© 2013 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

The Personality PuzzleSixth Edition

by David C. Funder

Chapter 11: The Workings of the Unconscious

Mind: Defenses and Slips

Slides created byTera D. LetzringIdaho State University 1

Objectives

• Discuss anxiety• Discuss defense mechanisms and how they

are used to deal with anxiety• Discuss slips and humor• Evaluate Freud’s contribution to psychology

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Anxiety

• Anxiety from psychic conflict– Things we want vs. those that are possible vs. those

that are morally right– Compromise formation– We usually do not know what is causing the anxiety

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Anxiety

• Realistic anxiety– From the outside world– Underestimated by Freud– Terror management theory– Is realistic anxiety good or bad for us?– Goal: keep it within bounds

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Think About It

• Can you be anxious about something without knowing what it is? Or does that strike you as nonsensical?

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Defense Mechanisms

• Definition• Not used consciously• Denial

– Common and effective in the short run– Can lead to lack of contact with reality– Blame failures on external circumstances or other

people– Effective way to deal with initial shock– Research

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Defense Mechanisms

• Repression– The stronger the anxiety would be if something

were remembered, the more things are repressed– The ego can run out of energy– Can cause depression– Research

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Defense Mechanisms

• Reaction formation– Common with especially strong sources of anxiety– Usually illogically strong and out of proportion– Research support

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Defense Mechanisms

• Projection– Research

• Rationalization– Trivialization– Recent research: cognitive dissonance

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Defense Mechanisms

• Intellectualization– Common in warfare and medicine– Useful when reality is horrifying or too painful to

deal with directly– Problematic if reality is not dealt with

appropriately– Research

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Defense Mechanisms

• Displacement– The other object is a safer target and usually

resembles the real target– Can be a problem– Research

• Sublimation– Occupational choice– A positive process

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Parapraxes

• Definition• Freudian slips• From belief in determinism• Forgetting

– Usually the result of repression

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Parapraxes• Slips: unintended actions

– Often in speech, but also in action– More likely when a person is tired, not paying

attention, in a hurry, or excited

• Humor– A form of sublimation– Good jokes vs. bad jokes

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Psychoanalytic Theory: A Critique

• Excessive complexity• Dependence on case studies

– Theories are based on introspection and insight from specific cases

– High likelihood of bias

• Vague definitions– Concepts not defined in terms of operational

definitions

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Psychoanalytic Theory: A Critique

• Untestability: cannot be proven false• Sexism

– Males are considered to be the norm– Females are considered as aberrations or

deviations from the male model– Freud thought females had less self-esteem,

creativity, and morality than males, and spent most of their lives coming to terms with not being male

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Why Study Freud?

• Focused on ideas that are underemphasized elsewhere

• Influence on modern conceptions of the mind• Influence on the practice of psychotherapy

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Why Study Freud?

• Many ideas in popular culture• Revival of Freudian thought in research• Proposed the only complete theory of

personality

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Clicker Question #1

Which of the following statements about anxiety is true?a) Anxiety is always bad.b)Anxiety can result from two sources: the mind and the outside world.c) Parapraxes are a way to avoid anxiety.d) Jokes are only funny if they cause us anxiety.

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Clicker Question #2

If you think a person is extremely rude, and this person constantly talks about times that other people have been rude, then this person is likely using the defense mechanism of a) denial.b) reaction formation.c) projection.d) intellectualization.

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Clicker Question #3

Which of the following about Freud’s theory is true?a)It is no longer an important part of psychological thought.b)It has been proven false.c)It was too simplistic to explain all of personality.d)Many of the issues that Freud thought to be important are topics of current research.

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