Psychology Theories

Personality Theories - Part I

Defense Mechanisms:

Denial - Used to describe situation in which people seem to be unable to face reality. By definition, denial is an outright refusal to admit, or recognize, that something has occurred or is currently occurring.

Repression - Acts to keep information out of conscious awareness, but these memories don't go away, they continue to influence behavior.

Displacement - This defense mechanism involves taking out frustrations, feelings and impulses on people or objects that are less threatening.

Sublimation - Allow us to act out unacceptable impulses by converting these behavior into a more acceptable form.

Projection - Involves taking our own unacceptable qualities, or feelings, and ascribing them to other people.

Intellectualization - This one works to reduce anxiety by thinking about events in a clinical way, allowing us to avoid thinking about the stressful, emotional aspect of the situation and instead focus only on the intellectual component.

Rationalization - Involves explaining an unacceptable behavior in a rational manner, avoiding the true reasons of the behavior.