Hi gang.
Today we're gonna be going over Freud's defense
mechanisms, which are mishandling of stress
in your ego.
According to Freud, healthy person operates
in their ego where they manage their id, their
superego, and the reality of the situation.
However, even if you're in your ego, you may
not be handling the reality of the situation
very effectively.
Those are his defense mechanisms.
Used temporarily, not a problem.
We all do it.
Used as a way of living, real problem.
First one - repression, which according to
Freud, it is involuntarily forgetting.
Your mind decides something is too painful
and your mind decides you're no longer going
to remember it.
Just like the [chuckle] gentleman in the riot
gear, just trying to force it down and away
and hidden.
For Freud, this is the defense mechanism - the
master defense mechanism.
Rationalization.
This is where you replace an unacceptable
reason with a more socially-acceptable reason.
Such as with the one cartoon, where - well,
I screwed up my diet and it's a Wednesday,
so I can't really fix my diet now.
Everyone knows you have to wait until Monday
to really start a diet.
Yeah, that's not such an acceptable reason.
People use it.
Displacement.
Displacement is when you move a dangerous
emotion from an unsafe situation to a safe
situation.
Such as the picture there on the left where
the boss is yelling at the lady.
She's probably upset.
She's probably angry.
She can't really yell back at him.
However, when she gets home, she can yell
at her children because that's a safe place
for her to yell.
It's not like the kids are going to fire her
from being mom.
Sublimation is when you replace an unacceptable
behavior with a socially-acceptable behavior.
Like on the far - on the left picture with
Muhammed Ali.
Boxing.
He may in reality want to punch everyone around
him.
That's not acceptable.
That will get you sent to jail.
However, in the boxing ring, the man was amazing.
The picture on the right is a man painting
a female body, which is career in various
places in California and Las Vegas.
Sublimation - if in reality what he may want
to do is go up and touch women, which -again
-will get him arrested.
But it is socially-acceptable to have a career
where you're painting naked women with an
airbrush.
So replace unacceptable with acceptable.
Projection.
Who's fault is it that you messed up or failed?
Oh, it's not your fault.
Of course, it's someone else's fault.
That's projection.
You blame your shortcomings on other people.
The reason why I can't get this job done is
because the person next to me is playing their
music too loud.
The reason why I can't pass this test is 'cause
the teacher hates me.
Again, it's never your fault that something
is going wrong, it's always someone else's
fault.
Reaction formation - this one can be a little
confusing.
Basically, what you feel deep down inside
- that hidden desire - is very scary to you.
So in order to cope and manage with that scariness,
you act completely opposite consciously, in
public.
The picture on the left.
This is classic.
Little boy is pulling on little girl's hair.
Does that mean he doesn't like the little
girl?
No!
It means he really likes her.
Same thing - little girl is talking about,
"Oh, he's such a jerk."
In reality, does she think he's a jerk?
Nah!
She really likes him.
That's where the "Condescending Wonka" meme
over there - "Me thinks the lady doth protest
too much."
That indicates we think what the person is
saying is completely opposite what they're
feeling.
That's reaction formation.
Denial.
Now you're deliberately failing to acknowledge
reality.
With repression, your mind decides you're
not going to deal with reality.
Denial - you know the reality is there, you
simply choose to ignore it.
Those of you who are interested in the medical
field or are in the medical field, you're
very familiar with denial.
Plenty of people are, "Oh, no, I don't have
this disorder.
I don't have to take care of myself."
And then they get incredibly ill.
Because of denial.
Regression.
This defense mechanism says we act younger
in order to cope with what is stressing us
out.
Not at all uncommon for 3, 4, 5-year-olds
who are capable of using the bathroom on their
own, capable of feeding themselves, can go
to bed at night with nothing but a stuffed
animal - all of a sudden there's a new baby
in the house and that's a new stress.
All of a sudden the child has issues with
the bathroom.
All of a sudden the child has to go to bed
with their binky and sucking their thumb and
their blankie.
All of a sudden, they can't feed themselves.
They need Mommy or Daddy to feed them.
It's acting younger.
It's also an issue with older people.
A significant number of older people instead
of facing the fact that there are physical
changes coming, they decide to dress younger.
They decide to act younger in order to deal
with the stress that 's coming.
And all of these are defense mechanisms according
to Freud.
It's how we handle stress when we're in our
ego, but all of these are destructive to us.
So, thanks.
Bye.
