Defence

Mechanisms
J. M. Ncheka/Ethel

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 Objectives

Definitions Adaptive/Mature Maladaptive/Immature

defence mechanisms defence mechanisms

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 Definitions

Id – The part of the personality that seeks to fulfill all

wants, needs, and impulses, based on pleasure principle.

Ego – is guided by reality and balances the Id’s impulses

with social norms.

Superego - moral conscience, right/wrong.

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 Cont..
These 3 components shape one’s behavior and
personality.

Coping mechanisms are conscious, intentional, and

flexible strategies used to manage stress or difficult
situations
Defense mechanisms are generally unconscious
and habitual patterns of behavior used to protect
the self from anxiety or emotional distress.
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 Cont…
• Defence mechanisms are unconscious mental
techniques used by the ego to keep conflict
out of the conscious mind, thus decreasing
anxiety and maintaining a person’s sense of
safety, equilibrium, and self esteem.

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 Defence Mechanisms
• Occur when the id impulses are in conflict
with the super ego values and beliefs.
• Almost all defence mechanisms are used in
normal individuals.
• Excessive and exclusive use make it abnormal.

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Purpose of Defence Mechanisms

Protect the self

Provide a refuge
from anxiety
from a situation
and fear and
with which one
maintain one’s
cannot currently
sense of
cope.
security.

It helps resolve Protect one’s

mental conflicts. self esteem.

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 Defence Mechanisms
• Can be:
– Basic
– Adaptive
– Maladaptive.

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 Basic defense mechanism
• Repression
– Pushing unacceptable emotions into the
unconscious mind.
– All defense mechanisms are based on this.

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 Adaptive Defense Mechanisms
• Used in moderation.
• Directly to help the patient and others.

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 Suppression

– Deliberately pushing , inhibiting or controlling

unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or impulses.
– Only defence mechanism that includes some
aspects of consciousness.
– E.g a person consciously trying to suppress their
anger towards a coworker to maintain a
professional demeanor in a meeting.

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 Humour
– When one deflects difficult emotions or situations by making light of
them.
– E.g cracking a joke in a stressful or traumatic situation to reduce
anxiety.
– Laughing releases endorphins and dopamine that can help reduce
tension and promote a sense of well-being.
– This allows individuals to process intense feelings through a more
manageable, often more amusing, lens, rather than confronting
them head-on.

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 Sublimation
- Involves channeling unacceptable or harmful
impulses into constructive and socially acceptable
behaviors.
- E.g A man who got into fights as a teenager becomes
a professional boxer
- Someone who is grieving decides to volunteer
at a charity organisation.

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 Altruism

– Satisfying internal needs through helping others.

– Assisting others to avoid negative personal

feelings.

– For example, someone recovering from substance

use might volunteer to help others in recovery as a
way to deal with drug cravings.

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Maladaptive Defense Mechanisms
• Immature
• Manifestations of child-like or disturbed
behaviours.

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 Displacement

– Moving emotions from a personally intolerable

situation to one that is personally tolerable.
– Displaced aggression is a common example of this
defense mechanism.
– E.g. Instead of arguing with your lecturer or boss
you instead express your anger toward a person or
object that poses no threat such as your spouse,
children, or pets.

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 Reaction formation

– Adopting opposite attitudes to avoid personally

unacceptable emotions.
– E.g. A woman who unconsciously is resentful of
the responsibility of child rearing overspends on
expensive gifts and clothing for her children.
– Someone who is attracted to someone might
tease or insult them to hide their attraction

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 Rationalisation

– Distorting one’s perception of an event so that its

negative outcome seems reasonable.
– Use of logic.
– E.g a footballer who failed to score says, “the wind
really carried the ball”.

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 Intellectualisation

– Using the higher functions to avoid experiencing

emotions.
– Use of abstract thinking or analytical reasoning to
distance away from painful emotions.
– E.g. person whose partner has been unfaithful
might analyze the reasons for the infidelity,
focusing on the facts and potential explanations
instead of grappling with their own emotional
pain.

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 Acting out

– Involves expressing strong emotions or impulses

through actions rather than verbalizing them.
– For example, instead of calmly expressing anger, a
person might yell, throw something, or engage in
destructive behaviors.
– E.g -A depressed 14-year-old girl has sexual
encounters with multiple partners after her
parent’s divorce.

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 Regression

– Reverting to behaviour patterns like those seen in

someone of a younger age.
– E.g. A 5-year-old who was previously toilet trained
begins to bed wet or thumb suck when his mother
has a new baby.
– Adult becomes excessively clingy or demanding
with their partner after experiencing a stressful
event at work.

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 Denial

– Not accepting aspects of reality that a person finds

unbearable.
– E.g An alcoholic insisting that he is a social
drinker.
– An individual who is in a toxic relationship might
make excuses for their partner's behavior or
downplay the severity of the abuse.

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 Projection

– Attributing one’s own personally unacceptable

feelings to others.
– E.g A man with unconscious homosexual impulses
believe that his boss is homosexual.
– Someone who has unfulfilled ambitions might
project these onto their children.

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 Transference Reactions
– Involves unconsciously projecting feelings,
attitudes, or desires onto someone else.
– Often rooted in early childhood experiences, with
parents or caregivers.
– E.g.-a patient in therapy who reacts to their
therapist with intense, inappropriate emotions,
such as anger or love, based on past relationships
or figures.

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 Summary

• Understanding defense mechanisms helps us

recognize how we cope with stress and
conflict, offering insight into our behavior and
emotional responses. While they can be
protective, awareness is key to managing
them in a healthy and constructive way.

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PERSONALITY ASSESSMENTS

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 DEFINITIONS
• Personality assessments are tools used to
evaluate and measure an individual's
psychological characteristics and traits.
• They provide insights into a person's thoughts,
moods, and behavior patterns, helping to
understand their unique personality.
• Can be used in various fields, including career
planning, team building, hiring, and personal
development.
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 WHERE AND WHY
• Workplace: Assessing suitability for a job,
predicting job performance, and
understanding team dynamics.
• Personal Development: Increasing self-
awareness, identifying strengths and
weaknesses, and setting personal goals.
• Clinical Settings: Assessing personality traits,
tracking treatment progress, and informing
treatment planning.
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 • SELF-REPORT INVENTORIES:
• Questionnaires where individuals
rate their agreement with
statements related to specific
personality traits.
DIFFERENT • They typically use multiple-
PERSONALITY choice items or numbered scales,
ASSESSEMENTS which represent a range from 1
(strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly
agree).
• Examples include the Myers-
Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and
the Big Five Personality Test.

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 MMPI
• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) was first
published in 1943, with 504 true/false questions, and updated to the
MMPI-2 in 1989, with 567 questions.
• In 2008, the test was again revised, using more advanced methods, to
the MMPI-2-RF.
• This version takes about one-half the time to complete and has only
338 questions
• Despite the new test’s advantages, the MMPI-2 is more established
and is still more widely used.
• Typically, the tests are administered by computer.
• Although the MMPI was originally developed to assist in the clinical
diagnosis of psychological disorders, it is now also used for
occupational screening, such as in law enforcement, and in college,
career, and marital counseling (Ben-Porath & Tellegen, 2008).

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These true/false questions resemble the kinds
of questions you would find on the MMPI

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 PROJECTIVE TESTING
• During this type of testing, a series of
ambiguous cards is shown to the person being
tested, who then is encouraged to project his
feelings, impulses, and desires onto the cards
—by telling a story, interpreting an image, or
completing a sentence.

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 • The Rorschach Inkblot Test
• Thematic Apperception Test
(TAT)
EXAMPLES
• Sentence Blank (RISB).
OF
• Contemporized-Themes
PROJECTIVE
Concerning Blacks test.
TESTS
• TEMAS (Tell-Me-A-Story)
• Rotter Incomplete Sentence
Blank (RISB)

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 RORSHACH INKBLOT TEST
• Is a series of symmetrical inkblot cards that
are presented to a client by a psychologist.
• Upon presentation of each card, the
psychologist asks the client, “What might this
be?”
• What the client sees reveals unconscious
feelings and struggles (Piotrowski, 1987;
Weiner, 2003).

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Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank (RISB)

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 Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
• A person taking the TAT is shown 8–12
ambiguous pictures and is asked to tell a story
about each picture.
• The stories give insight into their social world,
revealing hopes, fears, interests, and goals.
• The storytelling format helps to lower a
person’s resistance divulging unconscious
personal details (Cramer, 2004).

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Contemporized-Themes Concerning Blacks
Test (C-TCB)
• The C-TCB contains 20 color images that show
scenes of African-American lifestyles.
• When the C-TCB was compared with the TAT
for African Americans, it was found that use of
the C-TCB led to increased story length, higher
degrees of positive feelings, and stronger
identification with the C-TCB.

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 SUMMARY
• Personality tests are techniques designed to measure one’s
personality. They are used to diagnose psychological
problems as well as to screen candidates for college and
employment. There are two types of personality tests: self-
report inventories and projective tests. The MMPI is one of
the most common self-report inventories. It asks a series of
true/false questions that are designed to provide a clinical
profile of an individual. Projective tests use ambiguous
images or other ambiguous stimuli to assess an individual’s
unconscious fears, desires, and challenges. The Rorschach
Inkblot Test, the TAT, the RISB, and the C-TCB are all forms of
projective tests.
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 REVIEW QUESTIONS
Which of the following is NOT a projective test?

1. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

(MMPI)
2. Rorschach Inkblot Test
3. Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
4. Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank (RISB)

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 CONT..
• A personality assessment in which a person responds
to ambiguous stimuli, revealing unconscious feelings,
impulses, and desires ________.

1. self-report inventory
2. projective test
3. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
(MMPI)
4. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

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 CONT…
• Which personality assessment employs a
series of true/false questions?
1. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
(MMPI)
2. Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
3. Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank (RISB)
4. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

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