PART 3: PERSONALITY ORGANIZATIONCHAPTER 10: DYNAMICS OF SELF… Focus On: Mental Defense Copyright © 2007 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Dynamics of the Self Focus on Mental Defense This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law: any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network; preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any image; any rental, lease, or lending of the program.

PART 3: PERSONALITY ORGANIZATIONCHAPTER 10: DYNAMICS OF SELF… Focus On: Mental Defense Copyright © 2007 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Defense Mechanisms Deal with the pain of falling short Defense mechanisms protect the conscious executive from mental pain, e.g., humiliation, shame, fear… –Original descriptions: Sigmund Freud –Systematized by: Anna Freud

PART 3: PERSONALITY ORGANIZATIONCHAPTER 10: DYNAMICS OF SELF… Focus On: Mental Defense Copyright © 2007 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Suppression Suppression means consciously not thinking about something Example: Not thinking about an upcoming exam Consciousness Something safe to think about Something unsafe or painful to think about Self command: Don’t think about it!

PART 3: PERSONALITY ORGANIZATIONCHAPTER 10: DYNAMICS OF SELF… Focus On: Mental Defense Copyright © 2007 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Repression Repression involves the forgetting (forcing out of consciousness) of material that is threatening or unpleasant. Example: Forgetting a worrisome dental appointment. Consciousness Something safe to think about Something unsafe or painful to think about Forgotten matter

PART 3: PERSONALITY ORGANIZATIONCHAPTER 10: DYNAMICS OF SELF… Focus On: Mental Defense Copyright © 2007 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Suppression… and…Repression Consciousness Something safe to think about Something unsafe or painful to think about Consciousness Something safe to think about Something unsafe or painful to think about Don’t think about it Forgotten matter self command

PART 3: PERSONALITY ORGANIZATIONCHAPTER 10: DYNAMICS OF SELF… Focus On: Mental Defense Copyright © 2007 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Suppression: Research Example Experimental Studies by Dan Wegner: –Instructions: In a moment I want you to not think of something for three minutes (I will tell you what it is) –If you happen to think of it, make a mark on a page and then continue not to think of it. –Ready? Don’t think about…a white bear Findings: –People can suppress ideas –The ability to do so varies considerably –People who are successful suppressing may find, later, that they can’t stop thinking about what they first pushed away from consciousness

PART 3: PERSONALITY ORGANIZATIONCHAPTER 10: DYNAMICS OF SELF… Focus On: Mental Defense Copyright © 2007 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Repression: Research Example Experimental Condition Control (Neutral) Condition Experimental (Threat) Condition Participants were played sentences below their threshhold of hearing (masked by white noise) Carson City is the capitol of Nevada You father will no longer support you Outcome (indicating unconscious defense) White noise is judged moderate in this condition White noise is judged far louder in this condition

PART 3: PERSONALITY ORGANIZATIONCHAPTER 10: DYNAMICS OF SELF… Focus On: Mental Defense Copyright © 2007 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Denial The statement that something that is true is false (or something that is false is true) –Example: Cigarettes don’t cause cancer This is the least mature of all defenses. It is common, and normal, among children. –Example: “I didn’t take those cookies from the cookie jar.”

PART 3: PERSONALITY ORGANIZATIONCHAPTER 10: DYNAMICS OF SELF… Focus On: Mental Defense Copyright © 2007 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Projection Seeing a problem that one has oneself, in someone else. Example: “I’m not angry, you’re angry.”

PART 3: PERSONALITY ORGANIZATIONCHAPTER 10: DYNAMICS OF SELF… Focus On: Mental Defense Copyright © 2007 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Rationalization Definition: Rationalization involves coming up with a plausible reason for doing something which does not, however, reflect the real reason. Examples (from alcoholics): –“I don’t drink every day…I don’t have a problem… (minimizing) –I don’t drink half of what Sam does…(justifying) –I started drinking because of the problem I had; if you had the same problem I had, you would drink this much too. (analyzing) –It will get better later.” (postponing)

PART 3: PERSONALITY ORGANIZATIONCHAPTER 10: DYNAMICS OF SELF… Focus On: Mental Defense Copyright © 2007 Allyn & Bacon Mayer’s Personality: A Systems Approach Sublimation Definition: Sublimation involves seeking a socially- approved outlet for a socially problematic motivation Example: To express aggression, a person may become a butcher or a surgeon –Job description: Butchers in meat packing plants slaughter animals and slice the carcasses into large wholesale cuts. Grocery store butchers, also called meat cutters, separate the wholesale cuts of meat into retail cuts or individual size servings. –Quotes from a surgeon: “We are going to wage a war on that cancer” “I am going to try to cut every last part of it out until there is nothing left of the cancer.” “It makes me very angry it (the cancer) is in there.”

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