Ego Defense Mechanisms

Question 1

Compensation

Answer 1

Overachievement in one area to offset real or perceived deficiencies in another area

Question 2

Conversion

Answer 2

Expression of an emotional conflict through the development of a physical symptom, usually sensorimotor in natur

Question 3

Denial

Answer 3

failure to admit the reality of a situation or how one enables the problem to continue

Question 4

Displacement

Answer 4

Ventilation of intense feelings toward persons less threatening than the one who aroused those feelings

Question 5

Dissociation

Answer 5

Dealing with emotional conflict by a temporary alteration in consciousness or identity

Question 6

Fixation

Answer 6

that people act out behaviors from the stage of psychosexual development in which they are fixated

Question 7

Identification

Answer 7

Modeling actions and opinions of influential others while searching for identity, or aspiring to reach a personal, social, or occupational goal

Question 8

intellectualization

Answer 8

An unconscious means of protecting oneself from the emotional stress and anxiety associated with confronting painful personal fears or problems by excessive reasoning.

Question 9

introjection

Answer 9

Accepting another person’s attitudes, beliefs, and values as one’s own

Question 10

Projection

Answer 10

Unconscious blaming of unacceptable inclinations or thoughts on an external object

Question 11

Rationalization

Answer 11

Excusing own behavior to avoid guilt, responsibility, conflict, anxiety, or loss of self-respect

Question 12

Reaction Formation

Answer 12

Acting the opposite of what one thinks or feels

Question 13

Regression

Answer 13

Moving back to a previous developmental stage to feel safe or have needs met

Question 14

Repression

Answer 14

Excluding emotionally painful or anxiety-provoking thoughts and feelings from conscious awareness

Question 15

Resistance

Answer 15

unconscious opposition to the unveiling and exploration of painful memories during psychoanalysis.

Question 16

Sublimation

Answer 16

Substituting a socially acceptable activity for an impulse that is unacceptable

Question 17

Substitution

Answer 17

Replacing the desired gratification with one that is more readily available

Question 18

Suppression

Answer 18

Conscious exclusion of unacceptable thoughts and feelings from conscious awareness

Question 19

Undoing

Answer 19

Exhibiting acceptable behavior to make up for or negate unacceptable behavior

Question 20

Nurse with low self-esteem working double shifts so that her supervisor will like her

Answer 20

compensation

Question 21

Teenager forbidden to see X-rated movies is tempted to do so by friends and develops blindness, and the teenager is unconcerned about the loss of sight

Answer 21

Conversion

Question 22

Diabetic person eating chocolate candy

Answer 22

Denial

Question 23

Person who is mad at the boss yells at his or her spouse

Answer 23

Displacement

Question 24

Amnesia that prevents recall of yesterday’s auto accident

Answer 24

Dissociation

Question 25

Never learning to delay gratification

Answer 25

Fixation

Question 26

Nursing student becoming a critical care nurse because this is the specialty of an instructor she admires

Answer 26

Identification

Question 27

Person shows no emotional expression when discussing serious car accident

Answer 27

Intellectualization

Question 28

Person who dislikes guns becomes an avid hunter, just like a best friend

Answer 28

introjection

Question 29

Man who has thought about same-gender sexual relationship but never had one beats a man who is gay

Answer 29

Projection

Question 30

Student blames failure on teacher being mean

Answer 30

rationalization

Question 31

Woman who never wanted to have children becomes a supermom

Answer 31

reaction formation

Question 32

Man pouts like a 4-year-old if he is not the center of his girlfriend’s attention

Answer 32

regression

Question 33

Woman has no memory of the mugging she suffered yesterday

Answer 33

repression

Question 34

Nurse is too busy with tasks to spend time talking to a dying patient.

Answer 34

Resistance

Question 35

Person who has quit smoking sucks on hard candy when the urge to smoke arises

Answer 35

Sublimation

Question 36

Woman who would like to have her own children opens a day care center

Answer 36

substitution

Question 37

Student decides not to think about a parent’s illness to study for a test

Answer 37

Suppression

Question 38

Person who cheats on a spouse brings the spouse a bouquet of roses

Answer 38

undoing