Conversion

Question 1

Conversion

Answer 1

Repression of an event/feeling is expressed in bodily function.

Ex. Someone who is unprepared for a test might get physically sick.

Question 2

Dissociation

Answer 2

Loss of connection to the world, separated from self/reality.

Ex. Someone who was in a car accident couldn’t remember driving.
Daydreaming

Question 3

Displacement

Answer 3

Transferring negative emotions from one person to an unrelated person/thing. Emotion/thought stays the same but the target changes.

Ex. Bad day at work, yelled at dog when he didn’t do anything.

Question 4

Projection

Answer 4

Attributing or projecting thoughts/feelings onto someone else. Emotion/thought is disowned and coming from outside the source.

Ex. Husband has an affair but accuses partner of infidelity.

Question 5

Introjection

Answer 5

Accepting another person’s attitudes, beliefs and values as their own, especially the ones they find desirable. (internalize and adopting characteristics from others)

Ex. Adopting beliefs of parents, internalizing the voice of authorities, or mimicking behaviors of admired individuals.

Question 6

Rationalization

Answer 6

Providing reasonable explanations to justify actions.

Ex: Someone who fails the exam blames the professors teaching style instead of being prepared.

Question 7

Compensation

Answer 7

Making up for a real or perceived weakness.

Ex. A student who struggles in sports might excel academically.

Question 8

Reaction formation

Answer 8

Expressing the opposite of your inner feelings in outward behaviors. Behaving or reacting the opposite of your true intentions.

Ex. A person who is nice to someone they don’t like.

Question 9

Repression

Answer 9

Restrained thinking, unconscious “forgetting” of painful ideas/events. (NOT acting as if it never happened).

Ex. An adult cannot recall if parents died in a car accident because they repressed it.

Question 10

Denial

Answer 10

Blocking events from our awareness. The inability to admit something happened.

Ex. A person denying the severity of a terminal illness.

Question 11

Sublimation

Answer 11

Redirecting strong emotions that is safe and productive.

Ex. Someone with aggressive tendencies channels the energy in sports.

Question 12

Undoing

Answer 12

Taking back unconscious behavior that was hurtful.

Ex. Someone with OCD might engage in rituals to undo the negative thoughts.

Question 13

Intellectualization

Answer 13

When someone focuses on facts, logic, and abstract reasoning to allow someone else to exert control over. (Distancing oneself from feelings by focusing on the intellectual aspects of the situation). Avoiding the emotion associated with the experiences.

Ex. Someone researches details of an illness to avoid the anxiety, fear of getting a diagnoses.

Question 14

Identification with the aggressor

Answer 14

Where someone takes or adopts the characteristics, traits, and behaviors of someone who has been aggressive or hostile towards them. Internalizing aspects of someone threatening.

Ex. Child abused by his parents bullies other children in school.