PSY 393 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Scapegoating, Alcoholism, Reaction Formation
Document Summary
Defense mechanisms | tools used by ego to keep anxiety within tolerable ranges and protect the self. Protecting self from the aggressive and sexual impulses. Can be adaptive or maladaptive: designed to be completely adaptive. Freudian defense mechanisms: evidence for reaction formation, projection, and displacement | Studied reaction formation, projection, displacement to see if they worked. Defense mechanisms are successful if they offer a motivated strategy (not consciously recognized) but resulting in desirable view of self (conscious) Reaction formation | subjective responses contradicted body response. Morokoff 1985 : women high in sex guilt viewed erotica as unacceptable higher levels of arousal, women put away physical arousal and insisted against it. Lohr (1996: homophobic men had higher levels of sexual response but claimed they didn"t (homosexual intercourse) Prejudice and exaggerated displays of not being prejudiced. Self-appraisal after negative feedback: after failure, people show irrational and high levels of confidence level. Reaction formation = consistent across different settings of esteem threat.
