortion of "the facts" to make an event or an impulse
less threatening (A. Freud, 1936). We do it often enough on a fairly conscious level
when we provide ourselves with excuses.

But for many people, with sensitive egos, making excuses comes so easy that they never
are truly aware of it. In other words, many of us are quite prepared to believe our lies.

Reaction Formation
This is where a person goes beyond denial and behaves in the opposite way to which he
or she thinks or feels (A. Freud, 1936). By using the reaction formation, the id is
satisfied while keeping the ego in ignorance of the true motives.

Conscious feelings are the opposite of the unconscious. Love - hate. Shame - disgust
and moralizing are reaction formation against sexuality.Usually, a reaction formation is
marked by showiness and compulsiveness.

For example, Freud claimed that men who are prejudice against homosexuals are
making a defense against their own homosexual feelings by adopting a harsh anti-
homosexual attitude which helps convince them of their heterosexuality. Other
examples include:

* The dutiful daughter who loves her mother is reacting to her Oedipus hatred of
her mother.
* Anal fixation usually leads to meanness, but occasionally a person will react
against this (unconsciously) leading to over-generosity.